Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday?

Its hard to believe were finally near the end! I guess it went by fast (didn't feel like it sometimes). Tomorrow morning I have my weekly NST/bloodwork appointment at the hospital at 10. There starts the real wait. Anytime from my appointment through to Tuesday morning I will be induced, depending on bed availability. Lawrence took his last two night shifts off (tonight and sunday night) so that we dont' risk him being stuck at the mine for my labor. In the morning were taking both vehicles to town and dropping the kids with the van off at Jeremy and Tasha's house. That way if they do decide to keep me we won't have to worry about the kids. If they don't keep me then we'll just pick them up after my appointment.

For inductions here, Pitocin is the last resort (very much to my liking). My doctor informed me at my last appointment that they would gel me, monitor baby for an hour and then I could go home. Then they would do this two more times before deciding the next step. When I told him that when I was gelled with Noah contractions started 15 minutes later and Noah was born 3 hours later he said maybe I should just stay at the hospital. Yah, probably a wise idea :) I have no idea if i'm dilated at all at this point because my doctor doesn't like to do checks until labor. I would be surprised if i wasn't at least at 3cm as I was 3-4.5 at this point with all the other three. I didn't think I would be nervous about labor this time around, i mean i've done it a few times. But when i let myself think about the pain i do get kinda nervous. So I generally just don't think about it, lol.

Today I got tons done! I relaxed until mid afternoon which was nice, but then I went crazy! I swept, vacuumed, baked, cleaned bedrooms, finished packing bags, washing and folding laundry and more. The house is spotless (even the rec room) and all the laundry is done. Feels good. Then this evening i pampered myself. So nice. I shaved, exfolitaed and moisturized my feet, straightened my hair, did a full mary kay hand treatment, and i'm now relaxing on the couch wearing super soft flannel pajamas that are just so comfy! I feel ready! I'm obviously hoping that they'll keep me in the morning, lol. If not the wait isn't much longer! I'm so excited to meet this baby, to find out if its a boy or girl and find out what its name is (no we haven't narrowed the name choices down very much)! I will try my best to keep my facebook updated as things develop or as we just wait! Prayers are very welcome!!

Edmonton Or Fort Mcmurray?

I got a call from the on call obstetrician on saturday evening. He asked me to come in in the morning for more bloodwork and another NST. If they call me for an unscheduled NST/bloodwork then I can safely assume that the platelets dropped again. So I went in (had to miss church) and the tech took like 6 vials of blood as opposed to the normal 1. I finally got to meet Dr. Remtula who I have chatted with a few times on the phone. I like him which is always nice. He told me that if my platelets get to 55 or lower that they will need to send me to Edmonton to deliver baby. sigh. So the reason they took all the extra blood was to be prepared for that scenario (i guess they need more tests?). Last friday my platelets were at 61, yesterdays results were at 63. The plan is to induce me sometime mid next week. I'm really praying that my platelets can stay above that 55 until i'm 37.5 weeks so I can stay in town for delivery. Not that I dont' think I would get great care in Edmonton but its the inconvienance of it all. Driving there, leaving the kids here, having to drive back after, dealing with a whole new bunch of doctors that I haven't met and so on. Oh well, it could definitly be worse.

My body is definitly getting ready for this baby to come out. Three nights in a row I had painful contractions for over an hour. the first night they were 10 minutes apart then stopped and started again a couple hours later at about 6 minutes apart. The next night about 5 minutes apart and the next night 3 minutes apart. While it gets dissapointing every night when they stop, I keep reminding myself that every contractions is causing some sort of progress.

This week is pretty busy for us. I have an appointment with a specialist on Tuesday (in case this is not only a gestational problem), Gabe's school christmas concert on wednesday evening, my weekly NST/Bloodwork on Thursday, Doctors appointment on friday, then the Sunday school concert/church christmas program on Sunday evening. In between these I need to take the kids shopping for a present for Daddy and find the boys some dress shirts. I'm hoping that all the busyness of the week will help it all go by really fast :)

2 weeks....again.

I saw my new Dr again yesterday. He did another ultrasound (I didn't get to see which is good because there was no temptation). From which he estimates baby to be around 6.5lbs already...hmmm? Gabe was my biggest baby at 6 lbs 14 oz and he was born at 38.5 weeks. I dont' think i'm really any bigger than i was with any of my other kids but i guess this is my fourth. I dont' put much stock in their estimates, i find their usually pretty far off. I can't imagine having a baby over 7lbs.

The induction is officially set. I guess here the Dr. has to fill out a form for induction, I had to sign it, and then he sends it to the mat/child ward of the hospital. On the form he puts what days he would like me induced and the hospital picks one of those dates and calls me with 1-2 days notice. So the form said anytimes from teh 12th to the 16th. I will be 38 weeks on the 14th. So it looks like if nothing happens on its own (unlikely anyways) I will be having this baby in two weeks time! I really would love for labor to get going on its own but its just not a likely scenario for me. I'm super excited to have a more firm idea of when baby is coming! I can better plan for child care for the other kids and it hopefully means i'll stop wondering about it everyday all day :) I'm going to have to keep myself super busy for the next two weeks to help them pass. Last week sure dragged by.

My usually faithful intuition is throwing me for a loop. Almost the entire pregnancy I just really felt this baby is a boy, despite that the pregnancy is most similar to my pregnancy with Lily. I just couldn't imagine the baby as a girl. So all of a sudden this past month I have been thinking of the baby as a girl and having a harder time imagining it being a boy. I will definitly be surprised no matter what it is! I really have no idea! The suspense is so much fun! Now if only we could pick names.