It was a crazy time. November 16 was my wife’s due date for our 2nd child. We still didn’t know if it was a boy or a girl. But we were concerned. The doctors made us that way. Apparently at our previous sonogram the baby appeared to weigh a certain poundage and all. Of course these things have a margin of error in them. But she went back a couple of days before her due date and had another sonogram. The doctor said that the baby didn’t seem to have grown any since the last sonogram and that he was a touch worried.
So she has an appointment on her due date. For some reason, I can’t make it that day. I honestly think it might have been the first doctor visit I’d missed in both pregnancies. But I remember being at a tshirt printers when my phone rang. It rang as I was shaking his hand and telling the owner goodbye. I didn’t recognize the number and knew it wasn’t my wife’s number, so I didn’t get it. I say “Thanks, talk to you soon,” to the owner and walk myself and my 3 year old to the car.
Phone rings again….same number.
It’s my wife. “Why didn’t you answer?” No reply would be sufficient. So I just tried to figure out what she needed and listen to her. But no information was forthcoming. She was still at the doctor’s office and seemed bothered by something. But she wouldn’t say anything. Just that she’d call me back soon or just talk to me when she got home. I was thinking she’d be home soon.
So I make it home. Wait a little while. Then I call her up at the office. They transfer my call to her room, but she’s still really guarded w/ her comments and says we’ll talk later. So I start to get worried.
She finally comes home. Pulls into the carport, but doesn’t get out of the car. I wait a little bit (that seemed like a looooong bit) and then go outside. She’s there in the driver’s seat crying. I’m at a loss. The worst thoughts flood my mind. I honestly thought she’d lost the baby. I was thinking, “So how do we get it out now?” She wouldn’t look up or acknowlege me. Just weep in her hands. Addie asks why her mom’s crying, and I have no answer…
But she finally opens the car, comes inside and says that the doctor was strongly encouraging going ahead and inducing labor that afternoon or night. He was really concerned because there was still no discernible gain in size/weight of the baby. But the baby seemed to score a perfect 4/4 on the test they run. It measures movement, heart rate, amniotic fluid and something else that I forget. But my wife and I really don’t want to induce labor unless there’s an obvious danger to the baby or her.
We decide to give it until the next day. We pray a lot and I get my friends to pray a lot. My old blog had a lot of people praying for the baby too. (I had a lot more readers before I changed domains…hmmm.) Bev said she felt some tightness that might have contractions during the night, but really began to feel them the next morning.
[More to come tomorrow]
