20 Weeks!!!!!!!!!

I can't believe this time has come! I'm half way today - when did that happen?! When did 5 months go by?! Seriously...

I've had a rough week with lots of contractions that mess with my head but the 17P shots must be working wonders on my cervix because the contractions don't seem to yet be causing problems - I'm so thankful for that.

I have another appointment on Wednesday and can only hope that my cervix is still behaving. I'm still debating to push for Procardia to help with the contractions but since they aren't doing anything at this point, I'm ok with waiting it out.

We signed the contract for our birth doula today and sent her a check for her deposit. I'm optomistic that we'll make it to full term and have a normal delivery but I also know that at any moment it can change - so we have a doula lined up, for now so that my labor and delivery experience will be better than my first pregnancy. I really felt like a caged animal being poked at and it was really scary and I think it made me ask for the epidural super early and as a result I was tied to a bed with way too much time to obsess about what was happening - it was the worst experience and I hope we don't have to repeat it.

Did you know?

Numerous clinical studies have found that a doula’s presence at birth

• tends to result in shorter labors with fewer complications
• reduces negative feelings about one’s childbirth experience
• reduces the need for pitocin (a labor-inducing drug), forceps or vacuum extraction and cesareans
• reduces the mother’s request for pain medication and/or epidurals

These are all good things in my mind so we're going to try one and see. We met with Tina, our doula, about 3 weeks ago and felt very comfortable with her. She also runs some of the child birth education classes that are given at the hospital we'll deliver, and that made us even more comfortable with the decision.

We've even decided on names now that we're half way: Christopher Michael for a boy and Madelyn for a girl (undecided middle name right now).

Next step is cleaning out the bed room that will serve as his/her bedroom - that's a huge task in and of itself!