"growing" impatient

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Well, I have decided to take the kids to the OKC zoo for the afternoon.  The weather is cooler today and not humid, though there is a chance of rain.  We have a family zoo pass, and it isn't too far away, and there is a lot of room to walk, so maybe just hiking around there for a few hours will get things started again.  I know good and well that if I were still with my old doctor who delivered the girls, she wouldn't have let me leave the hospital this morning... because it seems like from 4 cm. to 10 cm. goes REALLY fast for me usually.  I was at 4 this morning, so we'll see what happens.  The good news is that the zoo is also close to the hospital.  And DH could run over to the zoo from work fairly easily, too, if he ends up needing to pick me up there or something.  I think you're right, Sassy... pregnancy lasts just long enough you're willing to go through whatever it takes to finally get that kid out of there by the time they come...including extreme pain and a loss of modesty that would otherwise kill you. 

But, before we go to the zoo, I could really stand a chili relleno... think I'm stopping for Mexican food en route!

[Sassy]

4 cm, huh?  Gee, that is getting close...     Chile relleno?  I made the mistake of eating a really rich dinner with my oldest son shortly before having him - didn't get sick but it was uncomfortable...  the walking should do it, hopefully... 

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Well, the Mexican food didn't do it, and neither did four hours of hiking around the zoo (but it did thoroughly wear the kids out, more so than me, even.)  The kids were tired of having to stop at every single bathroom in the zoo.  We looked at the meerkats and the red pandas and the aquarium, and then the big cats, fed the ducks and geese and turtles and sunfish, and then went through the 11 acre Oklahoma Trails exhibit, which is really good.  Then we made a trip back through the pachyderms on the way out, after a brief visit for my DD (5) to sing to the alligators.  They seemed nonplussed.  So, then we went and picked up DH and went to the Korean grocery to stock up on a few things before MIL's visit, and stopped to eat some fiery Korean food, and still nothing.  In the Korean grocery, DD tipped the shopping cart over on herself (they're really small and she didn't realize that she couldn't put her weight on them without tipping them over.) It landed on her ankle and left a really good bruise.  Then we stopped back by DH's company to pick up his car, and about halfway between there and home, DD yells, "Mom!  I'm bleeding!"  I look in the rear view to see blood all over her face, arms and t-shirt (bloody nose) and ended up taking the next exit which goes to lake frontage.  DH had no idea why I was getting off the highway and so followed me.  I had to hop out and get some kleenex to the back seat, which I couldn't reach from the front and make sure that the bleeding had subsided.  On the way back onto the highway she sighed, "Mom, I'm just havin' a rough day."  Then she decided that since she was having such a rough day, maybe I'd go into labor.  After all, when I was in labor with DD#2, she had a "rough day" in which she dislocated her elbow playing patty cake!  She was cracking me up by saying at least this rough day didn't end up with a trip to the ER.  (She's kind of looking sad, though, what with the bandaid up by her eye from the brick incident with her cousin, the bruised-up ankle, and blood all over her shirt!) 

Ha ha, as I type this, finally, a feeble little contraction!     If I've had others today, they've been mild or I've been busy enough I didn't notice.  With my second it was kind of like that... I must have been having them, but didn't know it. 

[Redoverfarm]

Popcorn did the trick for our first.  The second I don't know what it was but almost didn't make it.  I kept thinking about the first and didn't get into a hurry. Was shaving and MIL came in and said I had better get a move on or we would be having this one at home. About 30 min drive to the hospital and the water broke 1/2 way there.  The second was born before I got back from admitting office. That was cutting it a little close.  My last two was an all day thing which resulted in C section for both after about 12 hrs for each in labor. But I didn't feel a thing either time.

[StinkerBell]

Time to serve that lazy baby an eviction notice!

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

   Still waiting on this kiddo.  Last night, the baby was super active (I'm guessing that all that walking all over the zoo just lulled him/her to sleep?)  I had a few strong contractions in the early hours this morning and got up and moved to the recliner somewhere around 5 o'clock.   I'm hoping this one is more like our "rocket baby" first daughter in labor and delivery.  It was so fast that I don't remember that much about it being painful.  The second one was not so fast, 13 hours after the doctor decided to break my water without first giving pitocin or anything.  A week earlier, I'd been dilated to a five and almost fully effaced, but the day the doc decided to deliver the baby because I was sick, I was only at a 3 and she'd moved back up because she wasn't ready to come out.  I spent most of that 13 hours at a 3-4, and then the last part from 4-10 to baby was probably less than one hour total, which just goes to show me that if she'd been ready to come out in the first place, it wouldn't have been such a hard labor.  Mom and Grandma both had really fast labors... in fact, Grandma had one of the girls in the hallway, but I forget whether it was my mom or my aunt.  Let's see... today maybe I can go find a bumpy road to ride up and down for a while, but the only problem is the gas money it'll take to get away from the suburban sprawl.  Maybe I can just go to the grocery store and speed up and down the parking lot over their speed bumps instead?   

  I have what feels like shin splints today from walking around in bad shoes at the zoo yesterday.  Should've worn tennis shoes, but the others were so much cooler.  At my doc's appointment yesterday morning, at least I haven't gained any weight in the last three visits, which is usually when the baby is putting on the most weight.  I am really hoping that maybe this one is just taking some of my fat deposits for itself but not getting too big, either. 

[StinkerBell]

HT,

The rate this baby is going, he/she will come out with a full set of teeth and a college education.....

[Sassy]

gee willikers, no baby yet?  Should be today for sure, I'd think    Your labor with the 2nd baby sounds like my labors...  fairly hard contractions but not much happening, then all of a sudden, within a few minutes, actually, I went from 4 - 10 & felt like I had to push - told the nurse who had just examined me a few minutes earlier & she said you can't be pushing yet, I just checked you, I insisted I felt like pushing - so she begrudgingly checked me again & said, "oh, you are fully dilated, I better notify the doctor & get you ready!"  But then, I ended up pushing for 2 hours on both, they started pitocin on the 2nd son to try & speed things up, had to break the water on both... they were about going to take me for a C-section & I guess that scared them out of me!     Neither had dropped so guess that's why it took so long & they were fairly big.  The same thing happened with my daughter-in-law.  She wasn't moving much - both babies were induced - finally I said "do you want to pray" (she was at 3) After we prayed, within the hour, she'd delivered!  That's what happened with my 2nd son - had just prayed because things were dragging on so long & then, viola, I was ready to have him!

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Well then pray for me, too!     With both of the girls, my doc was threatening to do c-sections if I didn't have them by such-and-such times.  Like you, I think they made the deadlines because it scared them out of me!  This doc seems way less likely to intervene unnecessarily.  I've been praying for this one to hurry up so that the doc won't induce, but I think it definitely helps to have other people praying for it too! 

My kids are really wild today, so my luck it would be today when they're busy fighting over their imaginary games and pestering each other to death.  DD3 told me to do jumping jacks and maybe it would help.  Seems like I spent all morning breaking up fights and tending battle scars... this after they both dogpiled on me in the recliner this morning.   With all the noise out of the two of them, could be the baby just hears the chaos and figures it is better to stay put where there is at least some sound insulation.

[Sassy]

That could be it, HG!  I've been saying little prayers for you...  have your husband & kids lay hands on you & pray for you   

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

I will do that... they've been praying every day, but it's high time to get more specific!  I am not sure that what I'm having this afternoon is really contractions or what... it feels like someone's lassoed me just under the ribs with a cable and cinched it up tight and then is pulling it downward.  My lower and middle back are really achy too, but I don't have that feeling that I'm being wrung out like a wet towel (pitocin contractions.)  Standing up quickly is enough to knock the wind out of me, and my belly feels so tight that I almost feel like I can't inhale to the fullest anyway.  It relaxes periodically and I can breathe deeper.  I had the AC cranked up until I noticed that the kids were sitting in the floor wrapped in quilts to play a board game, so I checked the outside temperature and it is only 74, so I turned the AC back down and will just sweat it out for a while... the kids were obviously freezing though they hadn't complained.  The craziest thing is that I looked in the mirror earlier, and from the front, I don't even look pregnant... chubby, yes, but not pregnant.  From the side, it is comical just HOW pregnant I do look.  DH was joking yesterday about being able to set stuff on my belly like a side table.  I tried to use the laptop as a laptop today only to discover I don't have enough lap for it, and it is too hot to set on top of my belly (not to mention I can't read with it that close.)  I can still reach my feet, which I consider nearly miraculous.  I think I spent the last two months of the previous pregnancies barefoot because I could not reach my feet.  I can still get up and down out of the bathtub, which is another miracle of this pregnancy.  I think tub baths were out of the question by seven months in the past because I couldn't get back out after I got in... it was just too clumsy.  And, another blessing to count, unless my BP goes up drastically during labor and delivery, I probably won't even need a new glasses prescription after this baby is born (my eyes changed with both of the girls.) 

[glenn kangiser]

I'm of the school that says it will come out when it's ready. 

Long before doctors became gods, Piltdown woman squatted in her cave and gave birth naturally to our ancestors. 

[peternap]

I'm of the school that says it will come out when it's ready. 

Long before doctors became gods, Piltdown woman squatted in her cave and gave birth naturally to our ancestors. 

I'll bet she still got a bill from the Doctor!

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Yup, probably with a bunch of unaccounted for charges totalling more than $300 for a 10 minute office visit.

[glenn kangiser]

Hmm hmm No bites, eh, Homegrown.  I wanted the creationist lecture so I was yankin yer chain a bit. Oh well-- I think she's onto me.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

I could've sworn that I'd replied to this in the middle of the night last night, but guess I'm losing it from lack of sleep?   Glenn, I just wasn't sure which soap box to get up on for sure... there was the whole creationist young earth thing, and then there was the health care business/ highway robbery direction I could take, and then there was the whole "what business is it of anyone's if I have a baby at home" slant, and so on and so forth.  Maybe it was just all the choices of lectures I could begin that wore me out and I never actually hit reply?  And of course, there's the general crabby pregnant woman rant, which I could set off on at any given moment... I almost started it at breakfast when I'd just scrubbed down the table and chairs and the floor underneath and put on a clean table cloth to watch my 3YO smear peanut butter on the hem of the table cloth five minutes later. 

At 11:30 last night, one of my DDs was sleepwalking and apparently thought she was in the bathroom.  She'd lifted up a piece of a giant floor puzzle like the toilet lid, and was squatting down beside her sister's bed when I caught her, and when I picked her up to rush her to the bathroom, she peed all over me    This is a kid who has never once wet the bed, and hasn't had an accident since she was potty trained.  Of course, the commotion didn't disturb DH's sleep one bit... or for that matter the sleepwalking DD's.  I bathed her, changed her and put her back to bed, all without her ever waking up.  Then I had to go take another shower myself and change.  Blah!  This morning she was helping me do laundry and said, "Mama, did I put my cherry jammies in the dirty clothes?"  She remembered that she'd been wearing them when she went to bed, so I questioned her a bit, and she had absolutely no recollection about last night's capers.  (For this reason, I keep wind chimes on the front and back door knobs so that if they ever sleepwalk outside, I can catch them before they get too far.)

[glenn kangiser]

So you're still here, huh, Homey. hmm

Guess I better take it easy on you.  I have about the same views as you - was just trying to keep you on your toes.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Tough job but somebody's got to do it.

We drove to Crescent, OK tonight so that we could say we'd been there.  Drove out to see how far it is and to look at 80 acres I found a listing for.  It's got a shop with electric and a well with no pump, and the whole perimeter is fenced.  Pretty nice looking place and kind of in the boonies... the kind of place I'd like to live.  We stopped back in the town to eat at what appears to be the only cafe there, a place called "The Chuck Wagon Grill".  DH ordered a steak, which was excellent.  I ordered half a fried chicken and got okra, salad, and toast to boot.  If I'd known how huge it would be, I wouldn't have ordered anything for the kids.  They ended up eating some of the chicken, as did DH, and there was no way to finish the mountain of okra, either.  Service was good and the prices were good, and the food was really good.  My chicken dinner only cost $5 (yep, $5 even.)  DH's was a little more.  We had a cup of coffee and all four of us split one lemon bar for dessert.  Everyone in there was friendly, and we came out into a beautiful early summer evening and the smell of honeysuckle... life is good.  I'm hoping all that grease and coffee will do something to get labor going, ha ha. 

[glenn kangiser]

Is it summer already?  I can't keep up-

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Was up most of the night with contractions in my back, but no baby yet.... think things are progressing, though.  Have decided that we're not going to church this morning because I don't think I can sit still that long. 

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Argh. Still no baby.  Was up all night again, couldn't sleep to save my life.  Still having contractions, but they don't ever seem to get really painful painful... just uncomfortable, and since both of the others were induced, I'm not really sure what a "normal" contraction feels like.  Haven't eaten much of anything in two days because just don't feel like it and don't want to be really full when the baby does come (I do remember getting sick during transition with baby#2.)  Thought sure we were going to be making a trip to the hospital last night... went to bed with contractions coming between 3-7 minutes apart for quite a while (from 5PM-around 10 PM) but then they stopped for a few hours and then started back this morning.  I even made the kids sleep in decent clothes in case we had to haul them to the truck in the middle of the night.  (Also, I wouldn't let them take their hair down out of braids because I didn't want DH trying to comb it while I was in labor just to get it out of their eyes....)  My mom is pestering me to death calling 20x a day to "see if anything's happening".  (She always times it perfectly, too, like when I'm in the bathroom or just as we sit down to eat, or while I'm trying to check out at the grocery store or get the kids to bed....   )

[peternap]

Hmmmm, you've gone this long, might as well put it off until the 6th and my new grandson will be here. We can all have a party!

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

   You're funny Peter.  I'd end up with a half grown child instead of a baby!  I'm really hoping for today... feeling pretty lousy this morning and the only thing I can think of that would make me feel any better is to get this kiddo OUT!  My kids both woke up and asked where the baby was because they fully expected to go to the hospital during the night too.  Yesterday we were out walking and I would have to stop and lean on something or hold on to my husband's shoulder to catch my breath every time that one of the contractions would hit.  It sort of has me wondering if I am already somewhat in active labor but don't recognize it because the contractions are different than the ones when you're given pitocin?  They are strong although not really painful (unless I keep moving during one!)  I can tell that the baby is even lower this morning... may end up having that home birth I wanted, although unplanned.

[StinkerBell]

I bet you are at the point that you do not care who helps you deliver this baby, as long as they help you get this child out.....

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

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....