Judah's Story: Part 2

Part 1

Wednesday, March 8...  The day my mom and Nonie arrived.  So now I had three women in my family with me!  ::Regan-esque::  "Can life get any better?  I submit that it can not!"  But it did get better.  We got to have Papa Johns and watch Lost that night.  :-)

Wednesday, March 8, 2006

Silliness aside, I noticed that day that I kept...um...wetting myself just a little.  It was beyond me as to why it was occurring.  I was not feeling like I had to go to the bathroom.  But it was enough to cause wet spots on my jeans every now and then.  I went to the doctor to have it checked.  I had no idea that your water can break by either gushing or trickling.  The doctor tested the fluid and said that my water had not broken, that it was just a normal part of late pregnancy.  I think it was his nice way of saying I was a little incontinent.  I felt ridiculous -- and didn't believe him.  There was no way I was not feeling the call of nature and yet wetting myself that often.  And, well, it didn't smell as one would expect.  :-P  I was left with a bit of uncertainty.  My doc's little paper test said it was not amniotic fluid.  I thought it was.  And if your water breaks, you're "not supposed" to just let the baby stay there for days due to risks.

By this time, I had gone through several "home remedies" Autumn knew about for trying to bring on labor contractions. Raspberry leaf tea.  Walking.  Stairs.  Something she likes to call "PBS" without the B (go ask someone else cuz I'm not explaining it here!).  Nothing was working -- proof that it is God who chooses the days and reasons babies are born!  There was one thing I hadn't tried.  Castor oil.  I did it, not once, but twice.  The first time, I blended it with ice and orange juice to equal about 16 oz of liquid to drink.  DON'T do it this way.  It'll give you a cold headache which will cause you to not drink it quickly.  And that allows the castor oil to sink to the bottom so that when you are almost finished you basically get a mouth full of thick oil.  ::GAG::  So why did I do it twice, you ask?  Because I really wanted to have Judah before Autumn left!!  Thursday, March 9, I took a second dose of castor oil, THIS time blended with 6 oz of Hawaiian punch and immediately downed it like a shot.  DO it this way.

Answer me this.  Do you know why castor oil works to bring about contractions?  It never occurred to me to ask Autumn this question, and she never offered the info until I asked (after the fact).  I laugh about it now.  In case you don't know, castor oil is a laxative.  I found this out about 2 hours after doing the doses.  The cramping that occurs in the intestines can cause the uterus to fall in line with its own contractions.  Yikes!  The first dose at the beginning of that week did not cause contractions.  The second dose on Thursday didn't cause contractions....until 2:30 AM Friday, March 10.

Next up... Part 3: Judah's Birth Day!