Shameless self-promotion aka I write at Style Lush too!

Hey! Want to come visit me over at Style Lush today? I'm asking for your help with all things baby girl. Where do you shop for baby girl clothes? What is a "must-have"? Where do you find all those adorable hair clips/bows/flowers? Stop on over and tell me all your secrets.

Random things

Thing the first: THANK YOU. For all your lovely comments and for sharing your experiences and opinions on all things induction related. I still don't know what we're going to do but I have a feeling I'll just "know" as we get closer. What I do know is this baby girl is vacating my body somehow, someway by early October (by October 3rd to be specific because that is my 30th birthday and I WILL have a cocktail to celebrate, oh yes).

 

Thing the second: My OB's office informed me that I gained less than half a pound in the last two weeks. Guess who is having ice cream RIGHT THIS VERY MINUTE to celebrate?

 

Thing the third: My husband snookered me into agreeing to a boys-only road trip to Florida in a few weeks. He's been so nice and attentive lately that I should have known something was up. And how can I deny a man a last road trip with his buddy, a weekend of wakeboarding, and fun in the sun before he becomes a father of two? Had I known I was going to get knocked up in January I would have FOR SURE booked a girls weekend ahead of time. Drats. (I did inform him that this was the last hurrah because as soon as he gets home he is MINE and he better get his work pants on...Daddy's got a nursery to paint and a crib to assemble and some attic-digging for baby gear to do.)

 

Thing the fourth: It's hotter than hell in Chicago. I don't know about where you live but I am dying here. I am very much looking forward to Saturday when I get to see K and Family for some much needed romping in the lake and sand dunes. Warning to anyone who may see me at the Indiana Sand Dunes: you are not seeing a beached whale. It's just me...impersonating a beached whale.

 

Thing the fifth (and then I am done): MAH BEBE turns THREE tomorrow! How did this happen? Where have the years disappeared to? A photo update of his third year will be posted sometime in the next, oh, month or so. I hope.

Induction? Yay or Nay?

I am currently facing the following scenario and wonder what YOU would do. If your OB told you that he recommended an induction at 39 weeks because of your previous rapid active labor (4 hours start to finish, 5 cm to 9.5 cm in 20 minutes, 3 pushes aaaannnddd here's  baby!), would you consider it?

I'm concerned about "forcing" the baby out a) earlier than 40 weeks, b) that an unsuccessful induction on a body that is not yet "primed" may lead to a c-section and c) I had such a good, relatively easy delivery the first time that I don't want to mess with nature. However, I am TERRIFIED that this baby could be born in less than two hours and that there is a very real possibility that I could not make it to the hospital in time. Last I checked, Tim did not complete a medical degree and is very unqualified to deliver a baby. Also, I don't have epidurals at home.

I also hope that my OB is not suggesting this for the benefit of his vacation schedule but I am too much of a pansy to ask. Obviously this is our decision to make but I want to know what you think. Would you consider it? 

Ah ha! Here's the crazy!

Wow, so I totally forgot how mind-blowingly CRAZY I can get during pregnancy. Why didn't you remind me? One minute I'm wringing my hands over the complete lack of planning for Noah's 3rd birthday party and the next I am crying hysterically that we have made no progress on the baby's room and I'm an awful mother because I don't even NOTICE that there is another baby coming in WEEKS and she doesn't even have CLOTHES...apparently long, run-on sentences are also a hallmark of my pregnancy-induced psychosis.

 

This is hard, y'all. I'm laying myself completely bare when I say this because I don't want you to think it's all sunshine and rainbows over here. I have good days and bad days, happy days and sad days. I know this is mostly due to the raging hormones but I also wonder if it's partly because I feel apathetic towards the arrival of this new baby. (I am SO SORRY baby! I promise I will be so happy when you get here!). People ask us what we're having and I say "a girl!" followed with "we're so excited and can't wait!" when truthfully? Her birth day is bearing down on me and I feel overwhelmed by the things that need to get done and how will I ever wrangle two children and go back to work 12 weeks later and afford childcare for two kids, etc.

 

Don't get me wrong: we want this baby. We have wanted her for a very long time. But wanting her and the reality of her coming are two very different things. I look at Noah and realize he is no longer my "baby". That makes me cry. He's less than three months from being a big brother and does he even understand that? Probably not. I worry how this baby, this stranger to our family, will affect him. Maybe that's the problem: she's still a stranger to us. Maybe that's why she doesn't have a name...we don't know her yet. How will she fit into our family? Will it be as seamless as everyone tells me? Will it just "happen"? Those of you who have gone before me..tell me how it all works out.

 

This is all the same (see: crazy) as my pregnancy with Noah and yet so very different (see: apathy). When I was pregnant with Noah all I could talk about was him and I counted down the moments until his arrival. His nursery was done and ready for him well in advance of his birth day. He was all I could think about for hours at a time and I moved in a dream-like state toward July 2008. Fast-forward to now and it is all so very different.

 

Ok, I feel better just getting all of that out. Hooray for blog therapy! Carry on!