Fashionably Late

For those of you thinking to yourselves, exactly when was Faith's due date?  Shouldn't she have had that baby by now?  Wonder no longer--I thought I'd give everyone an update, since it seems like my children enjoy being fashionably late. 

My due date was on February 4th--that's right, 12 days ago.  Maybe this is my just desserts, since, according to my mom, I came almost a month later than my scheduled due date.  I'm assuming due dates are a little more accurate these days, but still, I was obviously not being very cooperative. 

But the baby does need to come out eventually, and one cannot wait forever, especially someone who has had two previous c-sections and the added risk of a uterine rupture the larger the baby gets.  So, the plan is to go in for an induction on Friday morning if the baby has not come by then.  What?  an induction?  you might be thinking, for those of you who have heard me explain over and over again that I can't be induced because I've had a previous c-section.  Well, I can't have a normal Pitocin induction, but I can try a mechanical induction, which involves using a Foley balloon method to mechanically force my cervix to open and hopefully induce labor.  I'd never heard of it until a few weeks ago, but my doctor introduced it to me as something he often uses as a more natural way to induce women so they do not experience the hard contractions that Pitocin brings on.  I am excited to give it a try and see how it goes.  If it doesn't work, I'll stay in the hospital and have a c-section.  So, definitely a baby by the 18th or 19th.  I did mention to Bruce that the 20th sounds so much nicer because it used to be my basketball number, but let's hope that if I do go into labor it will not last that long!!!!

Myra is usually the one I have to drag to appointments, which have been frequent recently now that I'm past my due date.  The last few appointments I have had to be hooked up to a monitor to do a non-stress test.  This requires that the baby be awake and moving, which of course means the baby is asleep most of the time when they're trying to do this test.  A couple of times, I've asked Myra to try to talk to the baby to wake him up so the doctor can collect the data he needs.  Well, this last appointment, both Myra and Alice were with me and I'd been hooked up to the monitor for probably half an hour.  The girls were doing pretty well, but getting antsy, when I overheard Myra whisper to Alice, "If we wake that baby up, then we can get outta here!"  They proceeded to concoct a plan to get up close to my belly and yell, "wake up, Quincy!"  It was fun to see them working together, though their brother was still uncooperative.