I went to the doctor today. I received some good news and bad news.
Bad news first: He said I'm not really a prime candidate for induction because I'm HARDLY dilated and some other stuff I won't write about because it's all medical and borderline gross.
Good News: The doctor was sympathetic to my situation (knowing my mom is only here until Sunday) and said if nothing happens by Friday, he will induce me then. He also informed me that this baby could come before Friday, because you just never know what might happen. He also suspects I'll dilate more before then. We're hoping our son will make his debut before I have to be induced so my mom can have a little more time helping me out with two kids at home, but we'll take what we can get at this point.
I have a feeling we'll be welcoming our son into the world on Friday. He's just too comfortable in there. I also suspect this little guy will be a lot like his daddy. Meaning: He already knows how to push my buttons. :)
So. . . hopefully by Friday afternoon/night we'll be the parents of two and Tralee will be a big sister. Wish us luck!
Oh yeah, keep sending labor-inducing thoughts my way if you please. It couldn't hurt.
My mom has been staying busy since she flew in on Friday night. She's mopped my floors, cleaned my kitchen, played with Tralee, took me shopping, organized our shoes, babysat while Jim and I went out for a date night on Saturday (and she and my dad supplied the date night moola -- AWESOME!), cooked, and more. It's great having her here to help. I only wish I could have this baby soon so she could help me out AFTER he arrives.
We've tried walking, hiking, driving over bumpy roads, and a few other things to help this baby boy along. Today we're going to cut up a pineapple (I read that can help induce labor. . . worth a shot), drink some raspberry leaf tea, and walk some more. I go in tomorrow for my final appointment before D-Day.
When Jim and I were out on Saturday night we saw one of the doctors that works at the practice I go to. He was out with his family, and so Jim and I stopped to say "hi." When we lived in Caldwell this doctor was in our stake, and is a really nice guy. He asked which doctor I was seeing on Tuesday and he told me to tell him, "INDUCE ME!!!!!!!" So, that's the plan. Unfortunately the doctor I'm going to see is notorious for NOT inducing. Although, he was my doctor with Tralee and he induced me over a week early with her. I'm hoping he works with me. I'm willing to break out the big guns and cry if necessary. It won't be fake crying either if he says he won't induce.
In other news, Tralee has been breaking out in hives. They come and go on different parts of her body. They don't seem to bother her, but I wish they would go away. I don't like seeing a rash on my daughter. It worries me. My mom stayed home with Tralee yesterday due to this rash while Jim and I went to church. It was odd going without Tralee. Jim and I actually got to listen to the testimonies instead of entertain a two-year-old. Weird.
We went on the waterfall hike after dinner yesterday. It was good to get out of the house, and we were hoping the hike would put me in labor. No dice. Humph. The good news is I took some cute pictures of our hiking adventures with Grammy Char-Char.
One more thing, Grammy Char-Char leaves this Sunday, so if you could send some labor-inducing thoughts my direction we would all really appreciate it. We're ready to meet our son/grandson/brother.
I'm curious about a lot of things. The first one being, WHEN WILL I HAVE THIS BABY????
With Tralee I was induced a little over a week early because they were worried she would be too big. Well, my doctor guessed that this little boy is already around 8 lbs (which was how big Tralee was) yet there's no talk of induction. Aren't boys supposed to be bigger than girls, and doesn't each kid get a little bigger with each pregnancy? So, wouldn't that mean they should induce me?
Here's the thing. I didn't like being on pitocin with Tralee, it hurt. . . a lot. However, after an epidural I was quite relaxed and the rest of the labor wasn't too bad. I told myself with this pregnancy I would like to go into labor naturaly without the help of pictocin. That was back when I thought I would have had this baby by now, and back when I wasn't nine months pregnant. Now I'm rethinking the whole induction thing.
Here's the other thing. My mom is flying into town tomorrow night from Ohio to "help with the baby." She's staying for ten days, and then I lose her. So, I really want this baby to come before she leaves so I have a little extra help.
My next appointment is on May 5th. If this little (or big) guy hasn't come by then, and there's STILL no talk of helping him out I might just cry.
What about all you mothers who read this blog. Did you get induced? How early or late were your babies? Does each baby get bigger? Are boys REALLY bigger than girls? Did you self induce (if so, HOW)? What advice do you have for a lady who wants to have her baby soon, and it doesn't seem like the baby wants to leave his cozy little cave just yet?
Any advice/kind words or thoughts would be appreciated. :)
Saturday was a beautiful day. After Jim was done working, Tralee and I let him know we were ready to broaden our horizons. Luckily, Jim knew of a perfect spot to take us. We went on a little family fishing/hiking expedition. The hike was easy enough for a two-year-old and nine-month-pregnant lady to do, and the final destination was a BEAUTIFUL waterfall! I'm not sure what the place is called, but it's somewhere up in the Owyhee (spelling?) mountains about 10 minutes from our house. I felt pretty lucky to live here when we finished our little adventure.
Within the first few minutes of our hike Jim spotted a lizard. We didn't think lizards lived around here, so it was pretty exciting to spot one (for Jim, not so much for me).
A little stream flowed all along the trail, and when there was ever a bit of a fishing hole, Jim stopped and put his fly in the water. Almost every cast Jim would catch a little trout. None of them were keepers -- all too small -- but Jim sure had fun catching them anyways before releasing them back into the stream. Below is the first catch of the day.
Whenever Jim stopped to fish, Tralee and I explored a little bit.
Before too long we made it to the waterfall. A nice guy offered to take a picture of our family. I wasn't too interested in putting this photo of us on the blog, since I'm looking huge and I'm swollen everywhere (face included). However, I decided to suck it up and share this photo anyways. It was the best one we had of the waterfall, and only one of all of us together.
The picture below makes me laugh. I was playing with my camera and trying to do a "self portrait" with the waterfall in the background. I didn't realize Jim would be in the photo. If you look closely you notice that there's a tiny little fish on the end of his line and he's trying to get my attention and tell me he just caught a fish. I was trying to get a picture of myself so I was ignoring Jim. Anyways, the picture was the end result. It makes me laugh.
This is what I was trying to accomplish in the above photo.
Next are just a few favorites of Tralee. Her favorite thing to do at the waterfall was throw pebbles in the water. After a few minutes she became brave enough to get her feet wet. If we would have let her, she probably would have gone swimming.
I love the picture below. It's just a good 'ol fishin-with-my-dad shot.
Below is the last photo of the day. I think it's my favorite.
This was a family outing I hope to repeat. It was the perfect little hike for our little family. If you're in the area, I highly recomend it.
I made brownies last night. When I wandered into the kitchen this morning this is what I found:
As you can see Tralee is very self sufficient. She managed to pull a chair up to the counter, find a utensil (a toothpick) and not only feed herself some brownies, but poke holes in the rest of the brownies she wasn't consuming. I guess I need to get Tralee's breakfast on the table a little faster in the future.
The next picture is Tralee taking a nap. Nap time has been a bit of a struggle lately. We'll put Tralee in her bed, read her stories, sing her a song, give her a kiss, say "Night. Night. We love you," shut her door, and Tralee is supposed to fall asleep. Well, Tralee hasn't been keeping up her end of the bargain. Recently we hear a lot of chitter-chatter coming from her room, whining, playing, books being pulled off her shelf, knocking on her door, jumping on the bed, etc. Sometimes Tralee WILL NOT go to sleep. On these days I usually go in her room and firmly tell her to "Go night night!" Tralee usually climbs back into her bed (if she's not in it already), lays down, squints her eyes closed, and fake snores. I stand there watching to see what happens, and usually notice Tralee opening up her eyes to peak and see if I'm still there. If I am her eyes squint shut again as she continues to fake snore. If I leave the room the jumping, singing, or playing begins again within two seconds. The other day Tralee ACTUALLY fell asleep, but not in her bed. Nope. . . on her little couch surrounded by a pile of books she tore off of her bookshelf. I grabbed the camera and got a quick picture of Tralee before I got her back in her bed, covered her up, and thanked the heavens she finally surrendered to sleep so I could have a little break.
This last picture is some game Tralee and Jim were playing. We've been getting A LOT of magazines in the mail for some reason. Magazines that we NEVER read. Think: World Traveler, Car and Driver, GQ, etc. We're not sure why we've been receiving these. We must have signed up for something some time and got these magazines as a result. Anyways, Jim and Tralee were having fun tearing pages out of one and putting them on Tralee's head. For some odd reason Tralee loved it. She sat perfectly still as to not disturb her new head-wear. This last picture is of Tralee looking extremely serious, probably concentrating on being very still. We thought she looked funny, so we took a picture.
It seems we have a nudist in our midst. Tralee has been removing several items of clothing (diaper included) and running around bare-bummed. It's cute until she stops and decides to "relieve" herself. I'm not a fan of the clean-up duty. We're working on keeping the diaper on.
Tralee also discovered a pair of bright pink shoes in my closet. They're her new favorite accessory. Or. . . if she's running around as described above her ONLY accessory. I was laying in bed with my eyes closed (trying to get a little rest before #2 arrives) when I heard clickity-clunk clickity-clunk clickity-clunk chiming down the hallway. I got up to investigate and saw Tralee walking around in my bright pink shoes. The other day I also noticed Kitty laying on a chair with her two back paws placed in the pink shoes. I walked around the house and noticed that one of Tralee's bears was also sporting some of my flip-flops. Heaven forbid her stuffies go bare foot. Yet, it's fine if Tralee runs around in nothing at all.
I've decided that not very much makes sense when you're dealing with a two-year-old, but it's sure fun to see what they come up with next.
