An hour and ten minutes later

And I still hadn't seen the doctor this morning. To be fair, he is not my regular doctor, who is out of town. He's covering both his own patients and hers as well this week, and I think there was probably a delivery going on. But still, as the time went on and on, I started to wonder if I would be out in time to pick up Allison and Sarah from kindergarten. Finally, at 11:05 (my appointment was at 10:00), I asked what my chances were of getting out of there by 11:30. The nurses checked and came back and told me there were still five people to be seen before me, but that I could come back later and see the nurse practitioner, who by the way couldn't do a full exam. Or I could wait and see my regular doctor in a week. So I took that last option and left, feeling a bit disappointed I'd wasted so much time just waiting. As for the exam, I guess I really don't need one. I'm sure I'm more dilated and effaced than last week, when I was 2.5 cm and 50% effaced, but knowing exactly how much isn't really going to change whether I go into labor or not. But part of me really likes to know what's going on with my body, to know if all these contractions are doing anything other than making me catch my breath and tightening my stomach. But perhaps it's best that I skip the exam. Last week, I was sore for a few hours after my exam, something I never am with my regular doctor. And DH is out of town until Sunday and I don't want to have the baby without him. I'm not likely to; in fact, though I walk around ready to go into labor at any moment, enjoy plenty of contractions, and always have a cervix that is ripe (I hate that word; makes me feel like a piece of fruit!) well before my due date, I have usually needed a bit of help to really get things going. My water has never broken on its own and my earliest baby -- Michael at 3 weeks -- came that early only after my membranes were stripped (hasn't worked any other time), Pitocin was given to strengthen the contractions, and my water was broken for me. So I probably have two or three more weeks of waiting and except for those moments I cry with exhaustion, I'm only in a state of semi-misery, so I think I can handle this! Baby Katie isn't moving as much as she was a few weeks ago. I think she's wedged in so tight even she's anxious to get out and get a bit more room. However, my uterus has moved up into my ribs and is constantly sore unless I arch my back, which makes for some fun upper back pain. *** But enough about me. Let's talk about something more exciting, like SPRING! It has been glorious weather here, which means it's the perfect time for catching bugs, which is all my little girls want to do these days -- yes, I did say GIRLS -- these two are the main culprits; don't let those sweet smiles fool you! They spend hours with buckets, turning over bricks and rocks and putting every creepy crawly they can find into their own little habitats, which they enhance with bark and dirt. They're very generous, too, and will gladly share their bugs with Harmony, who squeals with delight and pours her roly-polies from a cup to a bucket then back to the cup again. She got distressed the other day when she picked one up a little too hard and he stopped moving. A minute later, I noticed she put him in her mouth. I assured her that he was "bleah!" and she spit him out. Eliza loves her bugs too and keeps trying to sneak them inside. This afternoon, we had a few battles during what was supposed to be quiet time. First she had a couple of bugs in her hands she was holding while she watched a show. Later, it was a whole container of bugs, then finally, somehow she dumped out a bunch of dirt and roly-polies on the carpet. Allison came up and told me with wide eyes, "You need to see something RIGHT NOW!" She wouldn't tell me what it was, so I followed her downstairs to find a pile of dirt on the carpet and roly-polies scattering all corners of our house. I got the vacuum and sucked those babies right up, but I'm sure there's still a few lurking somewhere. In general, the bugs don't bother me and I think there's nothing better for little ones than to explore whatever their interests are. I do TRY to enforce a "bugs stay outside" rule, but you can see that today's efforts were not too successful! *** In other news, I heard from DH tonight. He and Lillian flew to New York last night and enjoyed a huge day of sight-seeing. They saw the public library, the Chrysler Building and went to the top of the Empire State Building before seeing Phantom of the Opera tonight. I'm a teensy bit jealous, but so excited that Lillian gets such an opportunity. DH's conference starts tomorrow, so she'll have lots of hours to read and play Brickbreaker on my cell phone, but there are plenty of long breaks and their hotel is only a block from Central Park, so I'm sure they'll have plenty of fun! *** I had a fun, creative weekend that included three photoshoots! Two fun families and one amazingly beautiful engaged couple. I think I'm hooked on doing engagement photos -- it was so much fun! And my word, there are SO many great beautiful backgrounds around now that it's spring. Check out my photo blog for more great pictures.

Comments

Rachel Keppner said…
The photos are BEAUTIFUL! Great job! :-)

And hang in there-- I know those last few weeks feel like an eternity, but it WILL happen! (And you'll reassure me of the same thing in about a month and a half, right? *wink*)
Natalie said…
So sorry about the long wait in the drs office! And then to not even be seen. Oh, I feel your semi-misery. The last time I sat in the drs. office before Austin was born I ended up in tears (he was born the next day) and I still feel a little silly about that. Lack of sleep and crazy hormones coupled with a permanent state of discomfort don't make for the most emotionally stable version of myself. I love that your girls like to hunt for bugs. We'll have to get them together with the boys sometime! Happy Spring!
John said…
My 4 year old daughter saw me reading this, looked at the picture of your twins and said, "Those are cute." :).

I had my 7th baby in Utah County last summer and every appointment (I think I only had 3 here) was like that. In Kansas where I had 3 of my kids, if the doctor was behind they would always call me and tell me how much later to come in or reschedule if I needed. I was so spoiled from that.I wish all OB clinics would do that. I know I would pay more for a doctor just for that nice little courtesy.
Good luck with the long awaited event! I'm so impressed with your bug tolerance - I'm not quite there. The kids love roly-polys, and I'll never forget the day when a little friend of theirs came in and said "His black came off..." Yuck....
Deserie said…
I just love reading your blogs. You always have so much to say. The pictures are beautiful, you do such an amazing job. Keep it up!
Andrea said…
Christina, this is an odd place to de-lurk, since it's so long since you wrote it, but your writing about the kids and their bugs made me laugh. So funny!