The day before D-Day

Having a scheduled cesarean is a strange thing, knowing the birthdate of your child sometimes even weeks in advance. It's so crazy for me to think that by this time tomorrow, I'll have a newborn! 

Today, I had my last appointment with my private doctor. He confirmed that yes, the baby is still breech. She seems as though she's a big one, maybe 8lb or so already. The estimates aren't always accurate, but based on the scans, it seems as though if I'd gone another week or two, she would have been my biggest! That might be the reason why she just didn't want to turn around. He said "Seems like she wanted to be born by cesarean!"

After a great lunch with three of my closest friends here, I headed up to the hospital for a few hours for the last pre-op things. I met with the anesthetist again who confirmed that they will try the spinal block first. There is a chance that it may not take due to my spinal surgery and if that's the case, I'll need a general anesthetic :( I'm praying that is not the case! I also saw the obgyn and got some blood taken in case I need a transfusion (it's rare but better safe than sorry!) 

Tomorrow morning, I need to be up at the hospital at 7am. I am the 2nd surgery of the day, so generally speaking, it will be possibly around 9:30-10am. Emergencies take precedence over scheduled cesareans though, so it could be later than that. I guess we won't know until tomorrow for sure... 

Usually with cesareans at this hospital, you need to stay 4 nights afterwards, so I probably will be in until Saturday. Depending on how I'm doing and how the baby is doing, I might stay shorter or longer. If she obviously needs significantly longer in NICU, I'd prefer to recover at home. If she is doing great and can come home say after 5 or 6 nights, sometimes they allow the mother to stay longer so they can go home together. We'll play it by ear.

I'm very nervous about tomorrow - both about the procedure and recovery, and also about the health of the baby. If I could have one "wish", I'd wish that she could come home with me. How likely is that? It's impossible to say. She'd need to be healthier than Maddy was in order for that to happen... It wasn't until a day or two after that I'd packed my hospital bag that I realised that I hadn't even packed any clothes for her :( I have now - in faith ;)

I was talking to Lana yesterday, trying to prepare her for the birth, my hospitalisation and the possibility of her maybe not meeting her sister for a few weeks. She told me in a wistful voice, "I hope the baby can come home quickly because I REALLY want to hug her..." Made me cry - me too Lana... 

Please be praying for us, and especially baby, tomorrow - and we hope to update soon with good news!