Having a baby...eventually.

     Today I had a doctor's visit, one that I was hoping would be the last prior to baby Justin making his (as Natalie would put it) "grand entrance."  Everything was pretty much routine except that we had discussed induction last week as my pelvis has split and is highly uncomfy.  So Dr. Leavitt came in, checked my cervix and nothing had changed (I was dilated to a 1) and we shortly discussed giving it another week so that everything would be completely ready to go before we induce...until he measured my abdomen.  When he did so he said that I had gained almost a complete inch in the last 5 days; at which point, he said that he wanted to send me down the hall to have an ultrasound to see how big this boy is.  I said that it was something I had been nervous about because Nathan was 9 lbs. 9 oz. and I was 8 lbs. 5 oz.  and the wives tale is to base a baby somewhere in between the two.  I was off to have an ultrasound!
     When I got there the tech could obviously tell I was a little nervous and so she said this was her favorite point at which to give an ultrasound because you can see their faces and EVERYTHING else.  She was right it was totally awesome.  She also turned on the 3D ultrasound for a few so that I could see his face.  His bone structure looks so much like Nate!  It was almost spooky.  Anywho...every part of our baby boy looked absolutely perfect except for the fact that no matter what we did we couldn't get him to wiggle, which was odd because he is normally the biggest wiggle worm!  The she turned the tide over to his living conditions and therein is where the problem lies.  He seems to have enough fluid, except that he is pretty big in there.  At which point she took a picture of the placenta, helped me up and had me clean up.  She left the room with the picture and went to talk with Dr. Leavitt.  She came back and told me that my placenta was worn out.  Heart attack!!  What does that mean?  Am I sick?  Is Justin okay?  I was literally freaking out in my head!   But the placenta that both gives him nourishment and oxygen has been overtaxed.  Apparently this sometimes happens when we have democratic leaders in Washington...just kidding.  I guess it sometimes happens at the end of a stressed pregnancy where Mom has experienced high blood pressure.  I have had this problem off and on which Dr. Leavitt says has to do with the hormones, and part of the reason I have been home-bound until the end of the pregnancy.
     At this point she told me that I could go in the hall and ask the PA any of my questions.  Well, Dr. Leavitt was out there instead and he put his arm around me and asked if we were having a baby tonight.  I was a bit reluctant because I was scared...but I said umm...okay.  He left me with the receptionist, Kim, who called the hospital to let them know that I was coming.  But when she got on the phone she found that the hospital was already past capacity.  She called Dr. Leavitt back to see how he wanted to proceed.  He said that he did not want me there with a bunch of women and so he didn't even want to induce in the morning.  He then stated that he would prefer to wait until most of those women had gone home (around 48 hours).  The short of it is that I am being induced on Wednesday evening at 7:00 p.m. at ERMC.  So I may be having a baby on my brother Kris' birthday.  When I told Kris this he jokingly said that I would have to change the baby's name...but I had a quick reply that they already are going to share a middle name.  I finally made up my mind and his middle name is Dean after my grandpa Hayes who was more like a dad than anything else.  I really feel like that is a good way to honor his memory and all that he meant/and still means to me.  We are having a baby sometime between Wednesday night and Thursday!
     Oops!  I forgot that if the induction fails, within about 12-24 hours, Dr. Leavitt will be performing a C-section.