The Big Day

Today is my due date. The plan is to get into the 2-hour labor (that's all the time we need - 1.5 hrs to get to the hospital and then .5 hour to deliver the baby) by the evening when Len gets home. So far everything is going according to the plan. I'm even about to pack my hospital bag to get things started.

Yesterday's doctor's appointment went the same way they all did in the past - everything is fine, no problems, no progress. I'm not going to be fooled by the "no progress" part though. My bag wasn't packed, and I wasn't ready. Today is a new day - my due date (!), and we have a plan.

Doctor's Appointments

So far everything has been great (except for that one test that came positive). All my blood pressure, pee tests, baby measurements and heart rates have always been good. My doctor has been terrific and is willing to wait for the baby for 2 weeks past due date - I'll have to make sure she comes out by then. The doctor's latest recommendations to naturally induce the baby? "A lot of walking, spicy food or intercourse. If it doesn't help - try all three together." Experience, however, tells me that if the baby is not ready to come out, nothing, and I mean NOTHING will help.

Because of Len's traveling and work schedule, for many of the appointments I had to tag K with me. Most of them lasted only a few minutes, so it wasn't an issue. Each time, however, K had to lie right next to me; for some reason, K is not as fond of dr. MK as much as I am. As soon as Dr. MK comes into the room, K freaks out and wants to be held by mommy only. Dr. MK is very understanding and says it's their natural beharior, and that most kids K's age act like that in her office.

The hardest part of having K with me at the appointments is when I have to have an actual exam done where I'm asked to "undress waste down". Normally it wouldn't be a big deal, but last time, I had to wait for Dr. MK for over 45 minutes with my toddler in the room. The paper cover that I get from the nurse was in pieces within seconds. The rest of the time I spent on trying to convince K that it wasn't a good idea to keep opening the door and going to the hall way. She understood, thank goodness, but I had visions of chasing her down to the waiting room with my cheeks flashing.

Yesterday's appointment went OK as well. Dr. MK was hoping for some cervical changes, but there were none. It looks like the little one is very comfortable where she is.

5 days to go...

One Week to Go

With only 7 days left until my due date, I'm getting a little anxious. Getting ready would probably be helpful, but just thinking about it seems too overwhelming, so I try not to. Major things that I would love to have accomplished before the baby comes:

1. House cleaned (including window and carpet cleaning)
2. House decorated
3. All boxes unpacked (yes, we still have some that we haven't unpacked - it's been 5 months since we moved in)
   
4. Homemade food cooked and stored
5. Books on natural birth reread
6. Birthing classes attended
   
7. Hospital bag packed (it seems the least tiring and difficult to do, but for some reason I have this feeling that once I pack it, the contractions will start, so I'm putting it off)

Most of these things won't be done before the baby comes, so I'm trying to convince myself that even if the baby joined us today, everything will be OK. And it's working; I just need to work on convincing Len now, too.

And, the plan is to go with VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean). The doctor is on board although we were asked to come to the hospital at the last minute - basically to push the baby out - since everyone there, according to my OB, will be ready to do a C-section on me because of my previous cesarean delivery. And because we have a 1.5 hour drive to the hospital, something I am NOT willing to do right before pushing the baby out, I'm planning on laboring in the hospital's parking lot (thank you L&J, and J&K for offering your homes; I might still call you depending on how I'm progressing).

And, another thing that is on my mind is that a couple of weeks ago I had the test for the strep B group bacteria done, and it came positive. According to some statistics 40% of healthy women have these bacteria, and supposedly we may have them one week, and they could be gone the next, but if a pregnant woman tests positive in 36 weeks (that's when the test is taken), she has to take antibiotics during labor (which is usually at least 4 weeks away from the test, and chances are the bacteria could easily be gone). A book I'm reading talks about maternal deaths - only a few per year in the US - because of the antibiotics intake during labor, and with my luck, it could easily be me, and I'm not ready to go. The chances that the baby gets infected by the bacteria, and that's if the bacteria are present during labor, are 1 in 4,000. Chances are low, but if the baby gets sick, she can get very sick - meningitis and/or pneumonia. So, this is just another thing that's on my mind...

7 days to go...

2 Weeks to Go

With only two weeks away from the due date, we have finally started getting ready for the baby. I finished teaching last week, so last weekend we started setting up the baby's room. All baby clothes have been washed, and although there are tons of things to be done before the big arrival (like getting the hospital bag packed, putting the car seat in, all the nesting, etc), I feel partially ready.

And, my body is getting ready, too. The Braxton-Hick contractions are getting much stronger and more frequent. The belly is getting to a size where I'm uncomfortable laying, sitting, and sometimes walking. The one thing that keeps improving is my appetite. Last weekend we went to SF for a couple of days, and everything that we ate tasted exceptionally good. Len kept laughing at me because anything that I put in my mouth was very very delicious (the best pancakes in the world; the best Starbucks coffee in the world, etc). The tastes and smells got so intense to the point that the cigarette smoke at one point smelled like something I was willing to try, too.

And, with all that happening, I'm getting quite emotional, too. Not long ago, I started realizing that these are the last few days/weeks for Len and me with Klaudia only. Once the baby comes, our lives will be changed forever. I'm actually planning on writing a letter to K telling her how much fun we've had with her and how much joy she brought to our lives before her sister's arrival.

Less than two weeks to go...

Mosquito

Tonight we came back home from a fun day at Happy Hollow in SJ (I recommend it to anyone with kids), and K noticed a big mosquito in our driveway. She calls them MUCHA (a fly in Polish) by the way. She stepped on one and squished it dead. She then lifted her foot up and said: peek-a-boo.

So Excited

We had a new water system installed in our house this week! Now we can drink the water from any faucet in the house and be healthy. The biggest deal for us was to get rid of fluoride and chlorine. Mission accomplished. So exciting!

The 1st Ear Infection?

I'm not sure; one thing I know is that it's gone and that it woke up K's appetite.

On Saturday morning last weekend, K and I went to see a doctor just in case. K had had a fever for a couple of days prior to that, and the night before I noticed a little cut in her ear. I feared an ear infection and wasn't sure if we could go without having it treated. I had let K play with the ear thermometer and had a feeling she scratched her ear with it, but on the other hand, I didn't know what the ear infection looked like, so we went to check it out.

That morning her fever was already gone. Len was gone for the weekend, and I knew most doctors wouldn't see patients on Sunday, so to avoid a possible trip to ER, we went to see a local pediatrician.

I made a mistake mentioning the ear infection to him. He looked into K's ear and said: "Yeah, it's red. Here is an antibiotic for the following week, that should help." The whole atmosphere changed when I asked the following questions: "So, the ear is red, but is it infected? The fever is gone, is it possible that the ear is healing on its own, and maybe K doesn't need the antibiotic?" All I wanted was for him to look at K as an individual, but maybe I'm expecting too much from a "weekend doctor".

I've been meaning to check some homeopathic doctors but didn't have a chance. It's good to have one "lined up" in situations like this.

I ended up waiting to see if K's symptoms would get worse, but instead she kept getting better. By Sunday she was herself again, and since then she's been eating like a horse (3 bowls of cereal for breakfast, etc). I ended up throwing the antibiotic away.