I think labor is beginning....

....but who knows?!  It could take days, or...gasp....weeks!

A few days ago, I started swelling.  I have bad circulation in my lower extremities, especially in the summer, but I have never seen anything like this before!  It looks like there are tennis balls on either side of my ankles and there is no distinction between my leg and ankle.  Talk about kankles!  My feet are super puffy, too.  Oh, and a sad thing.  I had to soak my hand in ice to get my wedding rings off.  I knew my rings were stuck, but when my finger started to turn red...then purple...I figured I had to get them off.  It was sooo hard and it left a dent in my finger.  Good thing a million new episodes of Parking Wars was on A&E...it took my mind off the pain :)

The baby has been less active the past 2 days too...I'm wondering why...?

I woke up yesterday with cramping and starting timing my contractions.  They were 10 minutes apart for most of the day, then converted to 5 minutes apart, then got as close as 3 minutes apart until I went to bed.  I had them all night long and are timing them at about 5-7 minutes apart so far this morning.  I had some other symptoms, too, but we won't talk about those.

On Tuesday, we met with Sheela and she told me that I was 1 1/2 cm dilated. She also said that the nurses over at the hospital are getting excited and that they got a special chair to go into the tub for me to try out.  If it works and I like it, they'll use it for women in the future.  It's pretty neat that I'll be the second person to actually birth in the tub if all goes well. I have to be 37 weeks though, which is either tomorrow or Saturday (depending who you talk to) so I better be able to make it!!!!!!! Or they better make an exception--haha--I'm just too close to be told no now!

The car is vacuumed, car seat installed, diaper bag packed and in the trunk, hospital bags are started to be packed, and I have a list of all the things we"ll need in case so we don't forget anything.

On another note, it's going to be 65 degrees today, which is awesomeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, and I'm going to get a drink and go back to bed.

See you along the journey--