Nellie's Birth Story, Part 1: Overdue

Aubree was born eight days before her due date.  Bryce was six days "early."  Thane was only one day early, and Graham was one day late.  Considering this trajectory, when I got pregnant with Nellie I joked, "at this rate, she will probably be four days late!" I didn't mean to be right.

My mom flew in on Saturday, August 1st.  She planned to stay a whole week, and since I was due on the 3rd, we figured we were pretty safe from a repeat of Graham.  

On Monday, my official due date, Aubree started violin/orchestra camp (the dress up days were her favorite part).  

"Back to the Future" Day

Wilma Flinstone (for TV character day)

After dropping her off, my mom and I took the boys and set off to do some blackberry picking.  Katie and her crew met us there.  It wasn't exactly how I'd hoped to spend the day, but the blackberries were tasty.  

Looking at this picture makes me remember just how uncomfortable I felt! 

My mom suggested that perhaps the reason Nellie hadn't decided to join us yet was because I had neglected to get a belly picture with Katie.  

At one day overdue, we took the boys to a park after dropping Aubree off at camp.  The boys had a great time.

So did Gigi!

On Wednesday, two days overdue, I had a midwife appointment.  The previous week (39 weeks pregnant) I'd been checked and was 2cm and 50% effaced.  I went into this appointment with what I thought were pretty low expectations, since I hadn't been having contractions.  I was not, however, prepared to hear, "you're still at 2 cm, and whoever said you were 50% effaced was being very generous.  I'd say you're closer to 10%."
She continued, "We can schedule an induction, but the baby is sitting so high that we can't break your water, so it would mean an IV and Pitocin and continuous monitoring..."
As uncomfortable as I felt, I still wasn't willing to submit to all that.

I admit, I went to my car and had a good cry.  

And then I gave up.  I resigned myself to the idea that I'd probably be pregnant for another year and that my mom would probably miss the birth (again!).  Up to that point I'd wiped my schedule clean anticipating the arrival of a baby at any time.  My mom was here visiting, and I decided we might as well make the most of it.  I called up Katie and said, "Meet us at the zoo tomorrow."

So, we spent a beautiful day (3 days overdue) at the Pt. Defiance Zoo.  To make the most of still being pregnant, I didn't take a stroller with me.  It was lovely to only need a backpack.

I had a plan just in case I went into labor (my brother-in-law Seth would run for the car), but I didn't even have any meaningful contractions while we were there. I did manage to take one good selfie though...

Me on the right... ;)

Thane was more interested in Gigi's shawl than in the animals.  Gigi turned it into a turban and he thought it was great!

The weather was a reasonable 77-ish degrees, but we were all pretty hot and tired towards the end of our trip.  Notwithstanding, Bryce took over stroller duty (for the Harps) for the final, uphill leg of the excursion.  I was super impressed with his endurance.

Bryce pushing cool-kid Dallin

As usual, we ended the trip at the kids playground.  Did I mention we were all pretty tired by that point?

Finally, we said good-bye to Katie and crew, and loaded back into the van to come home.  About 15 minutes from home, I felt a reasonable contraction.  I noted the time, but kept driving without mentioning anything.  Four minutes later, I had another contraction.  

To be continued...