Friday, June 15, 2012

38 Weeks, 3 Days and Counting!

I had my 38-week checkup on Tuesday.  Two weeks prior, I was dilated to a 3 after being on bedrest.  Surely two weeks of activity had progressed me to at least a 5!  However, my body must have known better.  A couple nights before my appointment, I had a dream that my doctor checked me and reported that my cervix had closed back up entirely.  I told him about this dream, and he laughed and assured me that couldn't happen.  (He said he did tell that jokingly to one mom who promptly burst into tears.  Apparently he doesn't use that joke anymore.)  At any rate, when he checked me, I was still only a 3.  Bummer!  He asked if I was set on going naturally or if I wanted to be induced.  I told him I really wanted to go into labor naturally with this one.  (I was induced with Kyla.)  He said that was just fine, but he warned me that he will be out of town on the 22nd, 23rd, and 24th.  (I'm due the 26th.)  Ugh.



There are several other big reasons that I would really like this baby to come by the middle of next week.  I happened to have the rest of the week off from work, so I decided to get busy trying to make this baby come out!  Since my goal is to have the baby by Thursday, June 21st, I am counting down backwards.

T-8 (6/13):  I got up early and walked about 2 1/2 miles.  Then I carried totes of clothing up to the attic and brought one down.  I spent the rest of the day being very active. 

T-7:  I got up early again and walked 3 miles.  Later that morning I pulled Kyla in the wagon for another 2 miles.  That evening, I hoed the garden for about an hour, then I took Kyla for another 2-mile wagon ride.  The good news, I shouldn't gain any weight this week!

T-6:  After a discouraging night in which no labor started, I got up and walked 3 miles.  Then Kyla and I went to Sioux Falls to spend the day with my mom and grandma.  While there, a co-worker texted me this message:  "Heather, this will work to start labor!  No lie!  They have a website with the recipe I believe...my old roommate tried it not believing it and went 2 weeks early.  She is the one that gave me this:  Eggplant parmesan from scalinis restaurant."  I told her I was going to buy an eggplant and make that for supper!  She replied, "If u have eggplant tonight my guess is u b holding baby watching 10:00 news tomorrow night!"  So here's to eggplant parmesan!  Or more specifically, Scalini's eggplant parmesan!  I bought an eggplant and came home to Google the recipe.  What I found astonished me.  Apparently, this is not a 1-person theory!  Good Morning America even features the recipe with a short story about it on their webpage!  (http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/recipe?id=6877112)  I read that Scalini's restaurant in Cobb County, GA, is so sure that eating their Eggplant Parmesan will induce labor within 48 hours that they give a free meal to any mom for whom it doesn't work!  The restaurant even has pictures will many of the babies born after their mother's successful meals decorating its walls.  It also has a virtual wall in cyberspace displaying pictures of many of the same babies.(http://www.scalinis.com/eggplant_parmigiana_babies.htm)  So for anyone looking to induce labor, here's what has apparently worked for hundreds of women.  I only bought one eggplant, so I scaled down the recipe accordingly.  It still made a full 8x8 pan.

1.  Slice the eggplant.  Place on paper towels, and lightly salt.


2.  Cover with another layer of paper towels, and place heavy objects on top.  Leave for one hour.


3.  Make the sauce.  Pretty easy, actually.  I didn't have all the fresh spices it called for, and I did not take the time to figure out what the equivalent of dried would be.  I just guessed.


4.  Dip the eggplant in flour, egg, and seasoned bread crumbs.  Brown in olive oil.


5.  Layer egg plant and sauce.  Recipe called for ricotta and Romano cheeses.  I had neither, so hopefully those weren't the magic ingredients!


6.  Cover with a layer of mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese.


7.  Bake.


8.  Eat.




Wow, this stuff was GOOD.  So even if my meal doesn't result in labor, at least my labor resulted in a delicious meal!  Bryan said, "You should make this even when you're not trying to have a baby!"

Of course, I know in my head that God is in control.  I'm working on getting it to my heart.  I was thinking, no, cross that.  I was worrying about all the details of the delivery this morning as I was taking my walk.  Suddenly, the words of the song coming over my mp3 player slammed into my brain.  "Why should I lose heart, when I know how great You are?  Why should I give up, when Your plans are full of love?"  (Brian Doerksen - "You Shine")  Duh!!  So whatever happens, I can trust the One who formed this little one and loves him/her even more than I do!

Funny story to round out the evening.  Bryan was putting Kyla to bed, and she asked him to rock to her.  Her new thing is to have us sing songs to her while we rock her.  She always asks for "Twinkle Star" specifically.  So Bryan sang "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" to her.  Her eyes were getting heavy, but then the song ended.  Bryan asked what song she wanted next.  She didn't know, so he sang "Jesus Loves Me" to her.  Again, her eyes were trying to close.  After that song ended, he again asked what song she wanted; and, again, she didn't know.  So my west-river cowboy husband asked her if she wanted him to sing "Shoulda Been a Cowboy."  She said yes.  A little ways into the song, she reached up and put her hand over his mouth and said, "No, Daddy.  No sing." Hahahaha.

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