**An update on the progress of Baby Tippins**...
I guess it's a good thing I wrote my "confessions" post yesterday, because had it been today - I would have had LOTS more to add! :)
I began having contractions pretty regularly on Wednesday night and they continued into Thursday, so I called my doctor and she said to "come on in." We went up to labor and delivery at the hospital and were admitted and set up on all the fun monitors, IV's, etc....
When the nurse "checked" me, I was dilated 4-4.5 cm and 75% effaced. She proceeded to tell us that we were there for the duration and we would be "going home with a baby." At this point, we were so excited and finally decided to tell our family and friends (I hadn't wanted to before now, in case it was a "false alarm" ha!)
We waited a few hours to see if I would continue to progress on my own. The nurse came back and said that my doctor had to take her kids somewhere, but when she returned, she would "check" me again and then more than likely go ahead and break my water to get things moving along.....
A few hours later (and still having contractions every 3-5 minutes) we still hadn't seen the doctor, but we did see a new nurse (because of the shift change). She seemed to have a different opinion than her predecessor.... She told us that my doctor was hesitant to break my water since I was "a day shy" of 38 weeks (ugh!) and since my body was clearing starting to do the job on it's own.
She suggested we walk the floor for an hour and see if that helped picked things up. So, at 10:00pm, Jeffrey and I walked around the L&D floor for an hour (I think I got more cramps from the walking than from having contractions - my body was in shock from all the exercise - ha!)
After an hour, I was hooked back up to everything again and the nurse came back to "check" me....still no change. I remained at 4-4.5cm/75% effaced. My doctor called and said I could just go on home. She didn't want to force anything to happen since my body was obviously starting to do the job on it's own. She said she knew I had an appt for Friday morning - when we were going to induce - but I could just reschedule it for next week so I didn't have to come back in the next morning and do all of this again (really!!?? really!!??)
She told the nurse that she would like to see what I did on my own before trying anymore interventions. So, now I'm at home {sigh} without a new baby and with a poor attitude. I have to admit, I was really, really disappointed. I cried the whole way home. Jeffrey was sweet and kept reminding me that it was nothing to be upset about (easy for him to say - ha!) but seriously, he reminded me that I was healthy, the baby was healthy, my body was doing all it was supposed to, and we got to come home and spend some more time with Libbi - all good things.
Since Libbi was at Jeffrey's mom's last night, we came home and went straight to bed and I got to sleep in this morning - which helped my attitude.....a little. :)
I know that the Lord knows the exact day and time that Baby Tippins will make his/her grand entrance and that when it happens, it will be perfect. Knowing that doesn't make it a whole lot easier to endure these last few days of discomfort, contractions, and swelling - but it does soften the disappointment. How can I be upset because the Baby doesn't come when I want, due to the fact that The Lord knows, for whatever reason, he/she is just not ready yet?!
Thank you for all of your prayers and well-wishes. We are hopeful that the big "birth-date" is right around the corner!! :)
"Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in Him."
Psalm 62:5
