The Eventful Delivery That Hasn't Started Yet

Hello all! Thought I'd update this blog one last time (hopefully) before Baby Elizabeth is born. We have not been doing much in the last few weeks - just preparing for Elizabeth's arrival. Cline has done this by working a lot, so that he can be off for a couple of weeks when she is born. I have readied the nursery as much as I can, cleaned out the car (although I think I'm going to have to do that again, now), and packed for the hospital. My sister was in town from Miami last week, so we had a great time seeing her and her husband! We were hoping Elizabeth would make her debut while she was here, but my babies tend to like to stay right where they are until I drug them out via inductions. Apparently, my womb is quite cozy, although it certainly doesn't feel that way to me at the moment!

Although I am in those physically difficult last days of pregnancy, I am not nearly as ready to "hurry up and get this baby out already" as I have been in the past. I think it's a combination of the fact that I am still much more comfortable this time around than the previous 2 times, the fact that I have 2 busy little girls to chase around all day, and the fact that I am well aware of how much work newborns are. I can't wait to meet her, but once she's out, there's no taking a break for a good night's sleep for several months!

At any rate, we have already had some excitement. We have had an induction date set (for multiple reasons) for several weeks. I always feel like I need to justify why I schedule my deliveries because I know many women who feel strongly against it. But the fact is, I have had 2 awesome, painless deliveries this way which gave me 2 healthy girls, and if something works, I believe in sticking with it. Plus, this is a big baby.... with a big head.... and I trust my doctor and want him to do the delivery - not whoever happens to be on call.... and the longer I wait, the bigger my chance of a C-section.... which does not sound fun with 3 kids under the age of 4.

Last Monday, I went in for my weekly appointment. We had one last ultrasound for final measurements, which showed the baby's head in the 87th percentile and her size 1-2 weeks ahead of schedule. None of this was a surprise, but when the doctor checked me, we learned that I was dilated between 3-4 cm. I have never gotten that far without the help of Pitocin before, so I was surprised and excited to learn this. The doctor told me that I could go into labor on my own at any time, and he offered to move my induction date up to this past weekend (yesterday, to be exact). Cline was scheduled to work yesterday and is quite tired after working many shifts in a row as he has done for the last week, so we decided just to stick with the later induction date. If something happened on it's own before then, great, but if we're scheduling it, we'll make it as convenient as possible :)

On Tuesday (the next day) I got a call from my doctor. Something had come up with his schedule, causing him to have to leave town the day before my original induction date. Because of the baby's size and low position, he was very nervous that I would go into labor on my own while he was out of town. He said that he would prefer to try to move the induction date to Sunday (yesterday). He and Cline spoke about the pros and cons of this new plan, and we decided to go with the doctor's suggestion of a Sunday induction. Cline was able to switch his shift around so that he would be off work, and we woke up yesterday morning with hospital bags packed. Our plan was to spend the morning with the girls, go out to lunch, and head over to the hospital around 1 p.m.

Well, yesterday morning turned out to be a crazy one. As we were showering and getting dressed for the day, Cline received a phone call from our doctor's wife letting us know that he was sick in the Emergency Room. He was not contagious, and she thought he would be fine after some mild pain medicine (Motrin), but she wanted to give us a heads up on the situation. We continued with our plan, although with a little less haste to change the sheets for our babysitters. As we were finishing up lunch, our doctor called, sounding very uncomfortable. He and Cline spoke, and they decided that it would be better to hold off on the induction, and see what happens over the next few days. I was relieved! The last thing I wanted was an early induction so that *my* doctor could do the delivery, only to have him become incapacitated and unable to do the important part of actually getting the baby out. This turned out to be a wise decision, and we are hoping our doctor feels better soon!

I am so glad this is my 3rd baby, and I am much more relaxed about all of these changes in plans!! If this were my first, or even my second, I would have been in tears most of the day yesterday! But I really have a go-with-the-flow attitude this time (not like me at all:), and I'm ready for this baby on whatever day she happens to be born. In the meantime, I am appreciating the extra rest, extra time with the girls and Cline, and extra time to install the car seat (which is still sitting in our dining room)!

Well, that's all the news we have for now! Have a great day!