The Pre Birth Story.

March 12 was a Friday, so a natural last day of work.  My last OB appointment was the day before.  She said, oh, everything is measuring fine, you're effacing well, but not really more than a fingertip dilated.  We'll see you in a few days, and then looked at my chart.  "Oh, your due date is tomorrow!  And you're advanced maternal age! (aka elderly... ugh) We need to schedule you for induction."  Ugh.  As a control freak, I really wanted to control the labor myself, and not have it regulated by drugs, drs, etc.  So, I decided to take things into my own hands and try every sort of old wives tale labor inducing method I could find.  Eggplant parmesan with extra oregano and basil.  Sex.  Evening Primrose Oil.  Red Raspberry Leaf Tea.  Spicy Foods.  Exercise.  Sex.  Nipple Stimulation.  Relaxing through hot showers and a glass of wine.  Looonnnnggg walks.  Bouncing on the birth ball.  Massage.  More Sex.  More spicy food.  More everything.  And finally, the one thing that everyone said would definitely do the trick if I got desperate-- castor oil.  While I know that castor oil does the trick on just about anyone..., it did NOTHING for me.  and I drank 2 full bottles.

So, come Wednesday, March 17, Tim and I checked into BMH, hoping for a St. Patty's Day baby.  Checking into the hospital when you're not in labor is a lot like checking into a hotel, but you bring a lot more random stuff with you.  (I have never taken a birth ball with me to a hotel).  We started cervadil - 12 hours.  Still effaced but not dilated.  Then cytotec - 8 hours, 2 treatments.  Still nothing, so on Thursday night, March 18, we left the hospital and went home.  Actually, we went to get spicy Thai with my parents, then home.  Walking in the door when I didn't expect to come home without a baby was hard...  That said, we were thankful that the dr. didn't just schedule us for a c section.

So..., the wait continued through a hellishly long and rainy weekend, where I tried everything I could think of again, and we walked every mall and mega store we could, trying to stimulate baby b to come out.