Hospital: Part 2

Not a lot has happened since this morning.  We've made it through a few movies, read some magazines, and watched a lot of TV.  The big event was when Shannon's water broke around noon when a doctor was doing an exam.  I missed it because I was at lunch (even though she is just on a liquid diet doesn't mean I can be on one too).  However that did not lead to bigger contractions so we've just had to rely on more petocin.  We tried walking around and different positions and it still didn't work.  This evening, they put a monitor on her that would give them a better idea of how much petocin the baby and her could handle.  Every 30-45 minutes since 7:30 they've been upping the dose.  The contractions are getting stronger, but we don't know when he will decide to make his appearance.  Unless some major events take place, it looks like he'll be a July baby.

At the hospital: the first 12 hours

Yesterday, we went to a doctors appointment and saw a different doctor than Shannon was used to because the regular one is now on vacation (how dare she!). Even though we (and Shannon's doc) considered the baby to be only 3 days late, the first ultrasound had us down as a due date on June 19th and so this doc considered us 41 weeks and 3 days. He suggested that we get admitted to the hospital and start inducing that night. We had discussed inducing on Tuesday anyway so we decided to do it.

We went back home and picked up our bags, had a light dinner, dropped Brady off with our friends, and headed off to the hospital. We arrived at the Birthcenter at around 7:30pm. The plan was to try a pill near the cervix overnight that would help dialation (Shannon was still around 2cm). However, she was having lots of small pain-free contractions, so they decided to skip the pill and start with a small dose of petocin around 11pm. She had more severe contractions until 2am and so they decreased the petocin. In the morning they ramped back up the dosage hoping to start active labor. Even though they have increased the petocin 3 times, she has continued to have not very strong contractions.

Throughout this whole time, the baby has been doing very well. He has had a strong heart rate and is still active. Shannon is OK, but uncomfortable. So we wait. We'll keep everyone updated if we have any news.

The Final Countdown

With only a few days left until labor day, we've kept ourselves busy these last 2 weeks by putting the finishing touches on the nursery, working, wondering how much hair he'll have, and having a few date nights.  We figured that we might not get out for a while (not that we got out much before), so one weekend we went to see Angels and Demons and got some Cold Stone ice cream afterwards.  Then last weekend, we played miniature golf and went to our favorite Mexican restaurant.  David read some wives tales on how to naturally induce labor and spicy food was one of them.  

None of the wise tales, as he calls them, have worked yet.   He says each night feels like Christmas Eve, excited and anticipating that tomorrow will be the big day.  However, each morning is more like that movie Groundhog Day.  Everyone asks the same questions at work with the same responses.... and still no baby.

But we did get this cool video of the little one moving inside Shannon's belly.  Most of the action takes place in the first 10 seconds even though the video lasts longer.  Its a pretty new camcorder for us so we are still trying to figure out the editing and uploading process.

With the due date tomorrow, the next post will hopefully have baby pics!  We'll email all the info to everyone with a pic or two and then post some more here soon after or when everything calms down.  

Goodbye Pooh

Lately we've been incredibly busy getting ready for the baby to arrive, but have luckily made huge strides in preparing for the little one, especially in the nursery.  

Here are some pictures of our progress.

We first had to get rid of Pooh (as you may know, the room was originally painted with a Winnie the Pooh theme).  Then we painted it green and added a brown stripe with circle cut-outs.  Thankfully the idea in our heads actually worked out in real life...

Lastly we put all of the nursery furniture together.

We're pretty happy with the results and are now just working on the details (washing baby clothes to put away, filling the bookshelf with books and toys, etc.).  It's nice to see the hard work finally pay off.  Now we just hope that he doesn't decide he wants a Winnie the Pooh room in a couple of years...

And here's a belly shot at 37 weeks.  We're down to less than 3 weeks left!