Never put it in writing

So, I somewhat dimly recall promising to update this blog every week or so when I first started. Hmm, so much for that. It's been about 5 weeks since my last update, but I promise that enough has happened in that 5 weeks to have a good excuse.

Let me introduce to you Adam Jiri Thomas Reid:



As you may recall, he was due to appear on September 25th. Well, a week went by with no action, so my doctor decided that it was time to induce. On Sunday, October 1st I went in to the hospital to have my first induction attempt. Notice I said first. We jovially said goodbye to the dog, locked up the house, even stopped for a slurpee. The air was festive. Next time we came home it would be with a baby! But, it was not to be. After applying a lovely gel called Cervedil to my nether regions at about 1pm, they sent me home to see what would happen. Apparently labour is aptly named.

I'm not sure why, but I was extremely determined to make a dish called Lazy Cabbage Rolls before Adam appeared. Some people go on a cleaning binge before their babies appear. Since I was never one for housework, I went on a cooking binge instead. The weeks before Adam appeared had me preparing sauces, stews, soups, loading up on frozen, easy to make dinners and basically storing up enough food in the house to feed an entire third world nation. But no, I had to make those damn cabbage rolls on the day I was going into labour.

About an hour after I got home I stared to think that maybe they had applied the gel to the wrong area. Surely this urgent need to take a big dump was not right? The pain in my back, thighs and butt were not what I was expecting. Pretty soon it was joined by a lovely sensation which I could only describe as the worst.fucking.menstrual.cramps.ever. Oh joy, so this was what labour was all about. Why did I want to do this again??? Maybe it wasn't too late to change my mind.....they had promised a c-section, after all. I think the comments that followed to my husband that afternoon and early evening were inexcusable, to say the least, but somehow he managed to chalk it all up to labour and was sweet and supportive throughout it. By the way, the cabbage rolls were delicious.

I called my doctor about 8pm, as I had been asked. We went back to the hospital and I was strapped to a bed, hooked up to monitors and given an internal exam, all of which revealed absolutely no progression. At this point, I really was thinking that this would never, ever happen. They took out the Cervedil and sent me home, telling me to wait for a call in the morning from the hospital to see what our next course of action would be. The labour stopped about an hour after we left the hospital, and I went and had what would turn out to be my last full night of sleep to this day.

The next morning, we were called back to the hospital at about 9am. Aagin, we set out, this time less exuberant about locking up the house and saying goodbye to the dog, almost certain that we'd be back home before the day was out. We got to the hospital by 10am, and got put into a room that would end up being our home for the rest of that day and the next. At first, it was kind of exciting, but after hours of waiting and not really being told much, poor Mike started to get tired:



Yah, I really felt for him. I hadn't been allowed to eat since coming to the hospital, and after Mike's second visit to the cafeteria I started to feel less and less charitable to all of humanity. My doctor called throughout the day to see how I was feeling, consult with the myriad residents,doctors and nurses that came to see me(a lot of whom were younger than me, which did not help make me any less cantankerous)and decide on a course of action. Finally, at about 5pm and after being seen by yet another colleague of my doctors and being told jovially that "this is one big customer who refuses to descend" it was decided that I would be having a c-secion after all. Christ almighty.

After that, things seemed to happen really quickly, almost too quickly, but also in slow motion. Someone would come in and update us on the status of the operating room, the surgeons (my doctor, Dr. Kalyanpur to whom I owe all kinds of debt, really wanted to be part of the surgical team so they had to wait for her to come in as well)and the course of events as they would occur. Suddenly it was after 9pm and I was walking into the room where I would finally be meeting this little creature that had been growing inside of me for almost ten months.

This post is getting much too long, so I will save the rest for another day.

All Due Date, No Action

It's my due date. Apparently the baby a)is not aware of this or b) chooses to ignore it in order to set up an illegal squat in my uterus for as long as it can hold out.



I'm hoping it will be kind of like my sense of direction. I've always gotten by on sheer luck, blind hope, and a feeling that I've gone about two blocks/kms/hours too far. That's when I usually hit my destination.

I really want this baby to come out and meet it's uncle Tom before he leaves for Oxford on Wednesday. Then again, tomorrow is mine and Haley's birthday - that would be a good day as well, if only so that it makes Mike's life easier.

The before time

So, I'm 5 days from my due date and I am so done.



The first 6 months or so were interesting - in that I got to watch my body expand and change without feeling all of that weight watcher's induced fear of the scale I'd acquired over the last years of being a woman in our society. I've never eaten so well (or so often) in my life. My biggest craving? Slurpees, but then again that should come as no surprise to the people that know me well.

I was watched like a science experiment by my step-daughter Haley. "And how big is the baby now? Well, if it's only that little (holds her fingers a centimetre apart), how come your tummy is already so big?" Aaaah, the innocence of childhood. Now I think she's just ready for this baby to come out, so she can shine at her newest role, that of big sister. If she shows the love, patience and joy with this baby that she does with her little cousins, then I'm the luckiest mommy in the world!

My husband, Mike, was a bit of a different story, I guess the way that all men are. As long as the changes weren't outwardly visible, he didn't really make a big deal over anything. But now, now is a different story. He's very attentive, loving and overly concerned of every move that I make. I've been restricted in my activities (of course I still get to make dinner) in that I'm not "allowed" to drive too far from home. The car is so full of baby things, my overnight bag, his overnight bag and a few extras, that I'm surprised I even fit in the damn thing anymore. We could probably survive a nuclear explosion on the rations. If I roll over in bed or get up to pee, the first question out of Mike's mouth is "Are you in labour?". He answers the phone that way too, I hope that's only with me!