Caroline is finally HERE!

Well, it turns out that was it after all!

After my last blog post, we waited another hour or so, during which the contractions were getting closer and closer and stronger and stronger. So around 9:45, we headed to the hospital. On the way there, the contractions got REALLY intense. They were still really strong in my back but also started radiating into my belly a little bit. But the back part was what hurt the worst, and I must say that I do NOT recommend laboring in a car. There is really no way to relieve a contraction when you're strapped into a seatbelt, and by that point, they were coming about 3 minutes apart, so the 20-minute drive seemed like an eternity.

When we got to the hospital, they had me sit down while I waited for a triage room. We probably sat for about 5 minutes, but it felt like 5 hours. I had several contractions while I waited, and Jimmy rubbed my back while I rocked on my hands and knees. I do remember a nurse walking by and saying, "Good job, Daddy! Keep rubbing her!" We finally got to triage, and the nurse checked me and said, "Oh my word, you weren't planning on an epidural, were you?" I must have looked confused, but when I said no, she said, "Good, because you're already 9 cm -- almost complete!" Holy smokes!

So they called my midwife and set to work torturing me...er, I mean, starting a hep lock and taking blood. Seriously, this was almost worse than the entire labor. They blew out three veins before they finally got the line sited and flushed (I didn't want an IV, but they insisted on the hep lock for emergency access). I now have huge bruises on both arms where the failed attempts were, plus I reacted to the adhesive they used to tape down the line they finally got started. But anyway, on with our story.

Apparently, the tropical depression that came in last week caused a lot of babies to be born, so we had to sit in triage for about an hour waiting for a room to be cleaned and ready for me. Karen still hadn't made it over, and I was starting to get worried that I'd need to push soon, and she wouldn't be there. They finally wheeled me into a room, and I had three contractions on the way from triage to my room, which was just around the corner -- those suckers were coming FAST now! I went into the bathroom before getting into bed, and right after that, I started feeling the urge to push. Fortunately, Karen walked in just about that time, and took one look at me and said, "I guess we're about to have a baby!"

If only she had been right! When I had Anna, once I finally had the urge to push, it was such a huge relief that it actually felt GOOD. This time, it was different. Pushing was absolutely excruciating. Karen felt the baby's head coming down with the first few pushes and said that she thought I'd have her out in a few contractions. Then the head stopped moving. She kept telling me I just had to get it past my pubic bone, and then the baby would be out. So we tried some different positions. I tried squatting for a while to allow gravity to help, but that didn't make much progress. Then Karen suggested getting on my hands and knees for a while. That did seem to help some because that position opens up the pelvis a little more than some of the others. I was so exhausted at this point that I was actually falling asleep between contractions. Finally, after about two hours of pushing, the head started to crown, and Karen handed Jimmy a pair of gloves so that he could help guide Caroline out with her. Then Jimmy got the idea that it might give me more incentive if I could feel the baby's head. I reached down and was able to feel all her soft, LONG hair, and Jimmy said the biggest smile came over my face! After that, she apparently came out like she'd been shot out of a canon.

Caroline Elise was born at 2:10 p.m. on Friday, August 17, 2007. She was 8 lb. 14 oz. and 20 3/4 inches long. Her perfectly round head was 14.5 inches (the pediatrician at the hospital assumed she was a c-section baby), and she has the most beautiful and LONG brown hair! Caroline entered the world like the drama queen I suspected her to be based on her constant movement in the womb. She was face up, which is why I had such strong back labor and why it took so long to push her out. She also had the amniotic sac still covering her head, and she had the umbilical cord wrapped once around her neck, once around her torso, and once around her leg. She was born into a dimly lit delivery room (a big change from the bright lights and very medical atmosphere during Anna's birth) and was placed directly on my chest to warm up and get acquainted. I had some very minor tearing that required a few stitches, but that was it!

Anna is thrilled with her new baby sister and just adores her. As soon as I can, I'll get the camera hooked up and put up some pictures.

Getting closer together

Well, I spoke too soon earlier. Apparently, my body gave me a chance to rest last night so that I'd be prepared this morning! Contractions are currently about 4 minutes apart and lasting almost a minute and a half. They are DOOZIES! I feel them almost entirely in my back, and I have a feeling we'll be heading to the hospital within the next couple of hours. I think today is Baby Day!

Or not. Or maybe so....

My parents got into town around 3:30 a.m. I was still having contractions about 6 minutes apart, though they were starting to get closer. The ones that were really close together weren't as strong, but I figured they were on their way. So I laid down to try to rest before what I assumed would be a long night/day ahead of me.

I woke up around 6:30 with no contractions to speak of. Pissed me right off. I was just about positive that was it last night. Dammit. But since I got up, I've been having them again. Right now, they're about 4 minutes apart, but they're not any stronger than the ones last night.

Good grief, this is frustrating. I just want to meet my baby! If these are Braxton Hicks contractions, they suck because they hurt. If they're "real" contractions...well, I just hope they pick up soon. This is getting old!

This could be it!

I'm having contractions. They started around 6:00 this evening, right before dinner. They were very mild and not very regular, but as the night has progressed, they've gotten stronger and more consistent. Right now, they're about 6-7 minutes apart and lasting about a minute, so I think this could be it!

My poor mom drove home this afternoon with the intention of staying for the weekend because nothing was happening here. She left there around midnight to come back here so that she can hopefully be here when the baby is born. I'm going to feel really terrible if this ends up being a false alarm!

Whoever coined the term "fashionably late"...

...was obviously not waiting for a baby to be born. There is nothing fashionable about having to go pee every five minutes. There is nothing fashionable about swollen feet (though I'll admit those have gotten better in the last week or two). There is nothing fashionable about outgrowing all your maternity clothes so that you have to wear the same pair of shorts every. single. day. And while midriff bearing is fine for the young and firm of abs, it is not really fashionable for the bottom of your (very pregnant) tummy to hang out the bottom of all your tops because even maternity tops are not long enough to cover it. I suppose I could just pierce my (currently very outie) belly button and call it a fashion statement. Or get a tattoo so that at least there would be something interesting for people to look at when my tummy enters the room a full 5 minutes before the rest of me. But alas, I think I will just have to suffer with my bare tummy and worn-out shorts for a while longer. At least my belly stays cool.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, as of midnight tonight, Caroline is officially late. I never thought that it would come to this. After all, I went into labor with Anna on my due date (though it took 32 hours of labor to get her here, so she was born a day "late"), and second babies are supposed to come faster than first, so I expected to at least be well on my way to birthing a baby about now. But here it is, 11:30 p.m. on my due date, and not so much as a twinge.

I've done what I can to gently encourage Caroline to come out, but she seems very comfortable in there. Tonight I had a nice long soak in the jacuzzi tub and a small glass of wine (shhhhh -- don't tell the Surgeon General -- besides, what I REALLY wanted was a margarita with dinner, but I managed to refrain), and while I do feel relaxed, I still don't feel any contractions. She does like to stretch around in there (which is becoming rather painful!), and I've been trying to convince her that she'll have more room to stretch on the OUTSIDE than she does on the inside. So far, she is not listening to me. Hopefully, this is not a preview of a generally stubborn disposition!

Sigh. I am so ready to meet this baby. What will she be like? Will she have as much hair as Anna did, or will she be bald like I was as a baby? What will her personality be like? Will she have my pointy Vulcan ear, or will she get normal ears like Jimmy's? I'm also just ready to be unpregnant. The cute little belly was fun for a while, but now it's neither cute nor little. I'm ready to start taking care of Caroline on the outside now instead of the inside.

40 week midwife appointment

Well, this one was MUCH more promising than the last one! I'm dilated 3 cm and 80% effaced. She said she doubted I'd go more than another day or two, so that's good news! She also declared the baby's head "very round and very low".

My midwife also answered a lot of my mom's questions and really put her mind at ease. Mom was pretty uncomfortable with the midwife idea at first, but I think going to my appointment with me today really helped. She said she really understood why I like my midwife, and she now feels a lot more comfortable with the fact that Karen is not going to just let me sit there and bleed to death in the name of "natural childbirth" if there's a complication or something.

After the appointment, we went walking in the mall (it's too dang hot to walk outside!), and I had some cramping and a couple of contractions, but nothing that seemed especially productive. So I'm still waiting, but at least I know some of the contractions I had last week did some good. I was dilated more this morning than I was after 16 hours of labor with Anna, and that can only be a good thing, right?

Hopefully, we'll get to meet our baby girl soon!

Still Pregnant

Just a quick update. With essentially one day until my due date, I am still very much pregnant and have absolutely no signs of impending labor. I went to the chiropractor this morning, and his assistant predicted that I'd have the baby "sometime in the next three days" based on some of the different movements I've been feeling, etc. I guess we'll see how good she is at predicting these things! Dr. Wolff also said it sounded like I was getting "close", but he didn't specify HOW close! I went ahead and scheduled my next chiro visit for next Monday. I hope that I will arrive at that appointment with a baby in my arms instead of in my tummy!

My mom and my mother-in-law are both here this week, watching me continue to be pregnant. I feel very much like the watched pot that never boils! But I do still feel good and have very few complaints, other than wanting to meet my baby girl.

I have a midwife appointment tomorrow morning. I'll update the blog again after that!

Yikes!

I just saw this article about a baby in England who was born the other day. He was 14 lb. 7 oz., and he was born vaginally! Holy smokes! I've heard of babies that big being born by c-section before (there was a 16 pounder a while back, from what I remember), but to have one naturally (and yes, the mother did it mostly without drugs -- she did have some laughing gas, which is available in England but not the U.S.) is practically unheard of. To see the article and a picture of this behemouth compared to an "average" newborn, click here.

Now, my chiropractor is predicting a "big" baby for me. My midwife has not weighed in on the subject. I've always expect one that's a bit larger than average. Anna was 8 pounds, so a 9 pounder wouldn't be out of the question for me. But I sure do hope Caroline isn't planning on cooking until she's 14 pounds!

More contractions, but no baby

Yesterday afternoon, I had a good, long round of contractions. They started in the middle of HEB while I was out grocery shopping with my mom. They started in my low back and worked their way around to the front, and some of them were pretty intense. So we came home, and Mom made dinner while I rested on the couch with my little microwave rice bag thing on my back. The contractions continued, and I was really getting optimistic about the whole thing. Mom was afraid to let me eat dinner, in case I was in labor. Why? I don't know. There seems to be some unwritten rule that women in labor can't eat. Don't people realize that they risk serious bodily injury if they try to keep a pregnant woman away from food? I figured, if I was in labor, I'd need my strength, so bring on the spaghetti and garlic bread!

After dinner, we all decided to go for a walk, and we circled the block a couple of times, fairly briskly. I had a few more decent contractions, but by the time we got home, they had pretty much stopped. Bummer. So I drowned my sorrows in some ice cream (fudge brownie ice cream with Hershey's syrup to up the chocolate factor, in case you were wondering!) and took a shower. I had a few more contractions late last night, but they fizzled out as well.

Today, my friend Gayla went to the mall with me, and we tried to walk the baby out. No luck, but I had plenty of people come up and ask me when I was due. When I said "Wednesday", I got looks of mixed shock, horror, and pity. I think next time someone asks me, I might just say, "Actually, I'm in labor right now!" and see what kind of reaction I get!

Anyway, I'm still here. Still VERY pregnant. And getting a little frustrated. At least I got to go get my toes done tonight. They're very pretty -- bright pink polish with white flowers on my big toes. Anna was very impressed with the little sparkly jewel thing the lady put in the middle of the flower. And the foot massage that went along with the pedicure was absolutely heavenly. You know, for all the care most pedicurists take not to go anywhere near a pregnant woman's ankles for fear of instantly sending her into labor (there's some acupressure point that's supposed to work for that), this lady rubbed all up and down my legs, ankles, and feet, and I didn't get so much as a twinge. Figures.

Stick a fork in me...

...I'm done! I'm seriously over being pregnant, and I'm ready to meet this little one!

Unfortunately, Caroline appears to be pretty comfy in my big, spandex uterus. I had a midwife appointment this morning (she's finally back -- woo-hoo!), and I'm still dilated "between 1 and 2ish cm". In other words, even after all those contractions Saturday night, no progress. Now, I do realize that some women go from not being dilated at all to having a baby 3 hours later, while others walk around 4 cm dilated for 6 weeks before delivering, so the dilation thing is not exactly an accurate indicator of how soon the baby will get here. Still, it would have been nice to see SOME difference after those contractions Saturday night! The one nugget of encouraging news is that Caroline is no longer floaty and bouncy, so her head is now low and pointed in the right direction. Head toward the light, Baby!

Other than that, the appointment was the typical, boring appointment. Blood pressure good, weight good, baby's heartbeat good, measuring right at 39 weeks. Jimmy got to watch Caroline run away from the Doppler this time, so that was fun.

Yesterday, I discovered one universal truth of pregnancy. If you wander into Wal-Mart 35 months pregnant, you will attract the attention of EVERY little old lady in the entire place. I have never answered so many questions in my life, and my GOODNESS, the number of belly touchers in that place was astounding! When I got home and told Jimmy about it, he offered to make me a sign for the next time I go out: Baby is due in a week. Yes, I'm ready to pop. It's a girl. Yes, I'm sure, even though your best friend's aunt's hairdresser carried JUST LIKE ME, and she had a boy. No, it's not twins. Yes, I'm certain. Yes, it sucks being pregnant in August. The baby's name is Caroline. No, she's not my first. No, my tummy is NOT public property! Yes, I'm aware that having sex might make me go into labor. No, it's none of your business whether or not I plan to try it tonight! Unfortunately, I think it would take a very large sign to fit all that information!

So, we continue to wait. I know that Caroline will come when she's ready, and I've asked my midwife not to discuss induction until I'm 2 weeks overdue, assuming Caroline and I are both doing well, but I reserve the right to be cranky about it if Caroline waits that long! I'm really hoping she'll decide to come out on her own before it comes to that.

I finally feel prepared!

Well, we finally got the dresser situation worked out, so I've been able to really work on Caroline's room over the past week. My mom also came to visit, and we went to Target and got some closet organizers for the vast amount of *stuff* that didn't fit into the dresser, etc. The nursery is finally finished, and I'm really proud of it!

So here are some pictures. First, the crib and bedding:



The dresser/changer:



The window on the wall opposite the crib:




Our wonderful Sunday school class gave us a wipes/bath stuff shower this morning, so in addition to all the diapers we got from the choir, I think it will be a nice, LOOOOOOONG time before we have to buy any wipes or baby wash/lotion. It's great to have that sort of thing taken care of so that we hopefully won't have to run out for those little last-minute things when we get the baby home.

Now that the nursery is done and my midwife will be back on Tuesday, I'm feeling VERY ready for this baby to be born! I had some contractions last night that felt a bit like the "real thing". They started in my back and worked their way around to my tummy, and they were kind of uncomfortable. That's pretty much how my labor with Anna started. They were fairly regular -- around 5-7 minutes apart and lasting about a minute each. But they fizzled out after a little while, which is good because I really want to make it until Tuesday! But after that, Caroline is welcome to come whenever she wants, and I will be using every non-medical method at my disposal to evict her from my uterus. I think I'm in for a lot of walking and squatting!

Here's a picture of me this afternoon in all my current ginormity:




Anna is also ready to meet her little sister. We got to go visit my friend, Michelle, the other day. She just had her baby boy last week, named Gunnar Eric. He is precious, and Anna is absolutely in love with him. She was thrilled to get to hold him. I think she's going to be a great big sister! Here's a picture of Anna and Gunnar:



So anyway, that's the most recent update. I do have an appointment with my midwife on Tuesday morning, and I guess we'll see then if those contractions last night did anything!