Another Update

We are scheduled for an induction on Monday. We don't have a time yet. The hospital will call us Sunday night to let us know what time to come in.

There is a chance, however, that we will get bumped. The hospital might push our induction back a few hours or a day, depending on how many women they have in labor. Those in active labor obviously are the priority. (Fun fact: More women give birth in August than any other month, according to the August issue of Rachael Ray's magazine -- Rachael was born in August.)

Again, baby may surprise us and decide to come in the next four days on his own.

We have a doctor's appointment tomorrow morning to see how the little guy is doing.

We are anxious to say the least. Excited, too, knowing that it's a matter of days....

Friday was my last day at work, so I've been at home this whole week, trying to keep myself occupied -- this has not been easy.

I finally went out yesterday and bought a novel to read. I can't read another baby-related book. My mind can't absorb much more. Plus, I feel like I need to distract myself in order to stay calm.

It's been hot and humid, too, which hasn't helped during this waiting game. We have one a/c unit for the bedroom, but it doesn't cool down the whole apartment. I bought a new fan yesterday to circulate the air a little better in the living room.

Dave is still working, taking the train to NYC each day and hoping that I will call with news of contractions or water breaking. Unfortunately, it's usually a call from me complaining how hot it is in the apartment.

But this will all be a distant memory soon, washed over by the joy of a baby boy.

Baby update

So here's the latest---

I went to the doctor this morning. They did a nonstress test to evaluate the baby's condition. He's doing fine.

The concern, however, is that he is still very high. Apparently, this wouldn't be a problem except all other signs indicate that I'm ready to give birth, i.e. I'm nearly 4 cm dilated.

Doc thinks that perhaps the baby hasn't dropped because he won't make it through the birth canal. There's a chance my pelvis won't accomodate his size -- baby is big -- likely at least 8 lbs by now and growing. (But luckily, the doc says, I'm tall and "big boned.")

Dave and I have a couple of options. The doctor said I could be induced at the end of the week -- when I'm at about 41 weeks. Or we could wait until early next week to induce. But waiting means the baby would be even larger.

Basically, it's a crap shoot on whether the baby will drop far enough for a vaginal delivery.

We are torn about what to do. I don't want to be induced nor do I want to have a c-section. Induction at about 41 weeks is something they usually don't do, so I'm surprised that the doc put it on the table.

So, that's that. The big hope is that I will go into labor naturally and baby comes out fine.

Due Date

We made it to July 25, the estimated due date of our little chick. We are hoping that the little guy will now make his arrival!

When the baby comes has been one heck of a trial for us.

Before my first internal exam at the beginning of the month, I had it in my head that little chick might not make his big debut until August.

But during an early July visit, my doctor examined me and determined that there was no way I would make it to July 25. At that visit, I was already 2 cm dilated and about 60 percent effaced.

But alas, the weeks passed.

On Tuesday, the doctor told me I'm 3 cm dilated and about 80 percent effaced. (No doubt I'm lucky here. It can take women hours of painful labor to get where I'm at -- and I have yet to feel a contraction.)

We temporarily scheduled another appointment for Tuesday, the 28th -- doc said there's no way I'd still be pregnant by then. We shall see!

These optimistic doctors - I see a handful of rotating docs - are throwing us for a loop, and I'm to the point where I refuse to trust what they say.

This is my first child, afterall, so it only should be assumed that I would go past my due date. Most women do. And despite such progress with my cervix, the baby hasn't dropped.

And yes, I'm absolutely sick of people asking me if the baby has arrived. You will no doubt know when he arrives, people! Dave and I will be shouting it from the mountain tops, a.k.a. Facebook, e-mail, phone calls.

Feline Oddities

Mazzey likes chemicals.

She'll fish stray packing tape out of the garbage to chew on the coating material. She'll scratch at photographs to get at the tasty chemicals involved in the development process. It's very odd.

Callie doesn't have this addiction. She, instead, likes to lick plastic. Typically, this means sitting on the window sill and tasting the blinds over and over again until I have to shoo her off. If not blinds, then she'll find a plastic bin and lick the edges. It's very odd as well.

Callie and Mazzey both have a tendency to throw up on our floor. For Callie, this tipically means that she has licked some plastic that didn't agree with her stomach. It doesn't happen very often. But Mazzey is a perpetual hairballer. At her peak, she has been known to cough up one of those things every day for a week. Not amusing.

The fact that neither cat seems inclined to clean up after their messes only adds to the frustration. But we've learned to live with it.

What I'd rather not live with, however, is shredded furniture. This is a Mazzey issue more than an issue with Callie, who doesn't have her front claws. Mazzey is apt to claw anything in our living room, from couch (not a good choice) to chair (also not a good choice) to rug (ok, the rug is fine).

If she only clawed the rug, I wouldn't mind. But she can't control herself. And the cheap chair we bought a couple months ago is no match for her. It already looks like Swiss cheese on the arms.

So Liz invested this weekend in special anti-pet strips that you can put on furniture, and it's supposed to discourage pets from clawing them. Give it a try, eh? Why not? It's kind of like double-sided adhesive tape, and the instructions say that cats don't like the sticky feeling and evenually get their scratching fix elsewhere.

Great. So I applied it to our chair and sat back, waiting to see what Mazzey would do.

Soon enough, she walked up the chair ready to scratch. But she didn't scratch. She checked it out. She inspected it real good. And lo and behold, the tape worked! Our furniture was saved! Mazzey would no longer be scratching our chair!

No, she didn't scratch the chair. Instead, she proceeded to lick the tape and lick the tape and lick the tape, obviously much more fond of the chemicals in the tape than shredding the furniture. Something about those chemicals.

I guess we can't win.

More Big Belly

Twice today strangers have mentioned to me how huge I am.

I was walking from our apartment to my car this morning when a nearby woman said, "Wow, you must be having twins." I replied, "Nope, there's only one in there." Her response: "Must be one big baby."

Later, I was taking the elevator at work when a maintenance guy said to me, "Looks like you are working up to the very end." My response: "Well, I have about five weeks to go." His reponse: "Oh. Wow."

I'm definately big. Dave says people just forget how big women near their due date get. You be the judge:

Like Father, Like Son

When I saw the little hat in the store and looked up at Dave, who was wearing his Red Sox hat, I started to cry. We had to buy it.