100th post

I sent this email to family and friends today. Figured I’d post it also despite some redundancy.

"It's official. The amnio on Friday showed beautifully mature lungs. Tuesday morning at around 10 a.m. we will be meeting our daughter!

She's ready. I AM READY! Fancy doc is ready; this man, who is one of the best in the world with cerclages, has maintained excellent humor during all of my questioning and second-guessing. He says that he will miss me, as I am his most "entertaining" patient. He thinks I should keep the stitch in so we can have another baby. I tell him that if he wants to see me again that badly, we can have lunch.

The critical care nurse who took such good care of me when we lost LC, has switched off the night shift to do my C-section. This woman was so great that we sent her homemade cookies and a thank you note after the disaster. She has known my doctor for years and they are both very excited to see this journey come full circle with us.

Between my doctor and the critical care nurse we figure we can talk the anesthesiologist into making a few exceptions on our behalf. We plan to have my dear, dear friend, Charlotte, with us in the OR for the C-section; she was with us when LC was born and we are looking forward to a big, snotty cry together when we hear this baby scream! We'd also like to have some music; we've been unsuccessful in past attempts to convince the anesthesiologist to allow music. Fancy doc also said he would talk to the nurses about allowing me to hold the baby right after she gets wrapped up! In the past, I haven't held our babies until they were brought to the recovery room which is about an hour later. I had given up hope of holding the baby right away.

So it looks like this is really going to happen. Since the critical care nurse called to say that she was going to be there for my C-section, I've stopped wishing for early labor. Tuesday morning sounds great. I've waited this long, I can wait a few more days. Actually now it's less than 48 hours! Holy crap!

The hospital doesn't have internet access so nobody worry if you don't hear from us on Tuesday. At the same time I hate to leave anyone hanging after I've dragged you along on this tumultuous journey. We'll certainly make some phone calls but we'll also want to just be in the moment enjoying getting to know our daughter. Maybe Rocket Man can get an email off from a nearby coffee shop on Tuesday night. Once again I am baffled by the failings of modern technology, cell phones, crackberry and all. We'll really try to send an email by Wednesday p.m.

My son and daughter will be meeting their baby sister early Tuesday afternoon. Imagining that epoch event has sustained me through some worrisome times.

I'm signing off now to work on my "to-do-before-we-go-have-the-baby-on-Tuesday" list. Pretty standard stuff. Sterilize baby bottles and breast pump parts, pack up the cameras, try to get RM to install bicycle hooks on the garage ceiling so we can make some room in there. That last one is a little nutty. Call me irrational. I call it biological imperative.

I also need to have some carefully staged last-minute, giant belly photos taken. Absolutely no double chins, squishy arms, or excessive love handlage allowed. No small task indeed.

Thanks again for riding with us on this can't-even-come-up-with-the-right-adjective journey. Someday I'll probably wonder why I shared so much, okay too much, information with all of you nice people. For now I will take comfort in knowing that I did it because I needed to.

Fondly,”

WTF