So what happened again...the birth part 1

Story time!
As I promised I'd post a few things regarding how things happened a week ago (holy cow, has it been a week!!!).
Last Thursday Tasha had 3 doctor appointments to survey the status of the pregnancy, I had a light school day (and frankly at that point screw school work!) and went with her...this is only after I went to school @ 7am to have my Tb PPD read (med speak: I don't have tuberculosis)...and we started at Southern Maine Medical (SMMC) to have a fetal non-stress test. Basically Tasha was hooked up to a machine that monitored heart rate and she pushed a button when she felt Mishka move. That was uneventful, so we moved right along to the ultrasound which was in a office adjoining the OB/Gyn office (across the way from SMMC)...we got to see Mishka again in utero, which to that point was the most amazing thing for me, seeing that little heart beating away and occasionally seeing her yawning. It was at that point that we realized (from the images) that Mishka had her mommy's lips and nose! So cute :)
From there we went to see the OB...sidenote, when we left for the hospital I told Tasha somewhat reluctantly that I felt that we weren't going to be checking out of the hospital because I was certain they would tell us that this was it...but as we got to the OB that feeling was starting to fade. It REALLY slammed shut when during the examination the doc told us that her cervix had not dialated at all. He said he was going to review the chart and ultrasound and come back. We were really crushed as we got our hopes up so much that we'd be able to see our daughter soon. Figured then that it could be another week or so...lemme tell ya, neither of us had much patience left for that!
Apparently God agreed, as did the doc...he walks back in the room (the doc that is) and says "okay, lets have this baby!". I really wonder what our faces looked like at that point...must have been utter confusion and disbelief, I mean, he'd just told us that Tash wasn't dialated at all, and that posed a minor problem for baby to come out. But the doc had an answer for that: Cervadil. Prostaglandin stimulating drug that when placed vaginally can stimulate dialation of the cervix, and if things go ideally, it jump starts labor. He wanted to induce Tasha, he said that the baby was ready, everything about Tasha except the cervix was ready to go...and that we were to check into the hospital by 4pm that afternoon and start the induction at 5. 12 hours later she should be in labor with a child in hand on Friday.

Shocked really doesn't describe the state Tasha and I were in as we left the office. I drove us to the ocean and we spent a few minutes walking along the beach and taking in those last moments where it was just her and I. It was really nice to have that moment, amist (sp?) all the events of the past week I can distinctly remember exactly where we stood, how sunny it was outside, how wonderful the sea mist smelled, and how many different thoughts and emotions in anticipation I had. Being with my life partner at that time gave the confidence for what would come next, even though I had NO idea what that meant.

We got home around 12:30 or so, made a whole bunch of calls, checked all our bags, and nervously milled about the house for the next 3 hours. Really didn't know what else to do (I should have taken a nap...once again, in retrospect!!!). Mama and Babi got their stuff together and did whatever they could to help us out (which turned out to be common theme throughout...they were/are so wonderful to us, kept us closer to sane!)...4pm sneaked up on us and we went to the hospital. We had enough bags that it looked like we were going on a week long vacation to Europe or something. We made our way up to the labor and delivery room, Tasha got herself situated and I showed Mama and Babi around. The doc came in at 5 as promised, set up the Cervadil, and then the wait was on. Mama and Babi hung out with us and got us dinner...we dined while a young lady across the hall was screaming bloody murder in the throws of labor...interesting dinner ambience ;) They left and we later got a surprise visit (well, not that much of a surprise) from Dad & Kathy, aka Topa and Kama...they got the tour and the skinny as to what was up at that point. They were situated down the road at a motel, ready at a moments notice! The final visitors that evening were our friends Suzie and Shawn, we just hung out and chatted while Tasha would have an occasional contraction, but nothing too serious. They hit the road around 11:30...we got ready for bed, but there'd be no sleep that night for us!

Tune in later for more (time for dinner!).
fyi-Mishka just got her first bath this evening, got some neat pics of her screaming her head off ;) Will post them later.
DB