I have been talking to my mom and Ann quite often over the past two weeks as I believed at various times that it just might be the "real thing," and Ann kept telling me about a term--prodromal labor--so yesterday, when I was contracting yet again, I decided to google the term and see what it was all about. It described me to a T. It's what I did with Ada, and it's what I am doing now. Have you heard of it? Basically, it's when a woman labors over a course of weeks rather than in one big chunk of hours. So instead of 24-48 hours of intense labor, I have stop-start labor for about three weeks beforehand, sometimes stopping for days at a time. Again, the good news is, this usually means a short period of time once I am actually at the hospital. Ada came strangely fast for a first born, so I anticipate the same with John, unless of course something goes wrong, which is always a possibility. Another characteristic of prodromal labor is lots of lost sleep, which happened with Ada. When I arrived at the hospital to have Ada, I was going on maybe four hours of sleep over a course of two nights and days. So...this time I am really concentrating on getting as much rest as possible.
Everyone says that the true test of "real labor," is to lie down, completely relaxed, and if the contractions continue to come and get stronger, then it's the real deal.
Last night, I thought it was the real deal. I made it through the dinner/bath time/ bed time hour with no contractions. That was a first for this week. The rest of the week I had fairly intense contractions during the bedtime process, but then they stopped when I was finally able to sit down and relax. Last night, it was when I sat down on the couch that the contractions began. I told Scott that I was going to lie down for a while to see if they would stop, and they would not. I then called my mom to see if she was snowed in because I had heard that North Alabama was the recipient of some crazy weather yesterday, and I told her I would call her in an hour if the contractions continued. They did continue, but they never increased in intensity, so I decided to try to sleep. And I did sleep for most of the night. Every two hours or so, I would wake up and the contractions would still be coming, but again, the intensity had not increased. I woke up at 5 am, with some fairly strong contractions, so I moved back downstairs, and then at about 7:30 this morning, Scott let me go back to bed, and I slept solidly for three hours. It was Heaven.
I thought that once I got going with the day, the contractions would intensify, but they really haven't. They continue, but nothing is increasing in intensity, so I continue to wait. Basically, I feel achey and uncomfortable, but that is it. I do have a few things on my to-do list--clean the bathrooms again, clean out the pantry and freezer, dust a few pieces of furniture, etc. etc.--so I will just continue on with those things. Anything involving physical activity increases the contractions, but then I sit down and they go back to just dull, achey contractions, so it's not really getting me anywhere. I am a bit frustrated and tired. Can you tell?
Anyway, for the very few of you that might still be reading this post, I have a question, having nothing to do with labor. Do you have a good recipe for chicken spaghetti? I don't have chicken broth or white wine, so is there a recipe that doesn't call for those ingredients? I really don't want to go back to the grocery store because I have already spent my allotted grocery money for the week. Can you help me? I want to make the spaghetti Wednesday or Thursday night (unless, of course, things "crank up").
Part of my nesting seems to be wanting comfort food recipes. I have been trying different biscuit recipes, searching for just the right combo of ingredients to taste like my mom's, and I think I am about to make a cupcake recipe from the most recent Southern Living. I am craving good, full fat;) food. Scott is loving it.
8 comments:
Hey- try thepioneerwoman.com chicken spaghetti. It is under her "cowboy food" link in the cooking section. I don't think it calls for wine or broth, check and see if you have the other ingredients. Praying for you as things progress!
Goodness girl! I can't imagine contractions for weeks!! I hope he comes soon (as I know you do)!
As for chicken spaghetti, this is kinda my own thrown together recipe, but I like it (if you can do things to taste it works).
I just saute the chicken in a skillet (with olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder on the chicken). Take it out and let it rest. Then in the same skillet, I add an onion (and maybe more olive oil) and saute it. When it's soft, I add 2 cans of crushed tomatoes (or you could use tomato sauce if you had that in your pantry) and one can of diced tomatoes. Then add garlic powder, italian seasoning, and dried basil to taste. But basically if you have diced tomatoes or tomato sauce that has garlic or basil or whatever already in it, you just do it taste. So it just depends on how you like it...that just means you get to taste it while you're cooking! Then just dice your chicken and add it. Put over noodles! Basically, I just do my regular spaghetti sauce but instead of beef, I add chicken.
Here is a recipe for the casserole. You make your own broth.. so I hope it works for ya. I have sub'd in different veggies and it still worked great.
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/chicken_spaghet/
I hope you can get some rest :)
No recipe for you, but I wanted to let you know that I'm thinking of you and of the little man's approaching arrival. I can't wait to hear that he is here!
Oh and if you want it to be a casserole, I just mix the chicken, sauce, and noodles, pour them in a baking dish, top with cheese and bake at 350 til bubbly.
Hey Friend!! I totally understand what you are feeling right now :) Just a few weeks ago, I had contractions for about 3 weeks straight. The exact same thing, they never got worse, but I had a lot of them. It went from pretty hard contractions to just that achy crampy feeling. I never actually "labored" because I had a c-section. But just to let you know, I went through the same thing :) Hopefully he will come soon, because it is just frustrating uncomfortable pain!!
I don't have a good chicken spaghetti recipe, but I do have a good biscuit recipe. I actually just made them last night! :) It's really simple.
It is:
2 cups of flour
2 tsp of baking powder
1 tsp of salk
1 cup of milk
1/4 cup of oil
Mix just until it is doughy
bake at 425 for 15 minutes
Love you!!
Boil your chicken and chop finely (or use canned chicken-works just as well) mix with 3-4 cups of chopped Velveeta cheese, 1 small can of Cream of Chicken soup, 1 small can of Cream of Mushroom soup, 1 can of Ro-Tel. Put all ingredients into 9x13 baking dish and put in the oven at 350 or so for about 15 mins.
LB, I talked to your sis today on the phone. From this post, it looks like you are doing good things for this labor pattern: staying busy when you can, but resting whenever you have the chance.
Though it is challenging, staying positive is good. It is also good to acknowledge that your body labors this way. It may not be textbook, but it is what you and your baby need, for some reason. God has designed this labor for you and your baby.
Also, sometimes prodromal labor passes the "test" of real labor, only to slow or stop again, so do not be discouraged if it seems "real"--your body is working hard, and well, that is what labor is, right? Don't listen to anyone who tells you you're "not even in labor." It may not meet the traditional specs, but it's important to remember that each contraction brings you closer to having that baby--whether that is tomorrow or next week.
Your body is doing important things! Take good care of yourself physically as well as emotionally. It can be so easy to get discouraged at contractions that go "nowhere." As you mentioned, they will go somewhere eventually! Hang in there, and keep doing good stuff! I'm praying for you! Look forward to hearing about his arrival!
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