Tuesday's the Big Day!

So at my appointment yesterday, I talked to Dr. Campbell about my recent bouts of nausea and some mild headaches. My BP was again around 145/90, which is still high for me, so she's convinced me that we should go ahead and induce labor within the next week. ( I say she had to convince me....I'm so uncomfortable now I almost asked her if we could induce.)

We're scheduled for Tuesday morning, August the 12th. She told me that we could go ahead and go over to L&D and get started that afternoon, but Robert and I just looked at each other with panic-stricken faces! I wasn't mentally ready for this! We needed at least the next several days to adjust (physically and emotionally) to the thought of our son being born. It's one thing if its a surprise in the middle of the night, going into labor, but other when you're actually picking a day. (We went with Tuesday, just because that's when Dr. Campbell is on call...not that I don't like the other doctors in the practice, I'm just used to her.) It's strange actually knowing that by next week's end, we'll have our son here with us. Well, here in a more literal sense than he is in the womb. This is my 38 weeks belly shot...total weight gain: 34 lbs. I was actually down a pound this week! Yeah! (My goal was to stay under 35).

All hope is not lost for a natural start to labor. Dr. Campbell did a procedure known as "stripping the membranes", which literally means she separated the bag of waters from around the cervix and encouraged a little more dilation. It's just as unpleasant as it sounds, if not more. I almost thought I was going to cry when she got done. Robert couldn't watch, he just stared at the ceiling. :-) She told me it usually gives you about a 50/50 shot of starting labor within the next 24-48 hours, of which I'm right in the middle. If nothing else, maybe I'll be dilated to 3-4 cm by Tuesday morning and all she'll have to do is break my water and not even give me the Pitocin to induce contractions...I'm scared of the Pitocin. I've heard the contractions come so hard and fast they are unbearable. I don't know how this compares to what I think labor is really going to be like, but I'm kinda hoping that I'll be able to handle it, at least hold off on the epidural for awhile.

Due to our now extreme impending birth, I'm happy to say that my closet is cleaned out, all my baby things that I need right away are washed and folded, I now have a diaper bag and I went on a major shopping spree at Target to buy disposable necessities (i.e. nursing pads, diaper trash bags, wipes, breast milk storage bags and containers, etc). With a 10% coupon for registry items (some of which I added right beforehand) and $75 still left on various gift cards, I came home with $150 worth of stuff for $50...not bad, huh?

Plus, tonight I got free Blizzards from Dairy Queen. A man was there purchasing Blizzards for anyone due the the promotion for the Children's Miracle Network, to which a portion of the proceeds was going. So I had to have one (and Robert, too). It's for the kids, right? :-)