A Baby, Maybe

A few minutes ago, my pregnant niece who was due to give birth to my first great nephew on 2 July sent a message.  She’s having contractions – 8 minutes apart… maybe…

It’s not the time that’s confusing, it’s the contractions.  It turns out that there are more than just 2 types; Braxton-Hicks contractions are a sort of practice contractions also known as fake labor and then there are real contractions.  Or so I thought.  I thought wrong.

My niece experiences a third type of contraction.  They can be close together and not based on the way she sitting or the activity she is doing and they aren’t Braxton-Hicks… However, they also don’t seem to be real contractions leading up to the big event.

Since I have never experienced labor pains or childbirth or anything associated with it, I went to figure out what these strange contractions were.  They remain a mystery.  It appears to be another piece of information that has been left out of the manual.  Which is a problem for both her and me, because I can’t figure out why they exist and she has now thought she was going into labor twice.  The first time, it just stopped.  This time, it’s not getting any worse or any better or any faster and she’s waiting to hear from the doctor.

Some time soon, I should be getting a great nephew, but I haven’t a clue when soon will be (they induce July 13th if she doesn’t get around to it on her own).  I’m surprised to find that I’m actually a little excited about it.  I wasn’t sure I would be.  Then I remembered I was excited to become an aunt once the little bugger got here, both times.  The excitement dried up after the novelty wore off, but still, it was excitement.

Interestingly, my niece is a huge Beatles fan and has decided to name him Jude.  I’m warming up to the name.