Running towards a Rainbow: Hurry up and wait

Today's the big day. My doctor's have decided I don't need to be pregnant anymore and that it was time to induce. Since I transferred over to Beth Israel, my blood pressure has been slowly creeping up. This past week it was high enough that they didn't want to take any more risks. It was not that bad - 150/90 and nowhere near how bad I got with Hope, but they decided it was time. I was able to buy one extra day - they wanted to induce Wednesday and I pleaded for Thursday.

This extra day was really important to me. I've talked a lot about how going back to work for the first day was really important to me, but once I got there, I realized that seeing kids was even more important. On Tues morning, the day that kids were to return, I dropped Hope off at daycare and headed in to the city for my appointment. My blood pressure was high and the alarms started going off. I knew they were thinking induction this week. In talking to the nurse, it was unclear how much room for negotiation there was. She said they may send me right upstairs, or it might be Wed, but it wouldn't be any later than Thursday. I asked them for Thursday, mostly because I wanted to go to work Tues and Wed, but I didn't tell them that. I told them that my parents had to drive up from NJ and it would make it easier for everyone if we waited until they could get here so that they could take Hope to daycare and pick her up. They quickly gave up on the idea of sending me right upstairs. They decided to take some blood (to look for signs of preeclampsia) and send me on my way. As Mar, one of the nurses I have gotten to know, took my blood, I asked if there was room for negotiation, she said she thought so. She took my blood and sent me on my way, telling me she'd call me immediately if the blood work indicated anything was wrong. I went back to work and got there just in time for homeroom (the kids were on a late entry schedule). I saw my classes, ran around the school to tell administration that I'd be leaving earlier than planned, and then went to work getting my room all set for the sub and waited for Mary to call me and tell me when they'd be inducing. She called around 4 to tell me she had advocated for me and got me Thursday! Woohoo! This was a good compromise - I would have liked to have stuck around through Labor Day, but they felt strongly it was time. I had won Wednesday back and I was thrilled for multiple reasons. First of all - the sub we had hired back in June to replace me decided to quit the Friday before school started. So not only did I have a lot to do, but we had three candidates coming in on Wed to interview. I really wanted to meet them and have a say in this process. Second, and more importantly, both of my junior classes (the classes that were my sophomores last year) met on Wednesday. I knew they'd be so disappointed if I wasn't there, as would I.

Yesterday was a long, arduous day. I had spent Tuesday afternoon prepping my desk / files /etc not knowing if I was going to make it back. There were a lot of post-it notes everywhere. I spent the little bit of "free" time I had on Wednesday taking care of those post-it notes. I think by the time I left there were only 4 or 5 post-its. Everything else was neatly organized into binders. I was able to get some time to write a welcome letter and a list of important information. I feel really good about how I left things. We interviewed 3 candidates. It was immediately apparent that the first candidate was not going to work right now. We liked him and he had potential, but not right now. The second candidate was acceptable and would work, so we went into the teaching day knowing we had a potential candidate. We met the last candidate after school. He had less experience than the first candidate, but we all felt strongly that he'd be a better fit for our kids and department. I am happy with the choice and I think he will do a good job. I think he will fit in seamlessly. This was my first experience with interviewing. It is really weird to interview people for your own job that you are planning on coming back to. It was exhausting, especially since I felt like I was running non-stop from the time I got up. I worked late both Tuesday and Wednesday, which was a far cry from the cake walk I thought I'd be going back to (I thought I was going to get to transition my sub and let him teach my classes). So here we are....

The whole process of induction is long. Monitors - fetal and maternal monitoring, blood pressure, blood draws, etc. Then the medicine. In my case, we went with misoprostil. This is what I had with Hope. It helps open the cervix. With Hope I got misoprostil twice and then my water broke around 3PM. Early labor started shortly after and active labor started around 7. I was able to avoid pitocin. I'm hoping for something similar this time. It is clear I am not in as bad of shape this time. With Hope, they put us right in a private room that I'd ultimately deliver her in. I was cooped up in that room with the door shut for 16 hours. This time, we're in a common staging room. It seems like we're here with most of the c-section people and have watched several families go off to the OR and come back with babies in their arms. The upside of this experience is that they allowed us to leave the floor to go down to the cafe and have lunch, which was great. I am not being continuously monitored like I was with Hope, when I was essentially chained to the bed. I am hopeful I will be allowed to wander the halls while laboring. I am starting to feel light contractions and looking at the monitor, they seem to be pretty regular, so fingers crossed that things will get moving soon. Update (3:30PM): They just checked me and I've progressed to 2.5cm and 70% effaced. I'm having regular contractions and they're definitely getting bigger. They just told me we'll be moving to a private room shortly. Yay....ready to get going!! Update (4:50 PM): We have been moved to a private room. Contractions are getting stronger. I am to be chained to the monitor for the rest of the night :( Boo. Update (5:10): My water broke about 10 minutes ago. I was still wearing my own clothes and said, maybe I should take these off. I took them off and with that, there was a gush and a trickle. We're on our way....

Now that I've had time to adjust to delivering earlier than I really wanted to, I am mostly excited. We finally decided on a name on the drive in to the hospital as we drove down Park Dr, through the Fens. We've had it narrowed down to two for a while, but hadn't committed. It will remain a secret until she makes her debut :)

I wasn't as weepy leaving Hope as I thought I'd be. She was a happy little camper this morning. She was excited to see Grammy and Granddaddy and even happily complied with our photo shoot.

Last picture as a family of three

Kisses for my big girl

Where's baby sister?

Kisses for baby sister

38 weeks 3 days

I thought I'd cry when I said good-bye, but I was ok. Grammy dropped her at daycare at this morning and got to see how much she loves it there, which is fun :)

Well, that's it for now. The next time you hear from me will be the big announcement.

Here are some pictures to leave you with: