Waiting for Walter

If you had asked me last night at 9:00 if I would be having a baby today I would've said yes. I had, after all had light contractions starting Sunday night. I had some contractions on Monday and started to have regular contractions yesterday (Tuesday) starting around 1:00 p.m. clear until 10:00 p.m. They were approximately five minutes apart, but never lasted more than one minute.

Although I was having contractions they were never very strong. It was early labor. The tightening-of-the-stomach-that-takes-your-breath-away kind of contractions. They never lasted long, some only lasting 10 seconds. And they never got stronger. Josh asked me if we were going to be going to the hospital in the middle of the night.

But. . . at 10:00 p.m. my contractions stopped all-together and I haven't had one contraction since. It was nice to sleep through the night, but I was hoping to be having a baby this morning. If he's not born by tomorrow night we will be going to the hospital around 8 p.m. to be induced. This means the baby would be born on Friday.

I haven't blogged about what we plan to name him yet. We plan to name him Walter. I have a friend Phoebe who reads my blog. She named her first son Walter about three years ago. If you had asked me when she had her baby if I would ever name my son Walter I would've said "I love that name, but good luck getting my husband to agree to it." I've always liked the name Elijah and thought for certain that would be the name of my first son. Unfortunately, Josh isn't a big fan of the name Elijah so we had to find a name we both agreed on. Josh likes very usual, old-fashioned names, like Thomas, Andrew, and James. I like slightly unusual names that are unique, but not bizarre, like Elijah.

I've always liked the name Walter, ever since I read the Ann of Green Gables series (she names her youngest son Walter. He was my favorite of her sons). So Josh and I were talking about names for a few weeks, early in our pregnancy. Every name I liked Josh said no, and vice-versa on names he liked. One day, out of the blue, Josh suggested the name Walter. I've always liked the name. It's unique because not many people are naming their child Walter right now, so I liked it. It's also common so Josh liked it. The minute the name Walter was suggested it was as if there wasn't any other choice. We tried to think of other names, just as "second-runner-up" choices, but nothing would come to our minds. So Walter it is.

We haven't decided on a middle name yet. My immediate family doesn't have middle names, so I let Josh suggest all the middle name choices. I definitely didn't want to throw the name "Elijah" into the mix just in case we ever have a second son. So Josh's choices are (of course) names that I had said "no" to for a first name: Andrew, James, and Thomas. My brother is having a baby boy in a couple of months and are thinking they may use the name James as their son's middle name. I'm leaning towards Thomas, but I think Josh is leaning towards Andrew. He really likes the nick-name "Drew" for Andrew. I like Thomas because I have a great-uncle Thomas Ewell (who is related to Josh as well). Yes. We have a common relative. Luckily my Great-Uncle Thomas Ewell is my uncle only through marriage, while he is related to Josh (distantly) as a blood-relative.

Please vote on what you think our baby's middle name should be. The winning name may (or may not) be used as our son's middle name. Remember: the baby will be here on Friday, April 9th, so you only have until the 10th to vote.

Waiting and bored

Yesterday I decided to make it my last day of work before having the baby. Because Tuesday and Wednesday at work I only met with one client each day. I don't know why or how it happened, but I didn't schedule many clients this week so I didn't have much to do. I guess it's because I didn't know if I was even going to be at work this week. I was hoping to have the baby by now.

After two days of not meeting with clients I was able to get all my paperwork and charts in order. I made sure the case managers taking on my clients knew the most important things they need to know about them.

I looked at my calendar. If I had gone to work today this is what I had scheduled: Two meetings with co-workers to discuss our clients. I had already done this all week. Two possible, but not for sure appointments with people to enter them into our computer so we could bill for them. This is something other people are now trained to do so it was not necessary for me to be there today to meet with them. Not to mention that my doctor had rescheduled my appointment from Wednesday to today. . . right when I was supposed to be meeting with those two appointments because she had to deliver a baby on Wednesday when I was scheduled to see her.

Looking at what I really had to do today, I really only had one important meeting scheduled with one client. . . and it was going to be at 4:00 p.m. The last hour of work.

I looked at my schedule for Friday. Fridays I usually only work from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. My schedule was completely clear. Not one appointment was scheduled. So yesterday I announced to my co-workers that it would be my last day for the next three months, giving them last-minute final instructions. I'm sure they were just humoring me by letting me continue to drill them on what to do with my clients. I'm sure I probably already told them each instruction five times before.

Today I woke up and stayed in my jammies until 10:00 a.m. I went to the doctor at noon. She gave me the option of having the baby tonight because my blood pressure was slightly elevated.
This caught me completely off guard. TODAY?? I was wondering if it would be an April Fool's Day prank. But she was serious.

There were multiple reasons I wasn't ready to have the baby today. First, my doctor is going on vacation tomorrow until Tuesday and I didn't want her to be up half the night delivering our baby. I KNOW! That's her job, but honestly would you want to be on-call the night before you went on vacation if it was unnecessary? I wouldn't.

Not only that, but our bags aren't packed. Our crib is broken. I called today for replacement parts, but the company said because the crib is over 7 years old they don't have replacement parts available, and legally wouldn't be allowed to ship them to me even if they did because the crib is out of date. Speaking of the crib. . . Josh looked at it today and said all the plastic parts that hold it together are so old they are cracking. So I guess we're going on a wild goose chase tomorrow to find some sort of durable replacement parts, or some other way to have the crib hold together. So frustrating! I'm very grateful Josh's sister gave us her bassinet because that will buy us some more time on fixing the crib if necessary (or having to buy a new one).

Another reason I decided not to be induced is because my doctor told me it would significantly increase the odds of my having to have a c-section because I "don't have a favorable cervix" right now. Even with the baby possibly weighing around 9 pounds, my doctor said he wasn't big enough to induce. If anything, she said if he was a little bigger they wouldn't induce, but choose instead to do a c-section.

But what it boils down to, why I chose not to have the baby today is this: I'm not mentally ready to have him. I guess that's the main thing is that being induced today was just so sudden and unexpected. If she had said that I could be induced tomorrow morning then I probably would've said okay.

As it stands I'm scheduled to go in for an induction next Thursday, April 8th at 8:00 p.m. If I'm still not dilated (today I was dilated to a 1.5) then the hospital will give me medication that will make me dilate and I will probably have the baby the next morning.

So here I sit. Bored on my first day of maternity leave. I've decided that tomorrow is the day I break out the instructions on my sewing machine and start working on some sort of project. Otherwise I'm going to go crazy sitting around waiting for the baby to come.

43 weeks

Well today I'm 39 weeks pregnant.

I had my doctor's appointment. My doctor isn't big on checking how dialated someone is until the 39th week. Consequently I had no idea if I was even dialated until today.

My doctor's office is slooow! They are always slow and I can expect to be there at least two hours every time, if not longer! Today was no exception. My appointment was scheduled for 11:45 a.m. I got there right on time. No need to be early. They never run on time there. I gave my pee test sample and went to the wait room. . . to wait.

At about 12:15 p.m. the doctor's assistant came to get me. She weighed me in (I'm proud to say I didn't gain any weight since last week). She then led me to the exam room and instructed me to undress from the waist down and gave me a paper sheet that covers me about 2/3rds of the way around, and to wait for the doctor to come examine me.

Well aparently the girl the doctor met with before me was having a mini-emergency and my doctor had to take extra time with her to make sure her baby's heart was still beating. Pretty serious stuff, so I can't really complain, but I'm going to anyways. . .

Meanwhile, I'm in this exam room, sitting on the paper sheet with my feet not quite touching the step up to the table, and nine months pregnant. FOR AN HOUR! To make matters worse, the room was getting warmer and warmer. So by the time the doctor came to see me the stupid paper was sticking to my warm skin. UGH! gross! Not to mention embarrassing.

Because I had to wait so long I decided to pre-registered for the hospital.

My doctor has NO good magazines to read in the room. The choices were Sports Illistrated, Pregnancy Magazine, and some magazine on Women's Health. I settled on the Women's Health magazine for a minute, until I realized the whole thing was about different kinds of cancer. Boring and depressing. No thanks.

So my doctor finally came in to examine me. I'm only dialated to a "1", and not even effaced. But I'm measuring at 43 weeks pregnant! Umm. . . Pretty sure you're only supposed to be pregnant for 40 weeks, so that means biologically I'm THREE WEEKS OVER DUE!!?

The hospital I'm delivering at won't induce women early if it's their first pregnancy. I've been asking to be induced from the begining. Since I've consistently measured two weeks ahead, and because now I'm measuring FOUR WEEKS ahead my doctor agreed to allow me to have an ultrasound on Monday to see if the baby is getting too big for a vaginal delivery.

This means they may induce me if he's a pretty big baby. So I'm hoping that I'll be induced on Tuesday (although my doctor has not promised that at all. It's just wishful thinking right now).

Josh says that our baby is destined to be a big boy. All of his nephews have been pretty big babies at birth. Josh is 6 foot 1 and my dad is 6 foot 2. Both are solidly built, so our baby has it in his genes to be born a big boy. And I can't tell you how many people have asked me if I'm having twins, or commented on how big my belly is.

I'm trying to aviod the necessity of a c-section if he's too big. So wish me luck that my doctor will allow me to be induced next week if necessary.

The baby widget --->

Is it just me, or is that baby widget counting down two to three days at a time in one day? I swear it said 211 days this morning and tonight it says 208!

My trip to the Doctor

I went to the OBGYN for the first time yesterday. That was an interesting experience. Josh and I met there for my appointment. The building was built in the 70's and the whole layout of their offices was confusing.
We walked up a flight of stairs to a cluttered hallway and a dirty bathroom. Then we went into the office and there there three different dive-y looking check in areas. I wondered what I had gotten myself into. Was this really a DOCTOR'S office? It looked so unprofessional and dirty!
When we got to the actual waiting room it was like a different office. They had a water fountain and nice couches and comfy arm chairs to sit in.
I saw the Nurse Practitioner because it was my first visit. She couldn't find the heart beat, but said that was "normal" at 9 weeks and we'll be able to hear it for sure at my next appointment.
She gave me a referral to a chiropractor that specializes in pregnant women because my back has been hurting so badly, and because my right thigh has been tingling and numb, which she attributed to a pinched nerve. The good news is that she said once I get through my first trimester the baby will raise up in my body which should stop pinching that nerve.
She also referred me to have a consultation with a doctor who specializes in high-risk pregnancies. She said it's because I was born with my intestines connected to my umbilical chord on the outside of my body, which could've caused my stomach muscles to never fully grow across my stomach, which could make it difficult to carry a baby full-term.
I guess you gotta be careful what you wish for, huh? I didn't think pregnancy would require this much extra work!