Tristan's Birthday Postponed

My c-section has been postponed to December 3rd now. Apparently, my infertility doctor had my due date for December 10th, but my OB-GYN has it down for December 9th. And, since the hospital I will be delivering at doesn't allow for c-sections to be scheduled before 39 weeks of pregnancy, Tristan's new and improved birthday will be December 3rd.

However, I really, honestly have a gut feeling this guy is going to come early though.

First, he's measuring 10 to 12 days ahead of schedule. Sure, even though developmentally, he's "32 weeks old" right now, his size is that of almost a "34-week old." And, I would think a bigger baby would decide to make his/her way into the world before a smaller baby. Just a thought.

Second, my Braxton Hicks contractions are getting more serious. During the day, I'm fine. For the most part, I don't feel any huge contractions, just the normal cramp/pulling/pressure. Whenever I go on walks, though, that normal cramping/pulling/pressure increases pretty substantially.

However, it's at night that concerns me. I wake up in the middle of the night with quite a bit of pain, and usually on my right side. It feels just like a contraction, it lasts for 1 to 2 minutes, and then it goes away. I've been feeling these about 2 to 3 times each night.

So, this mother's intuition is that Tristan will be born before his "scheduled birthday," and that I will go into labor in the middle of the night.

I guess we all just have to wait and see what happens. :)

Even Though I Didn't Know, God Knew

While going through a file at work, I came across this sticky note.

I had to take a double glance! Whoa! There was a form in this file that had been due on December 9th, 2010.

Little did I know, months after writing this sticky note, that I'd become pregnant with my son and his due date would be December 9th, 2011.

Seeing this random sticky note made me think about how God not only has sticky notes of important dates in each of our lives, but entire, organized folders. For He is the crafter of all our important dates.

It was pure chance that I'd write a sticky note like that. A complete fluke that my due date would be exactly a year later from this form's due date, and that I would spell it out in such a way on a sticky note.

But, with God there is no chance!

He knew when I'd get pregnant, and He knew I would have a son, and He knew that his due date would be December 9th, 2011.

He knows because He created!

He is my creator, just as He is Tristan's creator.

It brings such comfort to rest my mind on the beautiful truth that even though I may not be in the know, God is. How December 9th, 2011 could've passed as any ordinary day in the future for me, but yet God already had planned how important that day would serve in my life.

And, even now, I still don't know what day Tristan will actually arrive, but God knows. He already has the exact second planned out that I will hear his first cry and give him his first kiss. Oh, mercy, God also knows how badly I wish that day was tomorrow!

This May Be A Little Premature

For those of you who don't know, I ended up delivering Ella via c-section.

Here is the long story short rundown...

At around 38 weeks, I was showing signs of preeclampsia. At 38 weeks 6 days, my doctor decided because my blood pressure was not going down after being on bed rest, they needed to induce me.

They induced me around 6:00 p.m., September 21st. After 14 hours of on-and-off sleep and nothing happening, they were about in induce me again at 8:00 a.m., September 22nd, when my water broke! And the contractions began!

So, I requested my epidural, and laid low, rested, crunched on ice chips for another 12 hours, at which time I was finally fully dilated and ready to begin the dirty work.

I pushed from about 8:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. with very little progress. Ella began to show signs of stress. The doctor suggested we consider going in for a c-section.

After tears of exhaustion, concern and surprise, Aaron and I decided to have Ella delivered via c-section and our little miracle made her world debut at 11:10 p.m.

So, where am I going with all of this?

Well, typically, when a woman has a c-section delivery, all subsequent deliveries are to follow suit. So, when my new OB-GYN went over my charts last Tuesday and saw that I had a c-section delivery in my history, he immediately went to his calendar and said...

"Well, it looks like your baby will have a December 1st or December 5th birthday."

What???

I asked him why those two days, and he said that generally, they like to schedule c-sections at 39 weeks, which would be Saturday, December 3rd, for me. But, since he'll be gone for a 3-day conference that weekend, I will either have the baby delivered on Thursday, December 1st, or Monday, December 5th.

So, naturally, that has me thinking, and I know it's entirely premature to start thinking that far in advance, but it's pretty fun to start planning such a big event!

And knowing me, I'll go for the December 1st date, simply because I wouldn't want to wait the extra four days!

But, like I said, I know these thoughts are entirely premature. I totally blame my OB-GYN! :)