Whoa Baby!

Well, for those of you who noticed my poll about guessing Eli's birthday may have noticed that I did not even begin my date options until Monday, Nov. 12th. You also may have noticed that I listed that week as being 2 weeks early. Well, disregard all of that - including our Nov. 30th due date.

Here is the scoop. First of all, my due date was actually more of an educated guess estimated sometime between the days of Nov. 30th and Dec. 10th. Devin and I resigned ourselves to the date of November 30th (along with our doctors) because Eli was measuring most accurately with that date and also because even if he was due on the 10th of December, we would be induced on Dec. 3rd. So basically, no matter what we would deliver closer to the November date. (I should point out that the date was such a mystery because I miscarried in March and got pregnant again right away. This means that I had no actual menstrual cycle to use as a conception date, so they had to use our miscarriage date instead. Tricky.)

Now, here is the scoop on the rest of the story. On Friday I awoke with a very strong urge to clean and proceeded to do so - no too vigorously, of course - all morning and into the afternoon. I decided I would make a stop to the restroom before moving my cleaning to the upstairs. Well, when I wiped, there was a lot of blood on the toilet paper. I freaked out slightly but was reassured by my doctor's office that it was probably just my mucus plug - very normal - and that I didn't have to do anything special or worry about it. So, I went about my day but kept noticing a little blood-tinge on the toilet paper each time I wiped. Finally, Saturday morning came and I gave the doctor's office another call just to be safe. They again reassured me that it was nothing to be worried about since it was not paired with any contractions and that I did not need to come in to be monitored. After speaking with me a little more over the phone, they could tell that I was not going to relent on my stance that something "just didn't seem right" so they told me to go to labor and delivery (since the actual office is not open on Saturdays) to get a quick check and ease my worried mind. Devin and I were positive that we were not going to be having a baby so we took Dean with us and even the nurse who took us to the maternity ward to get monitored seemed to roll her eyes about the situation. Even I was starting to feel silly and second guess my worries. BUT when they checked my cervix, I was already dilated to a 5! AND I was apparently having steady contractions but was just not feeling them (thankfully). We were told to get a babysitter for little Dean because we were going to be having a baby. This was around noon on Saturday and Eli was born at 5:39 PM that same evening. I still can't believe I was in labor but I am so thankful that I was stubborn (and worried) enough to go to the hospital against all reasonable medical advice. (Mother knows best...HA!)

The sad part is that Eli's due date was probably closer to December 10th so he is almost 5 weeks premature. No matter what, nothing could've or would've been done any differently for either due date because I was in labor and too far dilated and effaced to stop it so they had to deliver and hope for the best. Eli was born 6lbs 5oz (pretty big for 35 weeks gestation) and 19.5 inches long. He stopped breathing at first because of premature lung development but is now doing better. He will be staying in the NICU for a while (perhaps a couple weeks) but is expected to do just fine aside from some weight loss and time away from Mommy and Daddy. Please keep him in your prayers. We'll keep you updated.