Anybody Ready for a Birthday?

Yet another OB appointment today. I was kind of looking forward to this one though. The Boys had swimming lessons and Jeremy's sweet mom offered to take them since I had my appointment, giving me enough time to also have a sit down lunch downtown with Jeremy (a date...yay!) and possibly even wander the aisles of Buy Buy Baby for a bit to pick up a few last minute things for Jonah.

My day did not turn out in the least like I expected!

I told my doc that I was still having contractions every 5-10 minutes, although the intensity was picking up a bit. I have never dilated at all with any of my pregnancies, so I was sure I was not in labor. Sure enough: not at all dilated, 50% effaced. In the name of caution though, she wanted me to head over to labor and delivery triage to get a baseline strip of what the contractions looked like, mainly for comparison in the days ahead. No problem. Still plenty of time for my lunch date!

Jeremy met me at the hospital and we settled in to stay an hour or so. Of course, I was relaxed and quiet, laying in a bed without any stress or activity, so the contractions showed up only about every 10 minutes. However, as the hour passed by, Jonah started dropping his heart rate a little with each one. The nurse informed me we'd need more time on the monitor.

The hours crept by. My hopes of Mexican food dashed as the contractions grew closer together and stronger and Jonah's decels continued. They hung IV fluid with hopes of stopping the contractions...unsuccessfully.

Finally, around 4:00 my doctor presented me with a couple of options: We could deliver the baby at 36 weeks, or I could be admitted to L&D until I turned 37 weeks and then deliver, giving Jonah just a couple of more days to mature. We went back and forth, all of us unsure about what was best for Jonah. Finally, as the contractions became 5 and then 4 minutes apart, it became apparent that we were going to have a baby TODAY!!!

Jeremy and I started frantically making phone calls to loved ones. We were headed to the operating room within the hour!! We were so thankful that everyone was able to drop what they were doing, jump in the car and make it to Jonah's birthday party!

Last picture of a family of four. We can't wait to meet our baby!

Hugs and kisses for the soon-to-be big brother. He was not at all too sure about the hospital bed and all the wires and tubes. I wonder if he was having flashbacks to his stay at Children's?

Lots of love for the very excited biggest brother. He could hardly wait!

My strip by the time we decided today was the day.

The belly shot I always meant to take. This is at 36 weeks.

My great team of loved ones:

Jenni, Erica, and Jeremy all attended my delivery.

It was like a party in the OR!

I was so, so excited...and just a bit nervous that Jonah would be okay. We didn't want any immature lungs!

No turning back now!

We were ready to meet our precious baby!