Raine: Patchwork Girl

What a horrendous night!!!

So, that nasty egg concoction was not well digested by my body. The Castor Oil was not well received. Starting around 1am I was getting contractions, and by 1:30 they were coming hard and strong and three minutes apart and lasting about 1m 20 secs, on top of constant tightness. That was crazy no fun. Stephen was a champ and very helpful through that section, especially the part where I expelled the Castor Oil Eggs and goodness knows what else into one of the handy foot soak tubs I purchased for doing pedicures with to_rei_shi. That was a $1.56 well spent!

Given this, we called Darlene. I was pretty out of it. I was clinging to the counter at this point, managing to talk, but not that well. Seriously not fun. So... we decided to hold off the on the second does a little while long- I think it ended up being after 4am before I managed to really make it back to bed and stay there for longer than about 10 minutes at a time. 10 minutes in bed, 45 in the bathroom. GAH.

But... I had some show at 3:27, according to my log, and then more just before 4am. This means to me that those horrible contractions were doing something.

The good news is that after about 4:30 or 5 the priority switched to sleep- which we both desperately needed. At 9:45ish, I was getting up to use the loo again and felt rush of fluid, so I froze thinking maybe I'd soiled myself, but moved again and more fluid which I couldn't stop with Kegels. Then at 10:08 more fluid... and since then about 1 TBSP just about every time I move- so it looks like my water really has broken.

Stephen has been sent out to bank and to collect my thyroid Rx refill... so while he's gone, I'm trying to get contractions going on their own (which will work better when I actually get up and start moving more- right now I'm just wiggling in my chair). If they do, we go with it. If they don't then I do the second round of terrible Castor Oil via the chocolate milkshake. I think I'll do the milkshake anyway- something cold and creamy (soy creamy) sounds really good on my shredded intestinal tract. I'm thinking yoghurt is going to be high on the list of edibles as well...

However, we made a run to the Co-op last and got a lot of really good food. I have fresh radishes, yams, the BEST apples ever- almost as good as the huge one I got in Germany near Blenheim- two big jugs of organic apple juice, pear juice, the shampoo and conditioner I love, and generally healthy, yummy goodness. I shall masticate it and love it all (in little bits at a time of course, I really don't eat that much)... and hopefully it will all stay put.

So anyway... we're still not in consistent active labor but I think we're on our way to getting there. Baby is still moving around... can't believe we're going to meet our little peanut soon! I washed everything last night... so lots of clean, soft clothes and blankets await baby!

The Grandma's have been alerted and will be arriving later this afternoon.

I wonder how long this is going to take... will we have an 11th or 12th baby? Probably 12th.

K Stephen, hurry up! I'm finally hungry again.

Feel the rhythm, feel the rhyme, get on up, it's bobsled baby time!

It Begins | 40 Week Midwife Appointment

There is nothing like going in to something like a midwife appointment at this stage in the game and hearing just what you wanted to hear.

After all of my efforts this week- Acupuncture, Thai Curry for lunch yesterday, walking for an hour with Darryl and Alice, "Indian Hot" Vegetable Curry for dinner last night, and thinking wide cervical thoughts- it turns out that we are in fact getting somewhere. Not only have I had some intermittent contractions and a lot of tightness, but I am, in fact, 3 cm dilated! My cervix is about 1 cm thick and the baby is at -1 Station (which is pretty good). I think the baby was quite surprised to get poked in the head for the first time EVER. Imagine its confusion.

So, the only not great news is that my blood pressure has crept up a little bit further, but that turns into good news because give that my cervix is favourable, Darlene doesn't want to wait until next week and possibly jeopardize our home birth. Basically we're looking to have a baby tomorrow or Friday. To accomplish this I have to find some happy balance between walking, controlling my urge to clean the whole world, and getting plenty of rest and then take 2oz of Castor Oil tonight at 2200, and another 2 oz tomorrow morning at 0400.

Mom has been alerted. The Mother-in-law has been alerted. Stephen's boss(es) have been alerted. I'm officially done with work for a while (other than photography stuff which never really stops). The house could use a last once over, but other than that we're pretty much there. The plan is to spend the afternoon with Charlotte and allow myself to be pretty much distracted with things until Stephen gets done with work for today. The plan then is to hit the co-op and get the last minute food items we may need in the next few days... and other than that, the plan is to spend some time together with just the two of us.

It's odd to think it won't be just the two of us again... probably not ever, really. Our lives, our relationship, we are about to change permanently. It's even more odd to know that these changes, this huge life event and everything that entails is just staring us in the face. We are a family- now more than ever. That's a pretty amazing feeling.

This morning I was so uncomfortable and rather grumpy with being uncomfortable... now I'm more excited than I know what to do with. I'm standing on the edge of a cliff overlooking a vast ocean- the winds of change are blowing across my face and my toes are wrapped around the edge of the sheer rock. I have my arms out just waiting to jump... and hopefully fly. Then, from the beautiful sunset on the not so distant horizon, a little butterfly flutters up and lands on my nose.

What a crazy ride.

Watch this space.