It could only be a 7th baby when the day before your due date you have to leave town for a prenatal while you have a new a/c system installed, the air ducts cleaned and a water softener system put in after you've had contractions 5 minutes apart for 24 hrs straight and you have to take all 6 kids with you on your own for the 8 hr road trip while your husband stays home to deal with the house issues. There is no place to really start to really do justice to what yesterday's events held for us. And, only fitting for the day, the stereo has been on the blink in the Suburban for months and for no apparent reason it will just quit for hours and hours on end. To top that off the DVD player quit too so I was left with no radio and no entertainment for the children for 8 hrs and therefore listened to nothing but 6 kids in a car for 8+ hrs. I sat in quiet disbelief of it all and knew this was no ordinary thing anyone would do when I realized Evye had been howling like a wolf since we passed the Wolf Creek sign 10 miles ago, Grant sat back there chanting "Eh off, eh off, eh off ah my back" for miles and miles on end (maybe 40???) in his rendition of the song, "Get off, get off, get off of my back and into my game", Aubrey sat back there making Dory's whale like noises from Finding Nemo, Grayson talked non stop about anything and everything and Garrett sat fussing about being confined in a carseat to begin with.......all at the same time while I had continuing contractions that made my back hurt like nothing else in the world due to my sitting position and had to pee every 20 miles. And then as if the absurdity of it all had not quite set in fully enough I was faced with taking Garrison and Grant to the bathroom with me everytime I stopped. I refused to backtrack and put them back in pull-ups for the trip so I forged on with them in underwear quite determined to make it all work. They did great and once they discovered the novelty of being able to get out to pee they found the tactic quite helpful and fun to use to aid them in being able to get a break from being in their seats. Of course, never quite knowing when they were really serious about their needs,I stopped everytime....at least there for awhile.......that the statement"I need tee-tee on the potty" was made. It didn't take but completing the 1st half of the trip before telling them they could wait another 100 miles before getting out again.
So, the day wore on and so did I with all kinds of unplanned for events, as only could happen with 6 young kids and 1 very pregnant contracting adult on an all day road trip. Knowing somewhat that I may need to stay and not return home until we had a baby Brad advised me to pack a suitcase for the "just in case". As I suspected, we finally arrived and I had my appt only to be told that I am nowhere anywhere near labor or showing any signs of even being remotely close. Even if we did want to start something up, which I am still drastically opposed to, we couldn't since there is nothing to work with at this point. There is still definitely only 1 baby in there and I am measuring exactly 2 cm smaller than average, which is completely average and normal for me. So, despite my monstrous size at this point and the way I am carrying, I still only measure 38 cm in fundal height and there is still most definitely only 1 baby in there.....though he is posterior (face up), just as Garrett was. Go figure. At least he's very much head down! The baby has dropped significantly though..so maybe there's hope there????? So, we made the call after the whole appt report to turn around and make the trip back home, which actually really relieved me to be going home, even though it meant knowing it could be another week or 2 before baby makes his appearance. I was still very happy to be headed back home and knowing that I wouldn't be at the birthing home watching the clock tick by the hours ever so slowly.....but that also left the 4 hr trip home and Garrett had yet to even get out of his seat. And, of course, in the midst of it Evye's fingernail decided that was the time to start coming off. Ugh!!! Yuck, yuck, yuck!!!!! So, we made a stop by Walgreen's in order to deal with that along with the rest of the day. By the time the appt was over I was quite restless and had no clue where to go or what to do. The children desperately needed out of their carseats and, as of yet, no one had even fallen asleep to even catch somewhat of a minor nap. I called Brad kind of forlorn at this point wondering where in the world to go or what to do. You can't exactly go shopping with 6 kids that have been in carseats all day. So, insanely that's what I did. With the thought of an indoor McDonald's playground sounding entirely germ filled and microscopically bacterially infested and dreading the thought of all of them sick when the baby gets here I finally opted for an outdoor playground somewhat disinfected by heavily sun filled days. The thought had occurred to me to go by and see Jackie but reality was they were probably napping and, if not, we would stay for awhile and not get back home until at least 11 if not later. So, with Garrison's and Garrett's severe mosquito allergy we headed to Wal Mart to get some repellent. With Garrett's dinner and repellent in the basket and trying to calm down 6 really really rowdy kids we finally checked out.....after waiting in lines that rivaled anything in San Angelo. Oh yes........all 7 of us had to visit the Wal Mart bathroom too.
Finally at the park in 95 degree weather the children were finally turned loose. I fed Garrett his 1st real meal of the day that did not consist of an entirely french fry menu while the older ones ran..........or well, were supposed to be running. By the time he was done eating all 5 of the older ones sat in the shade throwing rocks at each other. By this time I was wearing really thin and was highly irritated that if they were going to just sit then we might as well be on the road sitting and getting somewhere. Garrett finally walked around enough and stretched out enough to poop, the grand finale that we were waiting on in order to accomplish that part of the day. Of course, it was about then that there was no bathroom in sight that Grant needs to poop too. By the end of it he just did it in his underwear......and by that time I just didn't care. I dumped his deposit out in the grass, as only a veteran mother would do, cleaned what little I needed to up and put him in a pull up. Yes, my determination was waning in the heat while dealing with the never ending onslaught of contractions. So, after a 1/2 hr at the hottest park in TX the only real thing that was accomplished was 2 kids having crapped....which I suppose was worth it in the end since it probably made for a more peaceful trip home.
Back on the road we stopped once more to get water for everybody and a 52 oz cup of the most incredible crushed ice ever for me and then we were steering our way towards home. After only 5 miles on 20 the younger 4 were asleep. Our journey home began.....in which I could not help but stop at every town along the way with a decent bathroom and pay it its dues. The 40 wk pregnant bladder is a very unforgiving thing. Despite the many stops, we made good time on our way home and arrived around 9:30. Since my resolve had kind of deteriorated at the park I had kind of let the children roll around and lay in the playground rocks making "rock angels" so they were a filthy mess, not to mention the animal cookies, french fries, chocolate chip cookies and whatever else Garrett had pasted to his hands, legs and hair. No parent in any good conscious could ever put their kids to bed in that state no matter how long the day or how tired anybody was. So it was that all 6 got cleaned up. Aubrey went in the shower with Evye thus lessening my load to only the 3 little ones. They were finally bedded down at 10:30. All I could do was flop on the bed and lay there. How can you be so exhausted when all you did was sit in a seat all day?????.........and take kids to every bathroom in the state of TX.
I finally got up the energy to get into the shower. I knew my feet felt really funny but upon standing I looked down to discover both feet literally 3 x's the size they normally are. I suppose from just sitting in one position pretty much all day. Who knows. From my ankles continuing on to my feet it just looked like round little funny fat logs....and they felt just as funny too. I showed Brad and he was quite shocked at them too. So, it was that I fell clean and exhausted into bed with really fat, funny feeling feet and only hoping the contractions would go away and my feet would be normal in the morning, as Brad is back on shift and I'm on my own again with everybody as he works.
So, we successfully passed up the 4th of July and have arrived at my due date.....the infamous 7/7/07. I'm at home, Brad's on shift and there is no sign of any baby in sight. It's another very normal day just as all the rest before this have been.
So, do they make castor oil capsules??????
I'll try to post a 40 wk tummy pic before the day's over. Maybe perhaps the last tummy pic? Did I ask if they make castor oil capsules?
1 comments:
Saying a prayer for you... : )
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