Lily's Birth-the details

As I have kind of replaced my journal with this, I wanted to put a more detailed account of the birth here before I forget it all! Because of this, though, the faint of heart may not want to read all the gory details. Just a warning:)
So Friday Shane's mom came to the house at 7am to watch Oliver. We got to the hospital around 745. They gave me a dose of Misoprostol and we thought we were on our way. I had to lay in bed for 2 hours to allow the Miso to be absorbed. I watched Project Runway. At the end of the 2 hours I got up and went to the bathroom. I noticed that the miso pill had come out. I informed my nurse of this and she said that she had never heard of that happening. That it ALWAYS absorbs in 2 hours. They decided to just see what happened. So I walked and walked and walked for an hour. I was then supposed to get my second dose of miso. Instead my midwife informed me that a bunch of women had come in in active labor, several of whom were in preterm labor. So basically, there weren't enough nurses, doctors, midwives, to attend to all of them and me. So since I still technically wasn't in labor, they were going to send me home. Before she did, she stripped my membranes to try and make me go into labor. As I said in an earlier post, I felt contractions for the rest of the day until we ate at the Friendly Toast. Then nothing.
Skip to Monday.
Irene, again, comes to the house at 7am. We got to the hospital around 745. The nurse told me that she remembered me because she was the one that discharged me on Friday (and I certainly remembered her!) and that becuase of that she was able to get me right into a room instead of a labor room (shared bathroom, boo). She was great. The midwife, Candace, came in and checked me and said that I was still extremely posterior and that she was going to try and PULL my CERVIX DOWN! And yes, its as painful as it sounds. So at that point I decided that this midwife was obviously nutters. I was not a fan. She then gave me a dose of miso and I had to lay there for another 2 hours. Luckily I had Marisa with me! She had already been set apart as a missionary, though, so we couldn't watch any TV. So we played Hangman, then the 13 year old girl classic...MASH! We had to adjust the rules for me, the married lady with kids, but it was still fun. We even did one for Shane! All 3 of us ended up living in Franklin! And Marisa ended up marrying Adrian Tidd!
They had me walk around for an hour after that. Marisa and I would have walk-races down the hallway. We also got lots of comments that I was smiling too much... We went back to the room and I had lunch...grilled cheese, mashed potatoes, peas, and carrots. It was the energy I needed! Candace came in at 145. She checked me and said that I was around 3.5 and that my cervix had come way down. Then out came the amniohook and she broke my water! After she left, Shane asked "uhh, did she just break your water?" It was wierd because there was no discussion, it was ust done, very low key.
I got up so we could start walking around again, and forgot that I now had amniotic fluid on the loose! I had to say really quickly to Shane and Marisa that I did not in fact just pee, even though it sounded like it! With Oliver my water broke when I was in active labor, so I didn't care as much. I put on some jeans so I didn't have to keep worrying about flashing people my bum. I'd say we were walking for about 20 minutes before I had Marisa timing my contractions. 1 minute apart, 30 seconds long. At about 3 I couldn't walk anymore and went to labor in my room. Sitting on the birthing ball slowed the contractions, but it felt good, so I stayed on the ball until 330 when Candace came to check me. When she checked me I was between 5-6 and fully effaced. She said "Now I know that's probably not the progress you were hoping for, but it's progress." I responded that I thought I was only going to be 4 cm, so I was happy. I was still able to tell Marisa to update my Facebook at this point to say that I was in active labor.
After observing a few more contractions, Candace, with concern in her voice, told one of the nurses to start setting up for the birth, that things could start happening quickly.
Right after this I started going through transition. I knew I was going through it because a) I announced the unutterable words "I can't do this!" (in the next breath I yelled out "Yes I can!") and b) I started shaking uncontrollably, which is what I did with Oliver.
After that I decided I wanted to go in the tub, but Candace gave me a look that said "Unless you want to give birth in the jacuzzi, you are not going in!" and suggested I go in the shower instead. So I limped over to the shower and the nurse held the shower head and sprayed it on my stomach. I was in there for about 2 contractions when I started to feel the need to push. They got me out of the shower and I sat down on the bed while they set up the birthing stool. Meanwhile I was saying "I need to push! I need to push!" to which Shane kept saying "Don't push! Don't push!" He later told me that he was afraid that I was going to give birth on the bed and the baby would have nowhere to go!
I got onto the stool and started pushing. After 3 pushes, I kind of wondered why she wasn't out yet, because that is all it took with Oliver. After pushing for several minutes, Candace told me that there was some scar tissue from my last birth that wasn't stretching, thus not allowing the baby's head to come through. She finally made the executive decision to cut through it to minimize my own tearing. I didn't hear it, I didn't feel it. Too much pressure. Shane on the other hand still shudders when he thinks about it! Once she had cut through it I think I pushed for three more times (one time declaring "GET HER OUT OF ME!") before Candace told me to reach down and touch my baby's head. My eyes were closed until this point, so I opened them and saw Lily's head coming out! She then had me reach down and help deliver my own baby! How cool! I remember saying, "She's tiny! She's so beautiful! Oh! I love her!" My brain was even functioning enough to tell Candace that Marisa was going to cut the cord, not Shane. With Oliver I was in shock, so I didn't say anything for several minutes, and actually worried Shane and my mom.
They then took Lily to warm her up a little and transferred me to the bed to see what the damage was. And it was bad. After several minutes, the midwife told me that she couldn't get the bleeding to stop and that she was going to have a surgeon come in and take a look. The surgeon told me that I had randomly torn and that the tears were deep inside of me. I was injected with several shots to numb my entire pelvic region (to which the surgeon said that I must have a very high pain tolerance because most women would be screaming just getting the injection.) The surgeon and midwife then spent about 45 minutes stitching me up making comments like "I think that goes there" and "I think we got all of the tears!" Not comforting words. But I was holding my sweet baby the whole time, so I wasn't really paying much attention.
Later I was again told that I have a high pain tolerance because most women with that much repair usually need Percoset to help ease the pain, but I was fine with just Ibuprofin. It's kind of nice to be told that. I always figured I had a low pain tolerance and that's why I have short labors, my body couldn't handle a long labor!
And my, how the time flies! I had Lily weighed on Monday and she was already 8lb 10.8oz. One and half ounces shy of a a 1 lb gain in 2 weeks! Usually, by two weeks they want to make sure the baby is back up to birth weight! What can I say...I make milk shakes!

On the way to the hospital Friday morning

Being monitored Friday morning (about 2 hours before they sent me home)

Monday morning playing some MASH with RisAbout an hour before delivery!Getting stitched up, but enjoying my sweet distraction

Crazy Night!!

Last Wednesday morning, as I was preparing to come home from the hospital, I called my mom to finalize plans that she and Aaron were coming down to help out for the afternoon. The answer that I got was not what I was expecting...
"Well, last night I was driving down to the bus station to pick up Aaron. I was heading into New Hampton when I got busted for speeding. I explained that I wasn't paying attention and that I was going to pick up my son who was visiting from Washington. He let me got with a 'have a good night' and a warning. I was pretty flumoxed by this, so I accidentally got going on 93N instead of 93S. So that put me a good 40 minutes behind schedule, plus I was nervous that the officer saw me get on 93N when I said I was going to Concord...
So I gave Aaron a call so he knew that I was running late. He told me that instead of waiting at the station, he would wait at the stop light coming off of the ramp so we could get right back onto the highway. So I get to the exit, in jumps Aaron, as he's putting his seatbelt on he tells me the light is green. As I start pulling out the back side of the driver's side gets SLAMMED by someone blowing a red light. We spin around in the intersection and as we come to a stop we see the person throw the vehicle back into drive and speed off. Hit and run. Aaron jumps out and starts chasing the car to see if he can get the license plate number. He can't. I'm just sitting in shock this whole time.
Aaron calss 911 and while we are waiting a good samaritan parks next to us to tell us that he was behind the car that hit us and that he followed him and got his plate numbers. After 10 minutes of waiting an officer happens upon the scene and waits until the responding officer arrives. She seems a bit disinterested in the incident and when Aaron suggests that the car looks okay to drive home, she agrees and sends us on our way.
We drive around the Concord Trailways parking lot of a bit and decide that we can, indeed, make it home. The alignment isn't even off! So Aaron, who is less shaken by all of this, decides to drive. A mile and a half onto the highway he looks in the rearview mirror and says 'Oh, he must have hit the rearview light because it's blinking. Oh. wait. Thats a FIRE.' So he pulls over and starts screaming for us to get out of the car, that its going to explode. So we run as fast as we can. I feel like I'm in an episode of Cops, running through a field in the middle of the night. Aaron yells that we have to keep running because the fire was right next to the gas tank and it could blow at any second. Then he says 'Wait! All of my stuff is in the car!' And runs back to go get it!! He makes it back safely and at this point another good samaritan pulls over and offers to let us sit in her car. She calls 911 for us because we are in such shock. Another 10 minutes later the fire department shows up to put out the fire. I called my visiting teacher to take us home."
Thus, within an hour, my mom's car was put into the system THREE times.
Mom and Aaron braved their fear and still came down to see me on Wednesday and on the way back found a new (used) car for mom. It was a very scary experience that ended up with several miraculous outcomes. What a blessing that they came out of it just fine!

mom with the car the next day after it had been towed

FRUSTRATED

It happened again. I went to load my pictures on the computer and the computer freezes and deletes them off of the camera and they never make it onto the computer. The first round were a bunch of pictures of Lily in the hospital. This second round were our FHE from this week where we painted pumpkins. Oliver painted his hand prints and we put Lily's footprints on the other. We had pictures of the whole process and it is so FRUSTRATING that they are just GONE now. I'm on the verge of tears. The memories are just gone now. I'll have Shane take some pictures of the pumpkins later. What I don't understand, and what makes it even more frustrating, is that it doesn't happen when Shane loads the pictures, only when I do. Grrrrrrr

First Sunday

Lily attended church for the first time on Sunday. She slept through the whole thing which is what you want at that age!

Oliver attended church for the first time as a big brother and Shane attended as a daddy of two! Everyone looked great:-D What a great family I have!

Uncle Aaron's Visit

Uncle Aaron flew all the way out from Washington to visit his newest niece! We spent the afternoon in Portsmouth...Lily's first outing! She slept through the whole thing. We went to Poco's Bow Street Cantina for dinner. Shane got the chimichangas and said they were awesome. I got a cheeseburger and food poisoning. Awesome.
Oliver loves his Uncle Aaron, probably because he is just like him! As Oliver gets older I hope he is able to see Aaron more because I know they will have a great relationship!
I am now realizing that I didn't take any pics of Aaron with Oliver or Lily, but I know they're out there, just on assorted cameras.

Someone put bubbles in the fountain!

Grandma and Grandbaby

Sweet girl
Hangin' with Willy the Whale

Aaron and his gf Madrese

Lily Bates

She is here! Born September 14, 2009 at 4:14pm. 7lbs 12 ozs, 20.5 inches long. My water was broken at 145 and I had her 2.5 hours later. Very quick, intense labor, but completely worth it! We are now working on adjusting to life with two children and no sleep. I will try to keep posting pics, but they might be spotty these next few weeks. Sorry about the quality of the pics, I accidentally deleted the good ones that Shane took:-\

Still Here- Day 11

Yesterday was a fun day. Full of non-labor fun. Shane made his Saturday Morning Breakfast. This week it was oatmeal banana pancakes with peanut butter and chocolate topping with a side of sausage and hashbrowns. Goodness gracious they were delicious. Shane's mom had stayed down with us the night previous just in case I went into labor, so she got to experience the awesomeness that is Saturday Morning Breakfast.
After Breakfast Irene (MIL) and I headed out shopping. We hit up a yard sale that had some book shelves that were PERFECT and the PERFECT PRICE but they were just too darn big. There was no way we could fit them in the car so we had to leave them behing *sniff sniff*. We did score an awesome bargain at the yard sale, though. They had one of those play mats that has roads all over it for little ones to play with their cars. It was only THREE BUCKS!!
We then headed down to the Christmas Tree Shop. Oliver definitely hit the jackpot yesterday because we kept finding super cute, fun stuff for him. I found a couple of canvases with a fire engine and a police car on them. Perfect for a little boys room! Irene bought him some cars for his new car rug and then we found an AWESOME toy vacuum cleaner. It looks just like ours, and has all of the same buttons. Oliver is always taking ours out of the closet and playing around with it, so it is great that he has his own to play with now.
When we got home from shopping, we were greeted by a vase of lilys and a gift bag with diapers and bibs. Shane told me that his co-worker had showed up at the house and said, "I went to the hospital, but you weren't there..." I just can't believe how thoughtful he was to bring such a beautiful gift first to the hospital and then to our house. I was hoping the scent of lilys would coax our own Lily out, but no such luck!
The biggest news of the day, though, came from Marisa in the evening. Mom had her flight changed so now she is able to make it to the birth!! This was the biggest disappointment about being sent home on Friday. We knew Marisa was not going to be able to meet her niece before she left for 18 months! Thanks to Mom's powers of persuasion, though, she is now going to be able to see little Lily be born...and even cut the cord!
Today is Marisa's farewell open house so we will be driving up for that, which should be a good time.

Still Here- Day 10

Seriously. I had contractions all afternoon. Then we went to the Friendly Toast and they went away. Stupid over-priced hippie food! Never going there again! I did get a Rosebud cake from Popovers out of the deal, so at least one good thing came out of not having Lily yesterday.

Now, I just want to make one thing very very clear. I know how lucky I am. I get pregnant very easily. I have super easy pregnancies. No morning sickness. I don't show until 6-7 months. My last delivery was efficient and effective. I have an angel of a child that gives me no problems and makes it so easy to parent. And he is healthy. I know that having to wait a few extra days to meet my next angel is not asking much of me. I am just impatient. The complaining I do is with an awareness that this complaint is very low on the scale of complaints and I don't really mope around all day saying "woe is me".

I just want to meet my Lily girl is all:)

THEY SENT ME HOME...

WITHOUT A BABY!!!!

Yes, you read correctly. They gave me one dose of progesterone to thin out my cervix and bring on contractions. Then I waited for 3 hours. When they came back they informed me that several women in labor had come into the ward that that they didn't have room for me. So I'm scheduled for another induction on Monday. Oy. I've been having contractions off and on all day, so I'm trying to keep those going so that I can go back to the hospital in labor at some point this weekend, but they seem to be fading:(
I guess Lily just wasn't supposed to be born on the 11th...

Still Here-Day 8

Yesterday I had my post-dates ultrasound and non-stress test. These are both done to make sure the baby is still thriving. Marisa came with me to the ultrasound which she was really excited about. I'm glad she was able to see the ultrasound of Lily. At this point she is so big that you can't see much, but the tech gave us some great shots of her little bum! Haha! There was plenty of fluid for her to swim in, so the tech said (with disappointment) that she couldn't call the hospital to induce me right then.
The non-stress test simply involves them putting monitors to measure the baby and contractions and make sure the baby is reacting appropriately (ie the heartrate goes up as contractions go up). I was there for about 2 boring hours. It also reminded me how uncomfortable those hospital beds are! I'm going to have to bring a few pillows from home!
At 9 the Camerons, Amber, and Hillary came over to watch Wipeout. The Presidential address went over, which worked out so we could all chat before the show started (sorry, Pres. Obama!) What rocked was that when the show came on it a. started from the beginning, and b. was in Australia! Nice! Those Aussie contestants are even crazier than the American ones (who knew that was possible!?)
Today is going to consist of last minute preps for the baby. She'll be here tomorrow! Nutters! I also want to sneak in one more nap before I don't sleep again for 6 months:)
Shane is going to try and keep the blog updated while I am in the hospital, in fact, I think he is planning on bringing it to the hospital, so stay tuned for some pics tomorrow! He also joked that he was going to web cam the whole thing...well I hope it was a joke:-D Well I am off to savor my last day with Oliver as an only child!

Still Here-Day 7

Well yesterday went from being a pretty bad day to a pretty good day. It started off with ridiculous phone tag with my provider. I was told I needed a non stress test before my appointment, but no one ever wrote an order up for one. I told this to the receptionist and after talking to three people I was told to just call the hospital and tell them I needed one. That sounded wierd, but I called. Not surprisingly they told me I can't just call and ask for one, that my provider needs to do that. So I call the provider back, get new person number 4 who transfers me back to person number 3 who says that they'll call me back. They called back and said don't worry about it, just come to the appointment.
I also called the hospital to see when the tour of the child birth center was yesterday and they said from 7-8 in the evening. Marisa was planning on coming up, so that was perfect because then Shane could come check it out with me! Hooray! The only bummer was that I had to miss Enrichment.
At 1230 we got a knock on the door...RahRah! Ris had surprised us and come up early. Oliver was beside himself. We pretty much just lounged most of the day and then went grocery shopping. We took a little long doing that so I had to rush Ris and Oliver home and then zip over to my appointment...and I was only 5 minutes late!
So in the appointment my provider checked me and said I hadn't really progressed since the last time I saw her (2 weeks ago), so that was a bummer. Still 2cm and 50%.
Then came the real kicker. She set up my NST and ultrasound appointments for Wednesday and then told me they would schedule the induction for Monday. Now you all know I've been thinking that I would be induced on Thursday. It's not just that I'm impatient. Marisa leaves on her mission on Monday!! She would leave and I would be pregnant, she would return and I would have an 18 month old! I told my provider this whole sob story, and she explained to me that they won't do it on a weekend or Friday and that Thursday was too soon, that they like to be closer to 42 weeks than that. So while she went to order the induction I sat in the room holding back tears, trying to think of ways to break it to Marisa that she was not, indeed, going to be meeting her niece for another 18 months.
This is where the tides turned. She came back with the nurse and said, "Great news! I just asked the nurse if they do inductions on Fridays and she said they do! So we scheduled your induction for Friday!" Sweet miracle of miracles! I couldn't believe it! I was beside myself and thanked them both about a million times. So most likely Lily will be born on 9/11 which I don't mind because it is the mirror of Oliver's birthday (11/9) so it is easier to remember! The only "if" is that I have to call 6 o'clock Friday morning to make sure they're not too swamped. If they get inundated by labors the night before, they won't take me! So lots of prayers for a slow week in the maternity ward, okay?
So I got home, we had dinner, and Shane and I were out the door to go for our Birth Center Tour. Which the tour guide forgot about so we sat there for 20 minutes before Shane informed them that there were 3 couples waiting for a tour. A nurse quickly threw together one, but she was great. She answered all of our questions, and good lordy! that ward is MUCH bigger Laconia. The nurse said that last week they were swamped with births (the week I was due) and that for this month they had already had 30 births! So I'm hoping we missed the wave and that it will be quiet when we go in. When I had Oliver it was only me and one other woman. In the entire birth center last night, I think there were two women in there, so that is hopeful.
Allright, I have to go make my sweetums lunch!

Still Here-Day 6

Shane was so sure I was going to go into labor last night...sorry, love!
Yesterday we headed over to the Hopkinton Fair with Marisa. It was a good time, but we all agreed that we like the Sandwich Fair better. It seems better organized...it could just be that we know the layout of Sandwich Fair better. Oliver got to pet a sheep and a llama and saw all sorts of farm animals. He loved it! He got pretty tuckered out and fell asleep about an hour after we got there and stayed asleep until we left!! We were surprised at how much cheaper the food was at this fair compared to Sandwich. We got fries for $2 and we saw italian sausages for $3! We ended up getting buffalo sausage (our fave) and Marisa got a buffalo hot dog. We also sampled some maple cotton candy and maple bbq sauce. Both were delish! We also saw a 1,000 lb pumpkin! My goodness they had some huge pumpkins! What was crazy is that the 1,000 lb pumpkin was only 57 days old from flowering! Can you imagine waking up each morning and seeing how much the pumpkin grew over night!? On the way out Marisa bought three flavors of fudge (choco walnut, choco pb, and heath bar).
That afternoon Mom and I worked on Marisa's birthday presents. We made several lists of "21", including "21 Family Memories", "21 Movie Quotes", "21 missionary scriptures",and "21 recipes". Mom also made her a 21 themed gift of things to take on her mission...21 hair clips, 21 post it notes, 21 hair elastics, 21 bottles of shampoo (Dad always saves the hotel bottles), etc, etc. It was really cute. We enjoyed chicken curry and chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting and mint ice cream. I hope Marisa had a good birthday, because I really enjoyed it!

Giant bull

"A llama!? He was supposed to be dead!"

Aww, sheepsy!

This was on the buffalo sausage stand! Hilarious!
Marisa apprehensively enjoying her buffalo hot dogLily enjoying some buffalo sausage
Ginormo pumpkins
Happy Birthday RahRah! (check out the candles)

Still Here-Day 5

Yesterday was the PERFECT fall day. I wish every single day was like that. Crisp, cool air. Plenty of sun. Blue skies. I made a slow cooker meal so that I didn't have to worry about preparing dinner so I could focus on taking a nap! Lately I haven't been able to make it through the day without a nap. It makes me wonder what it's going to be like when Lily gets here because I'm going to be getting a lot less sleep!
In church yesterday we were talking about what our passions are. I couldn't think of one. I asked Shane later and he said "reading blogs." That needs to change. I'm hoping to clear a spot in the apartment and adopt my mom's sewing machine. I would really like to be able to do some basic sewing.
Today is Marisa's birthday. I was kind of hoping to have Lily today so she could share a birthday with her Auntie, but it's not looking good. Sorry RahRah!
We are celebrating by going to the Hopkinton State Fair. Marisa is missing the Sandwich Fair (an annual tradition for any Lakes Region student/alum) and she wanted to be able to feel the Fair atmosphere so we are taking her to this one. Apparently its a really big one, so it should be lots of fun! Shane and I are going to try to NOT stuff ourselves silly because we are also going to the Rochester Fair and Sandwich Fair this year, but I can make no promises.

Still Here-Day 4

Yesterday I started the morning by leaving Oliver with Shane and did a little yard sale-ing! I hit up about a dozen yard sales and the only thing I walked away with was a little toy Volkswagen for Oliver ($.25) I saw lots of good stuff, just nothing that we need. And of course there was mounds and mounds of junk that you want to ask them "Did you REALLY think anyone would buy this??"
When I got home Shane made up a DELICIOUS breakfast. A belgian waffle covered with Maple Spread from Canada, topped with two hashbrowns, covered with 4 sausage patties, smothered with two eggs, and finished off with pepper jack cheese. Oh my goodness gracious, it was so good. The sweetness of the waffle and maple blended so well with the saltiness of the sausage and hashbrowns. We both woke up this morning craving another one. Now my challenge to you all is to come up with a name for this monstrous creation...I have a feeling it is going to be in our home many many times!
After breakfast Oliver and I took naps. By the time we woke up it was 3pm. We drove over to Portsmouth to walk around and let Oliver run and play in the park. There is a statue of a fish there that he loves to "feed" grass to. It is HILARIOUS. He was also being a flirty mcgourtey to all the ladies in the park. One lucky lady got several fistfuls of grass:) I was feeling pretty rotten the whole time as Lily continues to run out of room and decides to sacrifice my internal organs to make herself more comfortable. After a fresh squeezed lemonade, though, I felt better.
I made pasta with alfredo sauce for dinner. I always forget how delicious (and easy!) it is until I make it! Yum! From that point on until I went to bed (around 10) Lily did NOT STOP MOVING. It wasn't frantic movement or anything, it was just moving back and forth, up and down. It made me wonder if I might go into labor later in the night because she was running out of room or something. No such luck!
Tuesday I have an appointment and I guess we will schedule the induction then. From what I can gather, that will be Thursday the 10th. I will continue the daily updates, but count on that being "the day".

Still Here-Day 3

Last night we spent the evening walking around Portsmouth. It was so nice. I'm trying to change my perspective, and just focus on these last precious moments where I can have Oliver all to myself and not have to divide my time and attention with another baby. He has really been behaving so well lately. He is more patient in stores, more pleasant in front of people, sillier when we're playing. He is just a dream come true for any parent. Shane and I often discuss how Lily can compete with such a wonderful little boy. He has been so easy to parent (aside from sleep issues), we've really been spoiled with him. I'm sure Lily will find a way to steal our hearts though:)
This morning I'm going to do a little yard sale-ing before coming home to do a little cleaning. Then its Saturday Morning Breakfast! This is a tradition that Shane started up about a month ago. He spoils Oliver and I and makes a big breakfast for us to enjoy. This morning is waffles, sausage, eggs, and hashbrowns...I can't wait!
Marisa and I are a little obsessed with this group called Metronomy right now. We can't get enough of their song, "Radio Ladio." Its a pretty good song, but a HILARIOUS music video. So here it is for your enjoyment...

Still Here-Day 2

So at Chilli's last night I ordered a side of hot sauce. I dipped my fries in it, smothered my corn in it, then DRANK the rest of it. It did not work. Luckily I didn't have any ill side effects either. This baby just doesn't want to come out. I'm doing some shopping this morning, then headed up to my parents for the rest of the day; we'll see if they can persuade Lily to make an entrance!

Still Here

I have a request to update every day that I am NOT in labor. So here I am. NOT in labor. boooo. My tenant just became a squatter (which, incidentally, I've been doing a lot of to try and get her OUT!) Marisa and Mom are going to Connecticut to visit Grandma and Gabriel this weekend, so I will probably have the baby then. I need to keep my mind off of it, but that is much MUCH easier said than done. All of a sudden, movements the baby has always made seem different. WHAT IF IT WAS A CONTRACTION? IS THE BABY GETTING UNCOMFORTABLE? SHE'S NOT MOVING AS MUCH, MAYBE SHE KNOWS LABOR WILL START SOON! All this and about 300 other hypotheses go through my mind everytime Lily moves...or if she doesn't move! I'm driving myself crazy! Oh well, one day at a time...I have to savor the time I have with Oliver.

In other news, yesterday I had a mini nesting session. I made chocolate cheesecake, pear pie, and baked enchiladas. They were all delish. I may make another pear pie later this week! We took the desserts over to the Cameron's and watched Wipeout. That show gets funnier the more people you have, there were 7 of us, so it was more hilarious than usual! Even though Oliver didn't want to sleep through it (which is what we were hoping for) he still behaved really really well.

I'm super excited about tonight. Marisa's coming down. We're going out to Chili's. We're splitting dinner so we have room for dessert. And then...PROJECT RUNWAY! Oliver has been chatting about "RahRah" since yesterday, so I'd say he's definitely excited:)

It worked for Mikensi...

Dear Lily,

Your contract expires tomorrow, September 2. Please vacate the premises as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

Your Landlady

I've been having a rough day today. At last weeks appointment I was told that I was 2 cm dilated and 50% effaced. Exciting! Today when I was checked she said that my cervix was so far up that she couldn't even tell. Come. On. Is that even possible? She said that the baby's head moved down, possibly in a posterior position, so it pushed the cervix back. It just doesn't even make sense to me. ALL BABIES MOVE DOWN. THAT IS HOW THEY GET OUT. On both of these occasions I felt like I was begging just to be checked. The way I see it, it is my body and I have the right to know what is going on with it. It's not like I was asking for a quick surgery. These are prenatal nurses. IT'S WHAT THEY DO. They also keep giving me the run around for the induction process. It's like they won't discuss it until it HAS to happen. I was 2 weeks late with Oliver. My mom was late with all of her children. I know my body. I'M GOING TO BE LATE, LET'S TALK ABOUT THE PROCESS. This is what I have been told so far... They won't induce all the way at 2 weeks, because they don't want to be on the edge (whatever that means). They don't induce on weekends, which includes Fridays. So even though my 2 weeks overdue-ness is the 16th, the latest they'll induce is the 10th. When I asked if they could just induce this Thursday, she looked at me like I was asking to be induced 6 weeks early and said "We don't do elective inductions." So at some point between September 4 and September 10 we cross the line between "elective" and "medically necessary" induction. But when? I'm having a non-stress test done on Monday and then another appointment on Tuesday. Maybe MAYBE they will actually discuss induction then. The frustrating part about this whole pregnancy (since we moved to Dover) is that the workers at the doctors office don't really listen to the patient. I've encountered this with the nurses, the nutritionists, the lactation specialists, and the social workers. They have their set script and their 30 seconds with me, and anything beyond that they let you know that you are putting a dent in their style OR just ignore what is being said. The whole experience at this practice has made me really want to get my nutrition degree. Now that I've been on the receiving end of nutrition "advice", I know how demeaning it is the way that it is delivered. And the thing is, I remember learning these methods in my nutrtion classes. The methods all make the recipients feel like children. And what do you do when you are made to feel like a child? Act like a child. So in a way, these people are perpetuating the behavior that they are trying to change. Okay, okay. Deep breaths, deep breaths... It will all be over soon...