Exhale...

We are home. All went smoothly. Our little man is here. He is Bub. Bug couldn't be a sweeter, more loving and interested big brother and Bub seems to dig Bug, as well. The tears stop when he hears his big brother's voice nearly every time.

The goal of giving our Bug a brother as a gift has been well received. There will be bumps in the road and times when I question my sanity and the boys will surely do the same. But they are brothers, we are a family of four and this is a smooth transition into our own personal family heaven!

Big has been a gem every moment and has kept the household sailing calmly in the midst of the changes while I lay upstairs nursing nearly non-stop all day. Somehow, the Bub decides to cluster feed himself in the evenings so we all get some solid 2-3 hour chunks of uninterrupted sleep between 9pm-9am!!

I am still not sure who I paid off or slept with or helped out or what...but certainly, I am reaping large benefits for something. I am feeling too lucky and blessed with good fortune to deserve any of it.

Changes in attitudes

No baby today and now I am hoping we make it until our scheduled time tomorrow.

Get ready for TMI

I had a mad diarrhea moment today...and for a girl who has been living with constipation since July (with one brief exception when I had my night of contractions and diarrhea a couple weeks back on a Thursday/Friday) I just knew that signaled the end of pregnancy and the onset of labor. No consistent contractions followed and here I sit hoping and praying that our next little guy waits it out until noon tomorrow.

I am open to whatever comes our way as long as we wind up with a healthy, living, breathing baby brother for our Bug and a fourth crazy member for our family.

Until we meet again.....

What's the 411 on 4/11?

Well, no baby is the primary thing. At least, not thus far on 4/11.

We'll see what 4/12 has to offer. And if nothing more than sporadic contractions come our way in the next 36 hours, our boy will have the birthdate that I chose for him months ago.

We will have a 4/13 boy. I thought that would turn any Friday the 13ths that happen to fall on his birthday into a great day! Plus, at some point during his youth, we could certainly host a Friday the 13th spooky movie birthday party complete with scary food stuff and fearful screams. Ah, I hope he likes the horror films as much as I did when I was a kid.

Good night!

The passing of 4/9 with no baby

Whatever the vibes were that I was having with regard to 4/9 weren't baby related evidently. We made it through yesterday with no baby.

Had a short stretch of 6 minutes apart contractions this afternoon but they decided to lay off which means we are still holding on. On Friday morning, I was having them about 6-7 minutes apart in the morning but still I got up and took Bug to swim class. Just figured he should have his fun even if I was heading to the hospital after class. Thank goodness I wasn't flipping my lid or he'd have missed fun at class for no good reason.

That sums up where we're at. I will try to post quick blips until he arrives.

Steady Betty

I am just Steady Betty...holding here at 2.5 cm dilated and 60% effaced. Yesterday was our last OB visit and we are due for the c-section 4/13 at noon. Should the little guy not decide to kick me into labor before then, we will be hitting the hospital at 9:30 Tuesday morning to check-in and get my pre-surgery bloodwork and nonstress test in the 2 hours before I get wheeled back into the OR.

So, it is kinda surreal. We know that in the next 5 days we will have a baby...barring any unforeseen horrors. I am still hoping in a strange way to wind up in labor and go in for an emergency c. Really, rather than try to sleep the night before knowing we will get up and change our lives and Bug's life. It just will really make me nutty. Super OB told me I can pop a ben.adryl the night before but I am no pill popper for sleep...pills just never seem to have the calming effect on me. I figure I will be so wired that it would just have the reverse effect and I would be wired while kinda drunkish feeling. No thanks.

But from a planning standpoint and a peace of mind for my Bug, I hope we can make it to our scheduled date. Still, I know that my plans matter not an ounce in the scheme of things and I can embrace that.

So, here's to another baby. Another boy. A bundle of boy joy.

And most of all, here's to my Bug, the the boy who stole my heart for the first time and made me a mother. It is torment to think that he will not be the sole center of my universe in just a few short days. He will be sharing that spotlight with another little guy. That breaks my heart today. As excited as I am to be giving him a partner in crime and a brother to share in our family crazy...I am terrified that I may forever be changing him as a person and the boy I know and love will be gone. I will, of course, know and love whoever he is or whoever he becomes or love him if he doesn't change one tiny smidge. But it still makes me a little sad...sad enough to have a little cry.

Bluebonnets and our little bug

And while pictures are delicious...I will include a little update on my status.

Yesterday's OB visit finds me at 2.5 cm and still 60% effaced. Only an extra half centimeter since last week. I told her we hadn't progressed far in that department before she checked. I can tell when the contractions are working my cervix...just like I can tell when the little man is working it with his head, arm, whatever else he's used to prod it in the last several weeks.

I think we will be having this little one before the next doctor visit on Thursday but I am super comfortable to 4/9, as well. That date has been resonating with me for some reason for quite a while. If he were born that day, he and Bug would share their numerology number-7. Not that I am super into that sort of stuff but I calculated it when I kept coming back to 4/9.

We shall see. Time will tell.

Meanwhile, enjoy another bluebonnet Bug pic and I hope to post again before the big arrival.