Coping with Labor Pains with Technology

I’ve been having contractions throughout the night and into this morning. I’m not sure if they’re the real kind, or if they’re a false alarm – darn those Braxton Hicks.

In any case, I haven’t called the doctor yet because 1) we’re still in the process of recording the time between contractions 2) I’d rather stay home as long as possible and 3) I can still talk (and type) through them.

On that note, I figure the best way to get through this is to breathe, blog and play World of Warcraft. It’s hard to be stressed when you’re editing a post or beating down virtual monsters.

I’ve also started our #labor twitter updates. Part of me is reluctant, just in case this is too much personal information to put on the internet, but what the hell, it’s a Brave New World and I’m going to roll with it.

Breathing is pretty self-explanatory – I’m trying to use the coping mechanism Jon’s Mom suggested, which involves kind of going with the pain, and visualizing to help your body do what it needs to instead of resisting this. The fact that I can still be rational about it tells me that this is the very beginning and things are going to get a lot more painful.

I’ve also been resisting urges to clean the fridge, to spray my plants with lemon oil for fruit flies and to do laundry. All these things need to be done, but after hours of off-and-on contractions, I know I’m going to be tired later, and want to conserve my energy.

Wish us luck, and cross your fingers that this is the real deal – we’re ready for this baby to arrive! Drop us a line via Twitter or email – unless the hospital turns off the wireless internet, we’ll be on throughout the day.

Image Credit: Warcraft Baby and nesting