False Alarm

Yesterday Jody and I made our first "trial run" to the hospital. I have to give a little back story to explain the WHOLE fiasco. As many of you know I've tried all kinds of home remedies to get this baby out sooner - I've walked, swam, eaten greasy/spicy food, tried accupressure, pumping my breasts - the whole gamut. That is, except for cator oil. I swore I would never in my life try and choke that nasty stuff down, until this past weekend. I got desperate. Plus, my friend Hayli has three beautiful boys that were all delivered after she took that nasty stuff, so I figured it was worth a go. So, on her suggestion I mixed some into a couple of scrambled eggs yesterday morning before I went to work. During any down time I had, I also walked the halls to get things moving along (by god, i didn't choke down greasy eggs just to sit around! This baby was coming out by god!). Sure enough, around 8:30 (I went in at 5:00), I started having consistent, mild contractions that were about 5 minutes apart. WOOHOO!!!! So I was so happy I walked some more. By 11:30, they were 1-3 minutes apart. Now mind you, they were stronger than Braxton Hicks contractions, but they weren't unbearable like the stuff you see on TV. I wasn't sure if I should call my doctor or not, and finally my supervisor talked me into calling at around noon, I think she was afraid I was going to go into labor right there in the department. So, I called, explained everything to the nurse on call, and at her urging we went up to the hospital. Let the games begin.

Now, Jody and I both were pretty sure this wasn't it for us. Both of us were fairly sure I was going to get sent right back home, but also I didn't want to be one of those ignorant women who went into labor unknowingly and gave birth in the toilet. So we get to the hospital, and they take me back to triage (which, I've decided, is where they take you if they think you're faking it. This was where we spent 8 hours after my car wreck in April) where I get strapped to a monitor and get asked a whole bunch of ridiculous questions. And a funny side bar about San Antonio, they will make your husband wait outside while they interview you just to be sure you're not there as a result of being beaten. I guess I've just been so sheltered my whole life that is just appalling to me that wife beating is apparently such a problem here. Anyway, so after all that the nurse finally checks my cervix. I'm holding my breath, here's the moment of truth, and........... NOTHING. The nurse just looked at me and goes, "Well, you're not in labor, otherwise you'd be dilated." AAAAAAARRRRRGH!!!!!!!!!! I swear I feel like Charlie Brown trying to kick that damn football. And then to top it off, the nurse had the audacity to tell me, "Sweetie, even if you were in labor, this is the part you do at home. You don't come to the hospital for this part." Really?!?!? The only reason I was there was because I was told to go in!

Since I wasn't in labor, they held me hostage in the crappy triage area for a couple of hours while they continued to monitor me, check some labs, and keep an eye on my blood pressure (it was a bit elevated, imagine that). Everything came back ok, and they finally released me on bed rest until I go back to see the doctor on Wednesday. Fortunately, I don't have to work between now and then, so I guess it'll just be me, the cats, and my sofa for the next few days. As far as trying to induce labor on my own, I am officially giving up. I can safely say that we tried EVERYTHING and nothing really worked. And to be quite honest, at this point I don't really think I'm going to go into labor on my own. I think I'm going to have to be induced by the doctor in order to get any sort of progress. But thanks to everyone for keeping your fingers crossed on our behalf yesterday! Sorry for such a letdown, hopefully next time we'll have better luck!

37 Weeks

As you can see, I'm still prego, still getting more and more massive with every passing day. We went to the doctor this week and I'm also still not dilated, and the baby hasn't even dropped down anywhere close to proper position. Needless to say, I'm more than a little frustrated right now, I was hoping to at least be making some sort of progress here, but it doesn't look like I'm going to get that lucky. In the meantime, I'm still waddling around in the heat and humidity, and I think we've got everything ready for when the baby finally does make her appearance (except for a backpack, because I'm pretty sure it'll be time to send her to college once she finally comes!). As far as all of the "sure fire" methods of hurrying the process along yourself, I've tried everything just short of castor oil (I'm not that desperate yet). I'm pretty sure all of these ideas are actually just a cruel joke to see how desperate a pregnant lady will get and just what someone will believe!

In other news, Jody and I are having a pretty uneventful summer. Jody has once again become reacquainted with his old hobby of reloading, and I've been reading and making salsa. Our tomatoes and jalapenos have come in rather well, and salsa just seemed like the most logical thing to do with our little crops. Alice and Cleo have been especially needy as of late, Alice sits at the patio door howling at least once during the day because she wants to lounge on the patio. Cleo seems to think I'm growing an egg and that it's her exclusive duty to hatch it. I can't sit down without her immediately running over to perch on my stomach. We think this may be some sort of evil plan to smother the baby early!

36 Weeks

Well, we went to the doctor this morning to start the lovely weekly checkups.  Everything is still looking great, my swelling has allegedly gone down some (according to the doc my weight is down some, which is news to me.  I've stopped looking at the scale entirely.) even though my feet still look like Christmas hams.  He also checked my cervix, and surprise surprise, I'm not dilated AT ALL.  The baby is head down, but apparently she's made herself right at home in my belly and feels no rush to come out.  I swear, I'm going to be pregnant for the rest of my life.  I realize I have a few weeks to go, but come on!  You would think that I would be at least a little bit dilated with as much as I've been working lately.  Oh well.  I figure at the rate we're going, once she finally comes out it'll be time to ship her off to college anyhow!

Nursery is Done!

Here is a video tour of the nursery, this was my first attempt to use our new video camera (until now, Jody's been hogging it to terrorize the cats), so pardon the not so expert camera work.  

35 Weeks

We have made it to 35 weeks!  We are now visiting the doctor weekly, and starting next week the doctor will begin checking to see if I'm dilating.  Also, if I go into labor now, he won't do anything to stop it.  Yay!  Finally a dim light at the end of the tunnel!  My goals for this weekend are to get the nursery wrapped up (I'll post pictures of the finished product once it's done), get my hospital bag ready to go (precautionary measure), and try to get some of Taylor's clothes washed so we don't have to bring her home naked.  I'll try to start posting weekly after my doctors' appointments to keep everyone in the loop.  

*as you can see, Alice is NOT amused