No such luck!
Part of me worries that we've possibly done irreparable harm to the delicate balance of the universe, but enough is enough. Here's the very condensed version of Roo's arrival.
September 14 - No contractions. No pain. No baby. Came to the realization that Roo is not going to be like his sisters.
September 15 - Still no contractions, pain, or baby.
September 16 - Went to work. Answered lots of "you're still here?" No contractions, pain, or baby.
September 17 - Went to work again. Answered the same question. No contractions, pain, or baby. He has four days before the actual due date.
September 18 - Started having contractions in the middle of the night. Dropped the kids off at school/daycare, emailed work, and headed to the doc's office. Doctor D tells me that I probably am having contractions, but I'm not in labor. Start making plans for a possible induction if Roo doesn't arrive on time. Strike one.
September 19 - Still having contractions, but now they're stronger and it's hard to breathe. Back to the doctor's we go. Doc wants to keep an eye on me, so we're heading upstairs to the delivery floor! Yippee!!! Baby Roo is on the way. P.S. - That was definitely too over-the-top. We were subsequently sent home for the first time. Hoping beyond hope that this doesn't become like the Squid's arrival, which involved 2 trips home from the hospital w/o a baby.
September 20 - Back to the doctor's we go.... again. We're headed upstairs again because something good is happening!!! And going upstairs means that baby Roo is on his way. Unfortunately, we were subsequently sent home - AGAIN. Glad the girls are staying with their big sister. We're both wiped out and my dumb cervix is not budging.
Saturday, September 21 -- Roo's due date is here. Will he arrive on the actual due date? Not so much. Contractions are continuing, but they're not strong enough to make me go back to the hospital and face being sent home for a third time.
September 22 - It's Mark's birthday. Maybe he'll share a birthday with his daddy? Nope. Still having contractions, but I'm not going back to the hospital. I've decided to have the baby at home. Well, not really. But I'm not going back to the hospital. I may actually go postal if anyone else tells me that I'm "not in true labor." Everyone in our house is fried and running on fumes. Marks looking up homeopathic ways to induce labor. Like I haven't been doing that for almost a week now! I've been trying every wives tale in the book for days now with no luck.
- Spicy food - check (didn't help because we always eat spicy food.)
- Walking - check (probably the same problem. I'm too in shape to go into labor.)
- Sex - check (that's what got me into this mess. It didn't get me out, though.)
- Salty food - not an old wives tale, but it seemed to help.
- Jumping rope - check. Mark has video. Multiple videos.
- Stair climbing - check. Climbing up and down the front stoop got old really quick.
- Yoga - check. Seemed to help a bit.
- Every other random idea - check. check. check.
Anyway. It's pretty clear that Roo eventually arrived. Here's what finally did the trick:
- Black cohosh - this stuff tastes horrid whether you add it to tea, soda, water, food, etc. I do not believe that there's anything on the planet that smells or tastes as bad as black cohosh. Yuck!
- Raspberry leaf tea - it's tea.
- Evening Primrose Oil - the leftovers were a great gift for my mom!
Regardless of the horrid taste, the herbs worked! Less than 15 hours after starting all three - and after having contractions for the better part of five days - we were finally sent up to the delivery floor for the LAST time!! Roo arrived a relatively short 6 hours later happy, healthy, and without a cone head.
So what does all this mean?
It's simple: I honestly have no idea. It's possible that it means absolutely nothing at all and that I haven't jinxed Roo for life by kicking him out so abruptly.
All in all, Mark and I are overjoyed and extremely blessed to have three healthy, thriving children.
