Well, if you won't do it on your own...

Today finds me posting from DeKalb Memorial Hospital, with Sarah sleeping about 3 foot away from me. Luckily, I've calmed enough from this rollercoaster of a day to post a blog.

We had an appointment with our midwife today. We're 7 days overdue. After an exam, we're told that we're (I say "we're" but I mean "Sarah's") still only dilated by about a finger-tip width. What the heck is this boy waiting for, exactly?

Also, with being 7 days past our EDD, Sarah needed to take a non-stress test. With a non-stress test, a stretchy belt is wrapped around Sarah's belly. Right on the belly is the fetal monitor (think of this as the belt buckle). It's only purpose is to measure the baby's heart rate. Within a 20 minute period, they need to see baby's heart rate go up by at least 15 beats per minute (BPM), for at least 15 seconds. And they need this to happen 2 times.

After forty minutes, there were no times where his heart rate went up by 15bpm, let alone for 15 seconds.

Now, before I go any further, I have to jump off on a tangent... See, Delilah (my female boxer-mix pup), had a vet appointment today at 10am. She has had a pretty bad ear infection for a while, and I've been unsuccessful in eradicating it. As Sarah was getting hooked up to the fetal monitor, I ran home, grabbed Delilah, and took her to the vet. I've never felt so bad for her like I did today. She was scared, but still very happy, if that makes sense. She needed my comfort/protection. As the vet was examining her, she scooted up right against me and wouldn't really relax until I held her in a hug. Poor girl.

Well, he looks at her ears and confirms that the infection (which smells horrible) goes all the way down into her inner ears. To clean it out, she has to go under anesthesia. She also had what I thought to be pimples on her face. I researched online, and they're very common in pups her age, because they're going through puberty. No lie. Doc says that they were papules (at least I believe that's what he called them), and that they were infected... staph!!! Naturally, I'm worried. This is my baby girl!!! Then, to top it all off.... she's got a heart murmur. WTF? I immediately flash to a thought of not having my Baby Delilah anymore. So sad. If you have a dog, you'll understand. If not, you'll probably just think I'm being all girly. But it scared the crap out of me.

Doc says not to worry unless she's coughing, which she isn't. He says to just keep an eye on her. What's that even mean? I'm not a vet. What exactly am I supposed to be looking for?

So, I have to leave Baby D with the doc and shoot back over to our midwive's office (Michelle).

Ok, we're back to where I left off earlier...

40 minutes on the monitor, and baby's heart isn't doing what it's supposed to. Michelle told Sarah (my wife) to get some food (since we both hadn't eaten yet today), and come back at 1pm for another test.

Off to Bob Evans we go. We eat. And we talk. We're both scared half to death, but we talked through things. Baby's heart rate is good, but it's just not jumping up as much as it should. After the initial shock of "OMG, Everything isn't perfect" wore off, we weren't worried at all. We then came up with a gameplan. Go home, pack up as if it's time to have a baby, but don't load it in the car, go back for the test, if it's not good, Joe goes home to get all the crap and comes back.

But we weren't really worried. Even Michelle wasn't worried. This was just a safe measure we were taking. After we get food in Sarah's belly, everything should be fine, right?

At 1pm, we head back and Sarah gets put back on the "machine". After 20 minutes there was about 3 seconds that his heart rate went up to where it should have. So, we stayed on for another 20 minutes. In this last 20 minutes, I started talking to the baby, and his heart rate went up really good... and passed the test.

BUT, did he really pass the test? I mean, the truth is he had two instances of a passing heart rate over the course of about an hour and a half total. It just so happened that those two instances fell within a 20 minute period.

Sarah and I had another private discussion. We're 7 days overdue, she's barely dilated. Odds are that we're going to have to be induced no matter what, because baby just isn't dropping his head onto the cervix (which causes dilation and effacement). Do we wait and do more tests, knowing that we're going to need to be induced at some point anyway, or do we just do the inevitable? It was a no-brainer for us. As much as we want a natural birth, baby has other plans, and we need to give him a kickstart.

So, Sarah was admitted to the hospital, and given a very low dose of Cytotec. This pill will soften the cervix, hasten dilation, and start weak contractions. She's had two doses thus far, and will get her third in about another 30 minutes. She's had quite a few (very weak) contractions. About half an hour ago, they got a little stronger. She's actually starting to feel them now.

I've already gone home to get the car packed with all the stuff we need. Now we wait. Here's the recap of our day:

9 - 11:30a : Appointment with midwife at hospital
11:30 - 12:30 : Breakfast at Bob Evans
12:30 - 1p : Pack up the stuff (just in case)
1 - 2p : Another test with midwife at hospital
2:30 - Present (11:13p) : Admitted to hospital

Naturally, I'm getting very stircrazy right now.

Once labor gets kickstarted with the Cytotec, we're stopping all medical interventions (drugs) and going back to our birth plan, which is having a natural birth.