Janie woke up about three hours ago and now we’re at Brookwood in Labor and Delivery 1.  She’s at 0 station, 90% effaced and 2cm dilated.  We’re only 35 weeks and 5 days along, but the doctor said they won’t stop labor.

Sam is staying with the babysitter for the moment.  Stay tuned.

At my 36 weeks doctor’s appointment, my doctor examined me. I was 3 cm dilated. She asked if we had our car seat installed (which we didn’t) because it wouldn’t be long. I promptly called Brian. I was super nervous that I wouldn’t even get through the rest of the day. We installed the car seat that night. I went to work the next day, knowing that it would be my last day. And I went to work the next day knowing that it would be my last day. And I went to work the next day knowing that it would be my last day. You get the picture. I was constantly nervous that my water was going to break while at work. I cleaned my desk off at the end of each day thinking that I wouldn’t be back.

At my 37 weeks appointment, she checked me again. I was 3 (and a little) cm dilated. Not much had changed. She still said that it could be any day, but I was becoming more skeptical. I went to work every day thinking that it would be my last and continued to clean my desk off at the end of every day. We had our bags packed and car seat sitting on go.

At my 38 weeks appointment, I went through the routine checks at the beginning. After the nurse took my blood pressure, she asked me if I was feeling ok. I said “yeah… Is there something wrong?” She said that my blood pressure was high. Was I sure I didn’t have any swelling of my feet or light-headed? No, I said, I’m fine. So the doctor comes in and checks me. Still at the same place, but now my blood pressure was high. I think it was about 150/100 and it had been around 100/60 the whole term. She asked me a bunch of questions about how I was feeling. They ran some tests to check for proteins, which I had slight levels. She decided to give me an ultrasound to check the amniotic fluid levels. Apparently, when your blood pressure is high, you tend to lose fluid (which doesn’t explain the swelling of the feet, but whatever, I’m not a doctor). She didn’t want the baby to run out of fluid. To make a long story even longer, I was in the doctor’s office for several hours while they ran a bunch of tests. She finally determined that I was developing pre-eclampsia. The best solution is to deliver. Luckily, I was far enough along that this didn’t cause a preterm delivery. She wanted to induce the following morning.

I was super nervous about being induced. I had already talked with my doctor extensively about not wanting to be induced because of all the horror stories you hear. You know, women go in to be induced, have 48 hours of labor, make no progress, then have to have a C-section. I was not interested. I just have this feeling that the baby will come when it is ready, and not until then. My doc and her staff assured me that I was not going to have a troubled labor. I was already having contractions (albeit irregular) and was a good bit dilated and effaced. I would go quickly, they said.

I went back to work, knowing that this would be my last day. For real. The next morning, I called the hospital at 5AM to make sure they had a delivery room available. We were supposed to arrive at 7AM, but it was probably closer to 8 before we got there. Hey, why rush it? The nurse got me all hooked up and told me that I had continued signs of pre-eclampsia, so it was good that I was being induced. The morning went by fairly quickly and we welcomed Samantha at 1:44PM.

This weekend, we picked up Samantha’s new bed, looked at another house, had lots of potty success, went to the symphony, filled out paperwork to list our house with a realtor, filled out paperwork to make an offer on another house, picked up Samantha’s new mattresses and pads, dismantled the crib, and set up her new room.  Putting it in a list like that doesn’t make it sound like much, but combine that with pregnancy-lack-of-sleep syndrome, and I’m exhausted.  I was supposed to go to work this weekend, but it didn’t fit into the schedule.

Officially, I enter the third trimester next week.  I started having Braxton Hicks contractions last week.  Yesterday, I woke up with some severely sore hips, making walking a little more difficult.  I can tell that my bones and muscles are stretching and moving around.  I hope the remainder of this last trimester is not overridden with uncomfortableness.  I still have lots to accomplish.

We have neglected to let our website-only readers in on a little surprise. Brian and I are expecting again! I am about 19 weeks, so I’m due on June 1.

We had our big ultrasound today. It seems like a recent trend to be surpised with the gender, but I didn’t want to know with Samantha either. Brian pushed really hard to find out with her, so eventually, I compromised: we find out with #1, but not with #2. Here we are. Brian still tried to convince me, but I had a bargain this time and wasn’t going to back down.

The baby looks great, and everything is as it should be. That’s always a relief.  Even if we wanted to find out the gender, the baby had its legs crossed and tucked, so the technician would have had a hard time finding out.