Pregnancy #2: 38 weeks

Not a great photo of either Lizzy or I, but taking another seems like too much work! 

Here's 38 weeks with Lizzy:

Well, if you would have asked on Tuesday whether or not I'd still be here today, I'd have told you probably not. I'd just been to see my OB and found out I was dilated to just about a 4. The doc did a membrane sweep, and I'd been having contractions, spotting, mucous-y discharge (tmi for you yet?) and such. In general, I was experiencing all those signs that they tend to tell you to associate with early labor signs, and I was thinking this show was getting on the road, and soon.

And then, all the contractions pretty much stopped. Done. Fin. And that's pretty much where things are at now. If I'm up, walking around and such, I'm having contractions I had one seriously uncomfortable solid hour-long contraction yesterday while we were out trick-or-treating...but they never really settle into any sort of timetable, and as soon as I sit or lay down? They taper right back off.

So that's where things are at with me. And also, I am excessively irritable and grumpy. Everything ticks me off, even stuff that I don't want to tick me off or really shouldn't. Seriously...is being royally grumpy and ticked about everything a sign of impending labor? Please tell me that it is. Because yesterday, I almost screamed at the receptionist at my OB's office for calling to reschedule my next week's appointment. I was mad at the Fed Ex truck for parking outside our house to deliver a package elsewhere. I was mad that I ran out of heartburn medicine, because it's something that we literally never use except for when I'm pregnant, and who wants to go buy a whole new bottle now (I didn't, and I won't)?! I cried telling Justin that it feels like I am going to be pregnant forever, even though I know in my head that there's really only about two weeks left, which is nothing. I'd cry if I had contractions yesterday. I'd cry if I didn't have contractions yesterday. Seriously, if it happened, I found some way to be mad about it or cry about it. Heck, I even got irritated when my mother-in-law said she'd come over on Saturday to clean the bathrooms for us. Which is obviously an amazing thing and a huge blessing, but I was ticked. Not at her, but at the fact that I've been asking Justin to help me with that same task for months (literally), and now he probably won't because his mom is coming to do it and  he knows it. But I still want him to clean the stupid bathrooms because I asked him to and I want him to follow through on all the times in the last few months that he has said yes but hasn't actually done it, and not to mention the helping me with the bathrooms was a stipulation of all the stupid softball and baseball games all summer and I don't CARE if it is Friday and then his mom comes again and cleans them on Saturday...I STILL WANT HIM TO CLEAN THE STUPID BATHROOMS DARNIT! When really, does it matter who cleans the bathrooms as long as they are clean? Nope. It shouldn't. And that drives me nuts because I feel a little like Jekyll and Hyde--I know I'm being a little bit crazy and that this is probably the hormones talking, but I can't stop. And I'm still legitimately mad about the silly little stuff, even if I don't want to be. Even though I can still see that from the outside, this is really all a little humorous.

I'm also starting to freak out a little bit about being dilated to a 4 already. I was dilated to a 4 when we got to the hospital with Lizzy, and I had her less than 4 hours later...and you know what they say about second babies going more quickly! I keep praying that if my water breaks this time, it happens either at night when Justin is home, or while he's working at a job-site close by. Because really, I have no desire to drive myself to the hospital with Lizzy in tow...and I don't have a ton of time to wait for someone to come here either!

Other notables: 
-Weight gain has stayed the same at right about 25 pounds
-The belly has definitely dropped this week--it's now actually measuring smaller if you can believe it!
-Also? Leaking colostrum. So that's interesting. 
-I've been getting crazy leg cramps in my upper thighs, which the doctor said are a result of her being so low already.
-The exercise ball is my best friend right now...not just for getting contractions going, but it feels so good on my sore hips and back.
-Weird but true...I feel like I don't really want to leave the house!