Hi friends,
Still pregnant! Due date was yesterday.
Near bedtime I started to have a lot of pressure in my stomach. Sam asked if I was having contractions. I laughed and told him no. Just felt like the baby was pushing down.
But the pressure kept coming on harder and more frequently. Sam and I got into bed and after about the fifth feeling of pressure, I finally thought to myself, “Are these contractions??”
Sam hasn’t been getting any sleep lately so I decided to keep these thoughts to myself. He drifted off around midnight and my “bouts of pressure” continued. I still wasn’t ready to call them contractions because I wasn’t ready to give birth.
The Kitchen Man is scheduled for Wednesday and the plumber and internet company are scheduled for Thursday and I still need to bake a batch of cookies. I’m not sure why the cookies are so important but anything that finds its way onto my list of Things to Do feels equally necessary and urgent.
The doula told me that when contractions start I should try and sleep for a few hours. This seemed to make perfect sense before, but now that I’m having these frequent pains, how in the world am I supposed to sleep?
I finally got out of bed to get my phone and hop on my computer.
I had a different newsletter written. One where I’m still not pregnant and definitely not in early labor. So I sat down at my computer to write this while timing the contractions.
To time them, start at the beginning of one contraction and end at the beginning of the next one.
Sometimes, early labor can last 20-45 minutes and then stop. Contractions should be three minutes apart for at least two hours before heading to the hospital.
My contractions have been 3-6 minutes apart for three hours.
Shoot. I think I might be having a baby today.
Follow me on Twitter for updates. Will I be posting on Twitter while in labor?? I don’t know. Maybe!!
Blog of the Week
This week’s essay idea was sparked because of an old video of me that my younger sister loves.
In the video, I’m wasted and say stupid things and my sister finds it hilarious. I suppose it is. I used to think it was just as funny as she did. But recently she was showing the video to people who had never seen it before and I found myself embarrassed and annoyed.
Is that really all you have to say about me? “Watch this video of Charlie. She’s so drunk. It’s amazing.”
That video was from six years ago. I’m not that person anymore.
It got me thinking: my family doesn’t really know me that well. Not the new me. They know me as my old self. Will they always see me as that other person?
Interestingly, as I was writing this essay that addresses family culture and the acceptance of change and growth, I tweeted about a seemingly different topic - compression - and my friend Pranav responded with this:
I related very much to “loud interrupters” in my family. (I wouldn’t be so generous as to call them excited, but Pranav’s a nice guy.) His response made me realize that we all struggle with family dynamics. They’re tough to navigate.
What did you like about your family culture growing up? What did/do you want to do differently with your own family? And most importantly, what has worked well in creating the family culture you want?
Seriously asking. I’m about to start a family, people!
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Until next time,
Charlie
In India, they say, it is not only a birth of a child, but also the birth of a mother. So, wishing all the best 🤞🤞👶👶