The Homestretch

The children are finally napping so I thought, what the heck, I will give a shot at blogging. This inevitably means that my phone will now begin to ring, the dogs will bark at the UPS man and the children will be up and ready for me to make them something yummy, healthy and fulfilling for lunch and this post, like so many before it, will be forever abandoned.

Since I fear I don't have much time to chat with you, I will update on the imporatant things in life first.

So I didn't give anymore time to last month's book group selection and I went there hoping not to offend anyone with my opinions about the 80 pages I had read. Turns out, every other person also found it shallow and boring and only two people actually finished. Turns out my copy was an 'uncorrected proof' and everyone else had official copies, so no one else was quite so annoyed with typos. We have gone ahead and selected the next four months book selections and things are looking much better. This month's selection, Lisa See's Snow Flower and The Secret Fan, started off slowly but is really beginning to pick up. Then we will read a book I've been meaning to read (A Thousand Splendid Suns) and an old favorite of mine (The Things They Carried). The fourth selection is a book I've never even heard of, but after last months selection I am ready for just about anything. I have decided however, that historical fiction is one of my favorite genres, and chic lit is one of my least favorites.

What else? Well, there is that constant popping in my ears that is somewhat like the change in pressure you feel on an airplane, except that is happens several times a day for no reason. I am beginning to go crazy, as it is a most annoying infliction. If it hasn't resolved itself after the baby arrives I may need to see an ENT doctor. Holding my nose and blowing, chewing and swallowing, drops, none of these things have made any real difference and I can see no real pattern as to why this is happening. Just another thing to slowly drive me insane.

I am one day short of full term and the doctor continues to tell me that the baby is big. Really, really big. I have been scheduled for a c-section but ever since I was scheduled I have been regretting it. I have shared my thoughts and feelings with my doctor, who is very good and came highly recommended by an old friend of mine. She checked me at 35 weeks and I was only a cm dilated, but the baby is head down and she said I have plenty of 'pelvic room' which I think I understand her meaning. She just continues to worry that the baby is too big. How can the baby be that big, I wonder, I have only gained 10 lbs. Next week I am scheduled for a final ultrasound to determine, a little more accurately, but still not definite, how big the baby is currently (I will be 38 weeks). I am still holding on to my dreams of a VBAC, mainly because I am stubborn, stubborn, stubborn. And if I have a c-section this time it's a c-section from here on out. I have started walking as of yesterday to try and bring on labor naturally. We walked for 2 and a half miles. It took us about 45 minutes and I had contractions every 4-5 minutes. Painful and wave like. We loaded up the car to leave and within minutes the contractions were gone. But I'm stubborn, so we're going back tonight for more.

I have also not packed a bag, because I am crazy and I am hoping that will help me in my dreams of going into labor on my own. You know, if I'm not ready, surely he'll come early. This will almost definitely backfire on me as I've put too much thought into it already. My doctor is on vacation this week and my entire family (and everyone whom I would ask to watch Bailey and Cooper) are on vacation next week. I think there could be a chance I will go into labor on, say, Sunday, when everyone is gone.

I have one more story to tell you, but as I predicted, the phone rang and now someone is upstairs stirring around, so it will have to wait until later.