Donuts and Kulfi

Good Year

2010-07-18T17:38:00.000-07:00

We're back!

2008-11-17T20:41:00.000-08:00

Who knows where time goes. Do I start every blog entry with that? At least I can account for two weeks this year. We went to India. It was exhausting. Note to other parents with toddlers - do not attempt a 24 hour plane journey with your tot. People will tell you to give them Benadryl, new toys, lots of gimmicks. It doesn't work. Your kid doesn't want to be cooped up in a plane for 11 hours straight, take a 3 hour break in a foreign airport, and then sit on another plane for an additional five hours. The prize at the end of this long journey, for us, was a land of chaos. To give you an idea of the noise on the streets in Chennai, imagine a cacaphony of bleating truck horns, car horns, auto rickshows meekly bleating their horns, and even the motorbikes contributed to the noise pollution. Cars and trucks implore you, in clear and bold writing on the back of their vehicles, to 'Please Sound Horn'. In other words, 'Honk like hell as you swerve around me so we don't end up in some sort of accident'. Everyone agrees that honking is the best way to maintain order within the congested streets of Chennai. During our visit, we had added noise pollution since we landed the day before Diwaali. We had firecrackers bursting - very loud cracks - for almost 36 straight hours. Needless to say, its quite an assault on a wee little one. Fortunately once acclimated, Anjali was spoiled rotten with love from her cousins, aunties, uncles, and grandparents.

365

2008-06-15T18:13:00.001-07:00

Oh boy. I have some answering to do. Six whole months slip by without a peep. It better be good, I know. And it is good, so hope you're ready for it - here it is....life. Life is happening all around us. This little life we brought into the world a year ago has consumed us in the most euphoric of ways. She's walking, pointing, giggling, and babbling. Bath time is by far her favorite part of any day. She's in daycare and loves her friend Arnav. She has a friend named Genevieve too, but I think its a love hate relationship. Anjali will steal Genevieve's blanket, but then give it back - sometimes. The weekends are spent catching up on sleep (Anjali, Swami, Sasha, and me) and laundry. But life is very very good. The link below includes some birthday highlights.
http://picasaweb.google.com/annebanannied/Birthday?authkey=M_PN7A6ET9k

Six months on the horizon...

2007-12-04T21:26:00.000-08:00

Two more 'firsts' to report...

1. Anjali came down with her first cold. Nothing hefty...it started as a runny nose and a cough and found a nice resting place in her lungs. Bronchialitis was the diagnosis, a nebulizer was the cure. Swami and I found the nebulizer pretty amusing and documented with some photos, but I think most people might find them a little sad. But really, she didn't mind the treatment so much and it really helped speed the recovery along.

2. During the height of cold suffering, Anjali slept ALL NIGHT LONG. Yessiree. She conked out at 6pm and we didn't hear a peep (just some coughs and wheezes) until 6am the next day. Sleep is an amazing drug. I felt like I had guzzled a gallon of coffee. I was bouncing around the house, attacking chores with a new found gusto.

Unfortunately, now that she is feeling boetter, she has been waking up again. But only once, and its usually between 3am and 4am. I'm somehow okay with that. But I won't ground her if she decides to pull an all-nighter again.

3. We are dabbling in rice cereal these days. She's curious about it, but not yet a big fan.

4. Thanksgiving was fun. We had a non-traditional celebration with our friends Kim and Reza. By non-traditional, I mean we didn't eat any of the Thanksgiving staples. Instead, we had steaks, spinach lasagne, and couscous. The real highlight of the day was the 3 hour marathon Monopoly game - I was playing with a bunch of cheaters!

5 months already!

2007-11-16T01:52:00.000-08:00

Anju turned five months old this week. Its unbelievable how quickly time goes by. Since I'm back at work, Anju is in daycare and is adjusting just fine. Swami and I both dropped her off on her first morning. As we were leaving, we took one last look through a window to see how she was reacting. I was expecting sobs, maybe a whimper, perhaps a look of bewilderment on her face since her parents just abandoned her with strange new people. Nope! She was laughing and playing with her new pals. I breathed a sigh of relief and went about the rest of my day without worry.

Halloween was fun! Some friends of ours hosted a halloween party for the wee ones. Anju came as an elephant and had a chance to hang out with her cousin Tessa (dressed as a princess of course) and cousin David (who was a pea in a pod!) Grandma sent Anju a

halloween care package including a cute card and t-shirt - and a Starbucks gift card for me and Swami! We are addicted to our morning cuppa from S-bucks.

Everyone always wants to know what Anju is doing these days, so if you're one of these people, read on! She is:

1. Not sleeping through the night yet. She usually sleeps from 6:30pm until 3:30, sometimes waking up at noon. After that she'll wake at 5am, and we're up for good at 6am. Our pediatrician advocates letting her cry herself back to sleep, but we just can't get there.

2. Able to lay on her tummy and push and hold herself up.

3. Not able to turn over from back/front or front/back.

4. Able to laugh! Its a jolly happy laugh that just warms your insides!

5. Able to grasp and hold toys - and able to put said toys into her mouth and chew on them!

Those are the highlights. We're really enjoying being parents (to both Anju and Sasha). Until next time....

Rock A Bye Baby

2007-10-01T10:57:00.000-07:00

Anjali loves being rocked by Swami's mom...she would actually push back with her feet every time they hit the ground! Check out a video of it here.

Poop Chronicles

2007-09-28T09:47:00.000-07:00

Instead of lamenting over the recent departure of Swami's parents back to India, I instead will share with you a recent email conversation I was privy to. The two editorial geniuses are my friend Julianna and my sister Jessica. If you have any poop chronicles to share, let me know and I'd be happy to post! Fortunately our little Anjali has been able to keep her poop in her pants up til now....

On Sep 24, 2007, at 6:54 PM, Julianna Gustafson wrote:

"....Margot floated a log in the tub tonight. She must have done it right at the end of the bath, because one second there was no poop in the tub, and the next second (as I was lifting her out of the tub, wrapped in her towel), there was a distinct poop odor, and one log in the tub, and another log falling (with the appropriate plop! sound) on the floor mat I was kneeling on. So then I had to put her back in the tub, pick up both logs with TP and throw them in the potty, meanwhile my greased octopus is crawling all over the now-empty tub and playing with her tub toys (which have been dragged through the poop smear left on the tub when I picked up the log). I ran a little more water in the tub, cleaned off the rest of her bottom with her soapy washcloth, thanked my lucky stars that I'd brought a spare towel into the bathroom for her bath, and then lifted her out of the tub and into her room for a diaper and final cleanup. Then, after putting her to bed, I had to go back to the tub, sterilize the tub and the tub toys, and start a load of laundry to clean the poop towels!

So as Daalia holds her wee young lad in her arms tonight for the first time and ponders the gift of life, I hope she'll also look forward to the gift of poop. It just keeps on giving."

Sent: Monday, September 24, 2007 7:14:43 PM
From: Jessica Galeazzi

"Nothing like a poop story for dinner reading.... I picked poop up off the floor last week with my bare hands b/c I thought it was David's dinner (beans) that had made its way to the floor. I still don't know how it got there. You can bet my floors are now the cleanest they've ever been though!"

Catch Up

2007-09-19T09:54:00.000-07:00

We are settling in to this new life with Anju. Every day feels like a new adventure. Mysteries range from 'how much will she nap today/how much will she sleep tonight' to 'what will amma conjure up for dinner tonight'. I know its a breathtaking and rollicking adventure. I should have warned you all before sharing such details.

We have had some fun diversions in the last few weeks, including a trip to Santa Barbara and my nephew's baptism. On both occasions grandma and grandpa had a chance to spend some quality time with Anju.

Unbelievably, pathi and tata will be leaving next week. The time we have had with them has gone by quicker than lightning. Who will trim Anju's fingernails after they leave????

With their departure also comes the sad fact that I will be returning to work soon. I haven't yet reconciled the notion that I have to pay an exorbitant amount of money to have somebody else watch my baby grow and learn while I head off to the office. It feels somehow unfair.

Of course its not always sunshine and roses....!

Champagne Taste

2007-08-23T21:13:00.001-07:00

Should we question our parenting skills if we bring our 2 month old daughter to the Chandon winery?

Home for Sunday Dinner

2007-08-23T20:36:00.000-07:00

I have a really tough time enjoying the present. I have to stop, think, and decide to enjoy it. Its so much easier to occupy time by thinking about what needs to be done in the future. Which is why last week, on a Thursday, I realized I had nothing planned for the following week. No doctor appointments, no Mom's club engagements, no urgent errands to run. And then it hit me.
Anjali and I could take a quick trip to visit grandma, grandpa, aunties, and uncle Ian. A few phone calls and a visit to www.iflyswa.com, and I had us booked on a flight.

First, I have to mention how cool it is to pre-board a flight, especially on Southwest. No waiting amongst a herd of people jostling for prime positioning on the plane. Instead you get to glide on and grab any seat you want. I'm already getting ROI on having this kid.

Colleen picked Anjali and me up from the airport. The family gets together every Sunday night for dinner at my parents house, so I of course timed things so as not to miss dinner! Turns out there was another special guest coming (Leticia's friend Rona, who is totally awesome) so Mom was attending to a chocolate-y mou sse-y dessert-y concoction when we walked in the door.

And that's when we got full ROI on the cost of our plane tix. Mom was shocked.

After showing me his amazing vegetables from the garden, Dad shared with me the appetizers he had already prepared, presumably for Rona! Sorry Rona! Dinner that night was wonderful. Simon and Shannon joined us with their two kids, so it was a full house. We moved outside for dessert and enjoyed the warm summer evening.

The next evening we visited Colleen's house and enjoyed another great BBQ dinner.

Tuesday we hit the Senior Discount at Egg Plantation for lunch. Of course Auntie Steph never lets us pay, so the discount doesn't matter.

Wednesday was marked by a visit to Kohl's - Seniors take an additional 15% off every Wednesday! We had some delicious sub sandwiches for lunch, and next thing you know Steph came by to pick us up to head to the airport for our return trip home.

Steph insisted we stop at Coffee Bean and she bought me the most magical drink ever. Its called a mudslide. All you need to know is that there are ground chocolate covered espresso beans in this concoction, along with whip cream, chocolate, and maybe a shot of coffee in there somewhere. Its probably a zillion weight watcher's points. But it was gooooood.

Thanks Auntie Steph!

As you can see, the trip was not as much about folks getting to see Anjali, but really, my hidden ultimatum was to eat like a piggy for a few days. Now that we're back, I'm back on track with rice, idli, sambar, kutu and various curries. But the mudslide will live on, past, present, and future.

Time Flies!

2007-08-07T20:55:00.000-07:00

I can't believe its been so long since I last blogged...I hope all my fans will forgive me! Since it has been so long, thought I would just hit some highlights:

Swami's parents arrived on July 12th. What a huge help it has been to have them here. Aside from 'forcing' me to eat and sleep on regular intervals, they have been bathing Anjali with love and affection since the moment they arrived. Swami's mom especially has the magic touch and was the only one who could consistently soothe baby Anju when she was fussy. She was even 'on duty' once at 4:30am when we were too tired to figure out what was wrong. Not only is it nice to have an extra pair of arms to love Anju throughout the day, its nice to have them around to chat with throughout the day. I think I'd go bonkers being home alone with nobody to talk to.
I joined a 'Moms group'. The group is facilitated by a nurse/lactation consultant, so it has been really helpful. Most of the moms seem very sane and have a lot of great tips to share.
Sun has screwed up every one of my paychecks while on disability. It has never been for the same amount. The worst part is, this last time they fell short 2/3 of what I was expecting. You'd think I'd have some leverage in getting it fixed..no luck.
Tessa turned 3!
I have given up on the reflux diet. It was too depressing. Anju doesn't seem any worse for it (though I think it did help in the beginning!)
Sasha is our official VP of Security around the house. Any rustle of a leaf outside the door will cause her ears to prick up. Her main job - protect baby Anju.

I think that's it for getting y'all caught up. Next blog I promise more meanderings...

Travel Bug

2007-07-11T13:20:00.000-07:00

Less than 4 weeks old and baby Anju has taken her first road trip! Thanks to Kim, Matt, and Amanda, we safely made it there and back without incident. On the way down, Anju had a bout of hunger that forced us to pull over at a random exit somewhere near Coalinga on the I-5. For the uninitiated, Coalinga is where you find a sea of cows grazing right next to the freeway, and it stinks, real bad. Aside from the stink, seeing the mass of cows is enough to make anybody go vegetarian. And for some reason, where we pulled over, there was literally a 6 foot pile of manure, just lingering on the side of the road to offend motorists such as ourselves who couldn't make it to the next exit (we later realized was only 1/4 mile further down the highway.)

But enough about cow stink. The main attraction on this road trip was Leticia and Ian's wedding! Leticia looked beautiful in her dress, and Ian and Dad cleaned up real nice in their tuxes. Mom and Esther had matched their 'mother of the bride/mother of the groom' ensembles and they looked very nice. The dance floor was packed, always a sign of a good party. Anju was a trooper and stayed mostly not fussy from 3pm until about 9:30pm. That's when we had to leave the party early, just when things were poppin'. I wish we could have stayed longer, but I was honestly so tired, if Anju hadn't started her fussiness, I probably would have become cranky myself.

Thursday before the wedding, we went to Huntington Library. It was probably 98 degrees that day. The whole west coast went through a heat wave. It was 104 degrees in Valencia. Not exactly the best weather to take in Huntington's beautiful gardens, but Mom had made reservations for tea so we enjoyed scones, tea sandwiches and desserts, and of course some tea - both hot and cold varieties. It was nice to have the New York Duggans with us, we don't get to see them enough. And Anju fell in love with her Great Auntie Cissie. Those two could stare into each others eyes for eternity and be content. It was really wonderful having so many eager arms wanting to hug and hold Anju.

This trip came at a great time. I am already a little stir crazy staying at home all the time. Its easy to feel like you can't really go anywhere when Anju needs to eat every two hours. It doesn't leave a lot of room for getting out and about. But the LA trip gave me great experience in getting her in/out of her car seat, her sling, her stroller. I had my first public feeding experience, which went just fine. Most of all it felt soooo good to just be around other people.

Zantac for Infants???

2007-06-29T10:53:00.000-07:00

What world have I landed in where babies suffer from acid reflux? Apparantly, its tres tres common - almost 40% of infants have it according to our pediatrician. And it turns out, Anju suffers from it. The first question people ask when I tell them this nugget of information, is, 'how do you know'? Well, she is fussy right after eating, she prefers pressure on her belly, she pulls her legs in to her belly, and her burps are hard to come by and painful when they do come. So what's the solution? This is the best part - after enduring the gestational diabetes diet for weeks and weeks during pregnancy, I'm now on a new diet to help Anju with her acid reflux. No wheat, no dairy, and no nuts. Think about this for a second. No bread, no pasta, no pizza, no milk, no cheese, no ice cream....the list goes on and on. I'd take the GD diet over this any day. I've only been wheat/dairy/nut free for a little over 24 hours. If there isn't marked improvement, then I think I'll can this diet since there is really very little food choices for me. Fortunately most infants grow out of the acid reflux by 2 months of age. Then again, my pediatrician said her kid suffered the same ailment, and she ate corn tortillas and turkey for 8 months. Let's hope Anju doesn't take as long to get better!

Anjali's Arrival - Heavenly Bliss

2007-06-26T11:15:00.001-07:00

The adrenaline doesn't stop when you leave the hospital. Swami and I are awake (not too sleepy!) and exuberant and in love with our daughter every moment of the day.

Anjali's Arrival - The (Not So) Gory Details

2007-06-25T09:09:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: This post will probably only interest those who either have been pregnant, will be pregnant, or are currently pregnant.

Here's how it all went down. At 6pm on Tuesday June 12th, Swami and I went out for a last hurrah of a dinner to Amber Indian Restaraunt in Mountain View. I indulged in Vegetable Biryani, Malai Kofta, and some very nice tandoori paneer. The GD diet went out the window, but with less than 24 hours to go in utero, I figured my baby could handle it. We checked into the hospital around 8pm. The labor and delivery room at Stanford was much nicer than I had expected. They gave me the Cervadil (which thins out the cervix), popped me an Ambien, and asked me to get some sleep. When I arriveed at the hospital, I was 60% effaced and 1cm dilated, but I wasn't having any contractions. Interestingly enough, my glucose levels were fine, despite my rice and kofta binge at Amber! I sent Swami home after watching some Colbert Report so he could get a decent night's sleep and to make sure Sasha didn't get lonely.

At about 2:45am I started to feel some mild contractions. They didn't hurt, I just felt the tightening of the uterus. I dozed on and off from then on. It was surreal to be trying to grab some zzzs knowing you were about to push a baby out of your womb in a few hours! Your mind doesn't really let you rest. At 5:30am a nurse came in to check my vitals. Everything was fine. At 7pm, they started the Pitocin drip. Swami came back to the hospital around then, drinking his Starbucks and chomping on donuts. I was jealous, no food for me! I couldn't eat until I had finished delivering the baby. Around this time we met our labor/delivery nurse, Judy. Judy was great. She had been a L/D nurse for over 25 years. We told her that we had taken childbirth classes, but we just realized they never told us how to push the baby out. We told her how displeased we were with the classes, and she appropriately started referring to them as the 'Mother Earth' childbirth classes, which made us laugh. She gave us a crash course in pushing, and we felt much better. We knew we'd like her when she said 'everybody wants to count out loud to 10 when they do the pushing. I've heard enough people count to 10 - we're just going to count it in out heads, okay?' Brilliant.

Around 8am the contractions were starting to become uncomfortable. I would have to stop our conversation to breathe through them. Judy noticed my discomfort and suggested perhaps it was time for the epidural. I thought I had to be at 4cm, and the last check only put me at 3cm, but Judy was not a stickler on this topic and called in the anesthesiologist for me. Another reason why we loved Judy!

The epidural procedure was uneventful. I had some mild discomfort as the anesthesiolgoist numbed the area where the needle would go in. It stung pretty bad, but you couldn't say it really hurt. It was just like a bad bee sting. But you know its just going to sting for a few seconds, and then it will all be over, so you can definitely get through the sting. After that, the drugs start to kick in and you don't feel any pain whatsoever.

From 8:30 to Noon, Nurse Judy hung out with me and Swami. We chatted about loads of things (can't remember what anymore!) At one point Swami went out to Stanford Shopping Center. He came back with a book and as I would find out later, a very nice gift for his wife. This period of time was also very surreal. You could see the contractions happening on the monitors, but I didn't feel much and we were just all hanging out in the L&D room, chatting away as if we were pals meeting for a chat over a cup of coffee. The only discomfort I felt was from the awkward positioning of the hospital bed. I could never get comfortable on it.

Dr. McNee had been calling to check in on me since 9:45 the night before, which I was impressed with. He arrived at the hospital around 11am or 11:30am on Wednesday, and he said we were ready to start pushing at noon. I was hoping it would go quickly and joked I'd try to get the baby out so we could all enjoy some lunch. Unfortunately, I wasn't a good pusher! I kept asking, 'is anything happening?' between my pushes. The major downfall of the epidural is that you can't feel the progress you're making when you push. Swami and Judy assured me there was progress being made, albeit slow. The one remark they kept making is that they could see how much hair the baby had!

So Judy, Swami, and I kept up our chatter, taking a break every so often so I could push while we all counted to 10 in our heads. This went on for over two hours. Finally Dr. McNee started to put on a paper apron. He said the only time he puts it on is when the baby is ready to come out! Thank goodness. I was starting to tire of all the pushing business. Dr. McNee moved in, I pushed real hard, grunted/screamed a bit because I think the epidural started to wear off, and her head came out. She was unfortunately covered in merconium. Swami says she was a rainbow of colors - yellow, green, brown, purple. Okay, maybe not purple. But he verified it was pretty disgusting. I thought I was done. Afterall, the head was out. But I remember Dr. McNee yelling 'Anne, focus on me. Listen to me. We're not done yet.' Oh crap. I gotta push more? Okay....dig deep. Puuuuuush. Puuuuuush. Puuuuuuuuuuuush. Ahhh. Relief. The shoulders had come out, and McNee had pulled the rest of her out.

Because of the merconium, McNee cut the cord and the team of pediatricians (seriously, it was a team of 4! More pediatricians for our baby than there were attending my delivery!). I caught a glimpse of her, and I thought she was really dark....turns out it was just the merconium. A few minutes later we were holding our beautiful daughter, Anjali.

We spent some time cooing over her. She was alert! Such large eyes. Remarkably long eyelashes. A perfectly shaped head. And indeed, she had a nest of hair. She was beautiful.
We were elated.

Unfortunately, our coffee chat was coming to an end. Nurse Judy had some paperwork to do on us, and then she had to send us packing to the recovery ward. As I was wheeled out on the guerney, holding my new baby, we passed through the 'early birthing' room and I caught a glimpse of 5 or 6 very pregnant women holding their bellies. They had been waiting for Anjali to come as much as we were! They needed our room!

My recovery experience at Stanford is the exact opposite of my L&D experience. I was so disgusted, uncomfortable and unable to rest that we discharged ourselves 28 hours after delivery. Most recovery rooms at Stanford are shared rooms (including a shared bathroom! Gross!) My 'roommate' and her new baby came barreling in at 1:30am, turned on the lights, TV, and were still chatting (in arabic) about their delivery experience. Its not their fault we had to share a room, but you can't help but blame them for what seems like such inconsiderate behavior. I tried not to get upset, afterall, they too had just delivered a precious child of their own and were riding their own adrenaline high. But seriously, I was exhausted. I again sent Swami home so he could get some sleep. I had a horrible night, to say the least, and was so happy when Swami came back (with Starbucks and Donuts for me!!!) in the morning. We had a visit from the on call pediatrician around 7am. He must be used to moms asking for early discharge because he asked if we would be leaving that same day. I said we'd like to, so he prepared Anjali's paperwork as if we were leaving that day. Unfortunately we had to wait at least 24 hours after her birth because they had to check her bilirubin (jaundice). After what seemed like an eternity, we were finally discharged at 6:30pm.

They wheeled me out of the hospital, we tucked Anju into her carseat, and Swami drove us all home. He was the most cautious and careful driver in rush hour traffic that day! It was soooo good to be home. I took a shower AND a bath to get the hospital ick off of me. We tried putting Anju in her bassinet, but she wasn't going for it. Once we tucked her into bed with us, we all dozed off to sleep, a family of three.

"ARE YOU READY?!!"

2007-06-12T15:15:00.000-07:00

So this is the single most popular question posed to me today. It makes me think I might be attending a Monster Truck Jam. (I tried to link a sample of the announcer's voice used in commercials announcing MTJ's arrival into town, but no luck. Hopefully y'all know what I'm talking about here.)

As a quick aside, I'd like to disclose that we have actually attended a Monster Truck Jam (or perhaps it was a rally?) with some friends. I know there's a lot of things wrong with that statement, including the act of attending such a 'Jam' in and of itself, and calling the people who attended with me 'friends' (who would condone such behavior?) But, it was an act done in part of Swami's quest to indulge in Americana and I would argue that the pals that came with us are true pals who made it bearable, and dare I say fun, for me. I think we enjoyed Miller Genuine Draft, a nest of blue cotton candy, and perhaps even a hotdog during the event. Swami even bought himself a themed alcoholic beverage from BevMo to help kick off festivities. It was Georgia Moon Shine, it had been aged for less than 30 days (take that Glenlivit!) The only action item left on Swami's Americana quest is a Circus , you know, the kind with elephants and jugglers and a big top tent, not the french kind you find in air conditioned auditoriums in Vegas with acrobats and theme music.

So back to the topic at hand...am I ready? Probably not. There's a load of things I had hoped to accomplish today, but my protuberant belly really does make getting around tough and fairly exhausting. If it didn't get done in the last 4 weeks, it probably wasn't a key action item anyway I suppose. Mentally, I'm not really excited about spending the night in the hospital waiting for labor to start. I had it in my head I'd go to the hospital when I was already IN labor, so it feels like I'm in for a very long night. I wish they'd let me sleep at home, but they want to monitor the baby for distress just to be safe.

Pals have been most helpful with tips, such as 'don't fear the drugs' (for pain management purposes of course!) and 'bring your own boppy and pillow' which I thought were both valuable nuggets. So thanks to everyone who has called and emailed for all the well wishes (especially those who express confidence in my 'smoooooth delivery!') and I'll get some pictures and a new posting up when we get home from the hospital.

Time to load up the iPod

2007-06-11T14:15:00.000-07:00

40 weeks and 3 days. That's how long the doc says I have been pregnant. I have been fortunate to have an easy pregnancy - no morning sickness, no heartburn, average weight gain (25 lbs.) - really, who can complain? Well, there was a little gestational diabetes thrown in just to keep things interesting, but aside from cultivating a previously non-existent sweet tooth, pregnancy hasn't been anything to really write home about.

Except today.

Finally. Its 'go' time. Or, it *will be* 'go time' in about 30 hours. The ultrasound my doctor did at today's appointment shows that the amniotic fluid is a little low. He says they measure these things on a scale of 1-10, I'm at a 6. If I were at 4, I wouldn't be posting this blog, I'd be at the hospital instead. But he says 6 means its time to have the baby.

After some back and forth about whether or not to go straight to a c-section, we have decided to go for induction. This means at 7pm tomorrow night we'll check into the hospital, they'll give me a suppository that is intended to soften my cervix. I'm supposed to try and sleep at the hospital (not really sure how THAT is supposed to happen) and then in the morning they'll start me up on pitocin. Doc expects we'll be holding our wee one by Wednesday evening.

Notice how I skip the details about how there is likely to be bouts of excruciating pain? I'm not really sure I'm prepared for the actual labor part. We took a childbirth preparedness class, but it was too much kumbayah and 'childbirth is beautiful' and not enough useful information for our liking. So everything I know is from word of mouth, google, and the 'What to Expect' book series. I've heard mixed messages about inductions - some mothers tell me that it made their labor more intense and painful, daalia told me of a friend of hers who went into the hospital at 8:30am, was induced, and had a baby by 10:30am. For some people it sped things up so fast that they missed their epidural (poor Shuba!), and others it dragged on for hours and hours and hours and they ended up with their kid being suctioned out. So prepared? How do you really prepare when ANYTHING can happen.

So for the next 30 hours, I'm going to load up the iPod, gather the books and magazines Kimmy so wonderfully dropped off for me yesterday, pack some snacks for hubby to munch on during the potentially long ordeal, and make sure the dog has some caretakers lined up while we're out having a baby.