Fast & Furious

My blood pressure has been crazy the last day or two so yesterday after several elevated readings I called my midwife who suggested I come in for monitoring. Kae took Ledger up to Kim's house for the night, sure that they would keep me there and probably induce me. On my way to the hospital I started to get a terrible side pain. Kae dropped me off at Marq's office and we said goodbye to a tearful little boy, not sure what the evening held for us. We arrived at Labor & Delivery and went through the usual tests and monitoring. The initial blood pressure reading was elevated but once I laid down it went right down to normal levels as usual. I was having regular contractions but nothing painful. After a couple hours of monitoring it was determined that neither I nor the baby were in any danger and being only 38.5 weeks along I didn't qualify for induction so I was sent home. At 5 o'clock the midwife swept my membranes and we were on our way. We stopped for dinner on our way home and the pain in my side got worse. By the time we left dinner I was really uncomfortable. My contractions seemed to be getting stronger but there was no way I was going back to the hospital unless I was sure I wouldn't be sent home again. We stopped for ice cream and came home. By eight or nine o'clock the contractions were stronger and more regular. I labored at home for a few hours, took a bath and called the midwife about 11:45 pm. She advised us to come in before the contractions get too close since we are quite a drive from the hospital. As we were getting ready to leave for the hospital I knelt down by my bed during a contraction and my water broke! I jumped in the shower to rinse off and then we got in the car and headed in. My contractions quickly went from 4-5 minutes apart to 2 minutes apart and very intense. I was yelling and cussing in the car like they do in the movies and my water was still breaking all over my car. Marq passed a cop, ran a red light and topped 100 mph on the freeway on the way to the hospital. We made the half hour drive in 20 minutes (about 1am). Once out of the car my contractions were a little more tolerable, I'm not sure if it was how I was sitting or what. The nurse in triage tried 3 times to get my IV in but only succeeded in giving me a huge bruise up my arm. I was admitted and finally received my epidural around 2am. Marq's sister Kim arrived to photograph the birth and his Aunt came to assist as our doula. I started pushing around 3:30 a.m. and our sweet baby boy was born at 4:01 a.m.

3 Year Checkup

Yes, I realize Ledger's third birthday was months ago and yes, I scheduled his checkup back in January. We were unable to make the first appointment because we were snowed in and had to cancel the second appointment due to my grandma's funeral in Utah. Today we finally made it in, although in hindsight we probably should have canceled this one too. Ledger is doing great, which we knew. He measures 40 and one quarter inches which is in the 91st percentile for his age. He weighs in at 38 pounds which is in the 90th percentile. He is ahead for his age, development wise and getting to be very independent. He talked a lot with the nurse practitioner and she was very impressed with his vocabulary and manners :) He did have to get one immunization but he was so brave and hardly cried at all.