41 Weeks Pregnant (Blah!)

I'm a little miffed to say I did not think I would get to this point but here I am. The part that is slightly relieving (and slightly stressful) is that I've been scheduled to be induced for tomorrow Monday morning apparently at 6:30am! Umm, we were told to call and pick a time...obviously we would have chosen a more reasonable hour like 8 or 9am or something, but oh well. I guess she'll be here sooner than we thought! I'm slightly stressed because I did not want to be induced and it makes me anxious that we now know when we are going to the hospital and that after that we will have our baby girl here, but I am excited, too. I haven't been scared about the giving birth part for a while, but I am scared about being put on Pitocin since that is most likely what they'll do, and it bothers me knowing that almost everyone who is put on Pitocin needs an epidural because it brings the contractions on so suddenly and intensely. I really don't want one. I am not opposed to epidurals, but I do not want to pay for one. So my plan has been to try and go natural this whole time but I feel like that dream is slipping out the window. I'm really frustrated about that but I can't let myself get stressed out or I'll probably get emotional. My doctor told me I'd be in charge but the lady on the phone from the hospital didn't make it sound like she was taking requests. If I had it my way, I would have them first try using just Cervidil to see if that was enough to push me over from a 3 to a 4cm (it worked for my friend), and if that didn't work, put me on Pitocin for a short while--just enough to get me going.

I just learned that my mom was on Pitocin the whole time when she was induced with me and she still didn't get an epidural so I guess it's not impossible. That's slightly relieving. I hate that I'm getting induced because I hate that I have time to attempt to plan and worry about the situation. If I had just gone into labor in the middle of the night I would just be worried about getting the baby out, not about all the stupid drugs everyone is trying to give me. So frustrating.

Well I'm trying to stay positive and have courage because I am really excited for our little girl to be here. More likely than not, we'll have her by tomorrow!!!!! So unreal. She has been very much anticipated for practically a year. (I can't believe I've been pregnant for 41 out of the last 52 weeks of a year...that's such a long time!) Week 40 went by a little faster than week 39 because I took everyone's advice and kept as busy as possible. When I get the time, I will share what's been going on lately. It's been awesome having my mom here and I can't believe she leaves in 10 days. We have plans to go to New Hampshire in 15 days! Our little girl will be two weeks old! I guess August has kind of flown by even though I didn't think so the last two weeks. 

Dalin is so ready for her to be here. I catch him in her room pretending to change her diaper and sitting in the chair in there. He tells me he is going to just hang out in there while she's sleeping and watch her and read to her. He always gets so happy when we talk about her being here. I'm convinced he's going to be the cutest dad of all time (I'm sure every wife thinks that, but I know it's true for him:). I can also tell he's going to be the nicer parent of the two of us, but we'll talk about that another time...

Wish me luck for tomorrow! Thankfully I have Dalin who can give me a blessing beforehand. I'm so blessed to have him! 

One of the last times it will be just the two of us! I love our family! 

39 Weeks, 4 Days Pregnant

I was feeling a bit too lazy and distracted to write about my experience again, but here is what I wrote (with a few changes) to my best friend Sarah Ayer in an email (she's serving a mission in Ecuador and so email is the only way to reach her kind of quickly):

I went to my 39-week appointment yesterday (it was Harry Potter's birthday, for anyone who forgot ;) and got my membranes stripped around 5pm. In case you don't know, that basically means the doctor puts his fingers through my cervix and separates the baby's sac from my uterus just around the opening. It sounds awful, but it didn't feel any worse than it does when he is checking my cervix...just tons of pressure (it feels like he's trying to put his hand all the way to my belly practically...ugh.). Also, I had heard that it hurts a lot, so I had a high pain expectation but it really wasn't bad. So I was at 1cm dilated and 60% effaced (same as last week...) which made me really sad. Like I started to cry because I was so frustrated that no progress had been made and I just want her to be here already. I'm tired of waiting. I was embarrassed that I cried, but my doctor was really understanding and he didn't seem too surprised that I was getting emotional.

So after my appointment, we stopped at Target for a short while to get a few things then headed home. When I used the bathroom I realized I was bleeding quite a bit. Enough that I freaked out because (depending on the circumstances) my doctor told me if I bleed and have cramping, it is an emergency for me and the baby because it means the placenta may have detached. He said like call 911 or go straight to the hospital. So naturally I panicked (thank goodness Dalin was calm) and we drove right to Orem Community Hospital. I was crying on the way because I was so scared something would happen to our sweet baby girl but I was too tense and nervous to calm down and check if she was moving at all.

They admitted me at the hospital and after not too long, checked my cervix and told me I was dilated to 2+ and more than 60% effaced! They also told me that bleeding after having one's membranes stripped is fairly common and usually nothing to worry about. (But it was a lot of blood I thought...more than just a little spotting). So they kept me for an hour and Dalin and I just watched TV  meanwhile and tried not to get too excited. After an hour, they checked me and said I was at 3cm and 80% effaced! So they held me for another hour, after which there was no change from the last time. So after speaking with my doctor, they sent us home but told us they think we'll likely be back in the next day or two!!!!!!

So our daughter is close to being here by the sound of things. I truly hope so. She has to come out sometime, right? I went to work today because I felt good this morning (I slept surprisingly well). While there, I had some more intense contractions and back pain but it was on and off and not very consistent. Since being home, the contractions have increased as the night has gone on. I felt some sharp pains the last few hours which I am pretty sure were the baby's head hitting my cervix but they stopped after I laid down for a while. 

Well we're going out to pick up my mom right now (she flew in two days early) so I'll have to finish this later! 

Pray our daughter comes to us safely and healthy!