We're gonna have a May baby!

Today we found out that this baby will be arriving via c-section on Thursday May 3rd! It's not what I wanted, but after my appointment today, we are confident that this is best for both me and the baby. The growth ultrasound today showed that the baby weighs 9 lbs 11 oz. I know women can give birth to 10+ pound babies, but what really concerned the doctors was the size of the baby's stomach, which apparently indicates how big the shoulders will be. If the shoulders are too big, it can lead to shoulder dystocia where the head is delivered but the shoulders get stuck and can cause permanent damage or death for the baby. My high-risk doctor consulted with 3 other high-risk doctors to get their opinion and all 3 said without a doubt I should have a c-section.

With Will I was so confident that I would have a c-section (it is very common in diabetics because of the size of the baby) that I wasn't prepared for labor at all. I hadn't gone through any classes and didn't know what to expect. I had a pretty horrible delivery and recovery. This time, I  desperately wanted things to be different and thoroughly educated myself on all things having to do with labor and delivery. I read Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way, Husband-coached Childbirth, Ina May's Guide to Childbirth, Baby Catcher, and Your Best Birth. I watched documentaries and educational videos - both of the Business of Being Born dvd's, Laugh and Learn about Childbirth class, and a documentary called Pregnant in America. And I researched things to death on the internet. I'd been doing so much to get my body ready for labor - squats, tailor sitting, and pelvic tilts, sitting on an exercise ball everyday, drinking 3-4 cups of red raspberry leaf tea a day, doing accupressure for the last few weeks to start labor, etc. So it was quite ironic to learn today that this time I was wrong once again and will be having a c-section! Strangely I feel peace about it though. Especially during these last weeks of pregnancy, I pray pretty often for wisdom for my doctors. So when they very strongly say I need a c-section, I believe them.

My mom's been here for 2 weeks but needs to leave Friday (my sister is graduating from graduate school with a degree in counseling this weekend - SO proud of you MB!!) so Matt's mom is going to come up to watch Will while we are in the hospital and for the first few days we come home. My mom has been a tremendous help taking care of Will, cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, etc. I don't know how we would have survived without her!! Here's a few pictures of the last few weeks...

We made Scalini's (an Atlanta restaurant) famous Eggplant Parmigiana to put me in labor. It was absolutely delicious, but obviously didn't work on me!

Will liked it!

Last week I was VERY close to being induced because of pre-eclampsia. My blood pressure was high and some of my lab work was showing signs of pre-eclampsia also, so a nurse called the day before my appointment on Wednesday and said to bring my bags with me, because there was a high chance I'd be induced (blood pressure had gone down a little by the time I went in so they held off). So Tuesday night we took Will out for ice-cream as a last "just the three of us" outing.

And Wednesday morning mom took a last "just the three of us" picture before my appointment!

Will giving his baby sister a "hug"

Mom and I have been busy doing lots of sewing projects while we wait on Baby Girl! Mom's projects are awesome and I'll get pics of them later, but I'm pretty proud of my simple little swaddling blankets!

We are SO SO SO excited to meet this baby girl in a few days!!!