August 2nd, 2012

Dear Baby...happy due date day!  Now if you could kindly GTFO, I'd appreciate it thankyouverymuch.

This post is more for my records than for your interest, so if you get bored with it don't blame me.  In the last week, I have done more cleaning, re-arranging and organizing than I ever have in my life.  I even vacuumed behind the furnace and the ceiling in the laundry room.  If Baby doesn't make an attempt to show up today, vacuuming the garage is next on my list.

Yesterday morning at my weekly prenatal appointment, I had my doctor scrape my membranes.  I'm not going to explain what that is...you can Google it for yourself.  As he did this, he informed me that I was 3 cm dilated and that he could stretch me to 4 cm.  Just like with my first pregnancy, I was basically complimented on my cervix and, although he's not a betting man, he guessed that he would be seeing me later that night.  I left the office super excited that I was likely going to meet my Baby before the day was through.

Shortly after getting home, I was chatting with my neighbour about her experience with castor oil.  She said within four hours of her taking it, her water broke and her babe was born eight hours later.  I instantly sent Mike to the pharmacy to grab a bottle for me.  At 3pm, I mixed the oil with a big glass of Tropical 5-Alive orange juice, plugged my nose and gulped down the entire glass (followed quickly by an apple strudel as a chaser, just to make sure I tasted none of the oil).  And then I waited.

And waited.

And waited.

My dad came over around 7:00 to take Miss K for a walk.  I was going to go with them, but thought to myself, "What if the oil kicks in and you're two blocks away from home?".  I am beyond thankful I listened to my inner voice.  At about 7:30pm (now 4.5 hours after taking the oil), I commented to my mother-in-law, "I just might be the first woman who is immune to castor oil.  I also might be eating those words in the next half hour".  I kid you not...it wasn't a minute later that I was scrambling for the bathroom.  I BARELY made it the five steps from our kitchen to the bathroom.  "Wow!" is all I am going to say about that.  If I had gone for a walk with my dad and K, I likely would have shit my pants.  If that had happened, I would have just sat down on the street (rather than walking home in my white pants) and waited for Mike to come get me in the van.

For the rest of the evening, I kept a very close watch on my tummy.  There were definite contractions, but no consistency.  With each tightening, I was sure that Baby was going to arrive sooner, rather than later.

And now it is 7:00am on my due date and I just downed another glass of castor oil.  Part of me wants to make sure Baby comes today, because I don't want to disrupt my doctor's long weekend.  The other part of me is sitting here thinking, "WTF are you doing?  WHY would you want to intentionally bring on the pain that you KNOW is going to accompany all of this?  Just let it happen when it happens!".  And then I eat another apple strudel and tell that voice to eff off.

Come on, Baby...show yourself :)