"growing" impatient

[peternap]

Absolutely!  I told the doctor last week that I hoped to make it to the hospital in time for someone to catch the baby, but that by that time I wouldn't care whether it was actually her or the receptionist at the admitting desk.  It's funny... I'm nowhere near as big as I was with the older two, and overall it has been an easier pregnancy than either of the previous ones, yet I've still reached that point.  One of my neighbors was laughing at me yesterday as I rounded the block again.  She asked when I was due and when I told her last week, she cracked up and said, "No wonder I see you walking everywhere!"  I think that this time around, maybe we're too prepared.  The house is in order, the baby stuff is all set up, etc.  With both of the girls, it seemed like it "snuck up" on us even though I was to the "get her out now!" stage and we were overwhelmed by the fact that when they got here we almost didn't know what to do with them.  DD#1 came on Christmas Eve, and I remember coming home in the snow and setting her down on the couch by the Christmas tree, and she was looking at me with that intense gaze, and DH said, "NOW what do we do?"  With DD#2, when we got her home, it was so hot, and we didn't have AC, I remember stripping her down to nothing but a cloth diaper to keep her cool enough, and trying to get the crib set back up before she outgrew the cradle.

This morning DH suggested that I call the doctor and see what she thinks about the contractions, etc.  I am not yet desperate enough to let her induce me chemically, though I have thought about the whole castor oil thing more than once.   I have a feeling that she'd say, "Yeah, come on in and I'm sure that once we get you going, you'd have that baby in a matter of an hour or two."  I've heard that story before with DD#2, and it didn't happen quite like my doc planned.   I just hope that if it is going to happen today, it happens either well in advance, or well after rush hour.  The road between here and the hospital is really congested from a few minutes before 5 PM until about 5:45, and it seems like that is the time that the contractions always seem to start.  This morning I was doing everything from jumping jacks to Latin dancing trying to get things going.     I know, scarring mental image....

That's your problem....Too Prepared. Our first was a month early, the house was a mess and I hadn't paid the electric bill that month yet (Back then I always paid on the disconnect notice). I had just finished talking to my grandmother and telling her "Not for another month".

I hung up and was told to get the car. That was about 10:00 PM. The baby came about 3:00.
I came home to straighten up the next evening  (They kept them for three days then) and the power was off. Went and paid the bill and cleaned up the next day. The day after, they came home and never knew.

Second one, we had all ready by the due date. She came two weeks late. The girls are always late and never change.

[glenn kangiser]

That's like my equipment trailer.  If I carry a spare tire I will never have a flat.  If I put on a new tire it will get destroyed by a rock but the bald cracked rotted one will last forever.

Yup -- too much preparation. - you got it, Peter.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Well, had contractions every four minutes all afternoon and evening, so I finally went in to the hospital around 8:30.  I'm a little concerned about the hospital... it smelled just like a dead rat.    Anyway, it is just after midnight, and they sent me home because nothing was happening.  Oh, I'm still having contractions,  but they're not doing much, so I was glad to get out of there.  If the rest of the hospital beds in that hospital are as uncomfortable as the triage room, I may make a run for it, anyway.  I could barely walk by the time I got out of the darn thing.  The nurse acted freaked out because I seemed to be running a low grade temperature (99 degrees) but then it was just really hot today, and I was burning up even in the well-ventilated hospital gown.  I hate hospitals.  Not looking forward to having to go back there. 

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

You know, I got to thinking this morning that we're right down the road from two really really nice hospitals... If I just wait until the baby is about to pop out, I could just show up at their ER and they'd have to help me.  Seeing (and smelling) how dirty the hospital I'm supposed to deliver at is last night made me really leery of having a baby there, and i'm not even a germ-phobe in the least.  Nobody washed their hands!!!  Gross!!!  The RN (seemingly the only nurse on duty all night) was walking around with a sample of someone's urine in her hands while she's directing us to a room and getting me a hospital gown to change into.  She set it down about three or four times in the triage room, including on my table.  Plus the poor thing seemed to have been born without a personality.  Now I'm really hoping that labor comes on so hard and fast that I get to deliver at home.  Even the on call doctor didn't wash his hands, but he also didn't touch me or walk around carrying a cup of pee. 

[peternap]

Sounds like a plan!

I have a gut feeling, it's going to be tonight. Just run down to one of the better hospitals and go for it.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Hope you're right, Peter.  My realtor here is betting on today, too, because it's her birthday.  My mom kept saying Tuesday of last week and now she's saying this Tuesday.  We'll see.   

[glenn kangiser]

The RN (seemingly the only nurse on duty all night) was walking around with a sample of someone's urine in her hands while she's directing us to a room and getting me a hospital gown to change into.  She set it down about three or four times in the triage room, including on my table.

Hope she was more with it than I was this morning.

I mixed some water and vinegar in my coffee cup for ants then forgot and took a good sip of it.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

    At least it was just vinegar and water in your case, Glenn!  I had a friend in college who went home for the weekend and wasn't quite awake one morning when he grabbed his dad's Bengay off the sink and put it on his toothbrush and started brushing.  He was about halfway through before he noticed it tasted weird and his mouth started burning uncontrollably.  Even when he got back to campus Sunday night his lips were all swollen up and he looked like someone had popped him in the mouth.


No baby yet today... just a long waiting game and I am tired beyond belief... really hope to get a good night's sleep tonight because I don't think i can handle it if I go into labor right now.

[muldoon]

No baby yet today... just a long waiting game and I am tired beyond belief... really hope to get a good night's sleep tonight because I don't think i can handle it if I go into labor right now.

Hang in there, your almost there.  I remember me and my wife feeling that same way with our second one.  Just exhausted the entire last week; I remember telling my wife we'll sleep after the baby gets here.  Lets just focus on that first.  HA!  we didn't "sleep" for another year. 

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Don't think I've slept since the first was born about 5 1/2 years ago.  But there is a difference in sleeping lightly or getting up a time or two a night with kids and being awake ALL night.  I didn't sleep much at all until after 3 this morning when I moved to the recliner.  Before then, every time I'd doze off, my hands would fall asleep.  Got a doctor's appointment this afternoon where I plan to tell her what I think of the triage area of the hospital... I seriously think it scared me out of labor.  When the nurse got done hooking up all the monitors and junk and left, I seriously had thoughts of ripping them all off, getting dressed and getting the heck out of there.  Even worse when the doctor on duty came in to see me and it was an Indonesian man I'd met in college... I don't go to male doctors, and was a little freaked out that they even sent one in to dismiss me from the hospital.  Nothing to make you relax and have a baby like being stripped from the waist down and covered only in a thin white sheet under glaring fluorescent lights and then having the door left wide open to the hallway, and total strangers walking in and out!  And the room was PINK of all colors... pink is great in flowers and sunsets, but on walls it makes me want to puke. 

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

By the way, Muldoon, I feel your pain... I'm trying really hard not to keep DH awake at night just because I can't sleep.  Thankfully this time I've not had any leg cramps to speak of, so I haven't been randomly flogging him in the middle of the night with vague pleadings of, "Leg!!  Leg!!"  I'm really glad we got that recliner... that way I can get up and move in there and let him get a decent night's sleep. 

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

   Well, got to the doctor's office today and she sprang a surprise on me.  I have a choice of being induced tomorrow morning OR she is leaving to  Vancouver for the weekend and won't be back until Sunday night.  There is no female doctor or midwife to fill in for her, so I would have to be attended by a male physician I've never met if I go into labor before she gets back... my chances would be just about as good if I really did show up at the ER of another hospital.  So, then she calls over to labor and delivery to see if they can work in an induction tomorrow for me.  Turns out, they're full, so I can either go into labor on my own tonight and they have to squeeze me in, OR they'll call me at 6 AM and let me know if they have a "slot" so I can come in and be induced (if one of the women currently in labor has her baby OR if one of the other inductees gets "processed" fast enough), which is exactly what I'd hoped to avoid in the first place.   What kind of choice is that really??  I sometimes hate the so-called "miracle" of modern medicine... it is about as miraculous as fast food and assembly lines.  I'm aggravated enough that I might just go into labor on my own tonight. 

[glenn kangiser]

The last thread of freedom falls to the busy doctor -- the freedom for a child to have a natural birthday.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Maybe even if they do call and tell me they have a slot in the morning I'll just say no... and take my chances showing up at another ER? 

[glenn kangiser]

If it's ready it will come out but you get to decide - doctors convenience or when it's time.

[peternap]

Since we haven't heard anything, I assume we have a little Net Nephew or Niece Now!

[muldoon]

since she hasn't posted all day that would be my guess too.  Prayers sent, (although I felt funny praying for Homegrown tomatoes since I don't know her real name )  anyway, I figured god would figure it out.  Get some rest girl, post pictures when you can. 

[peternap]

since she hasn't posted all day that would be my guess too.  Prayers sent, (although I felt funny praying for Homegrown tomatoes since I don't know her real name )  anyway, I figured god would figure it out.  Get some rest girl, post pictures when you can. 

I think God's pretty good at that muldoon!

[glenn kangiser]

She gave us a link to her Kitchen remodel album along with other albums there so I'm pretty sure she won't mind if you have a look.  Very nice growing family.

http://homegrowntomatoes.spaces.live.com/default.aspx?mkt=en-US&partner=Live.Spaces

[StinkerBell]

I can't wait to find out what HT had....

[peternap]

I can't wait to find out what HT had....

I'm betting it's a boy!

[gandalfthegrey]

She gave us a link to her Kitchen remodel album along with other albums there so I'm pretty sure she won't mind if you have a look.  Very nice growing family.

http://homegrowntomatoes.spaces.live.com/default.aspx?mkt=en-US&partner=Live.Spaces

From her blog.
December 26
Welcome
Hi! All.

Please have fun and leave some comments.

Lyon and Michelle

[glenn kangiser]

I can't wait to find out what HT had....

...a baby?

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Yup, you guessed it!  Baby got here Thursday at 2:48 in the afternoon.  An 8 lb. 1 oz. girl named Sylvia.  She is starving right now, or thinks she is, so I can't post much.  I'll post a picture as soon as I remember how and have a few seconds to do so.  I was pretty contrary at the hospital and didn't need so much as a tylenol.  She was born SO fast it was unreal.  I think I only had two or three really strong contractions before she was born and couldn't even process it when she actually came out... I'm still feeling great, and she's doing really well, too. 

[Sassy]

Congratulations, HG!    to Sylvia     So, how long was it you were in the hospital before you had the baby?  Sounds like you made it in time...