Change of Plans

I just got home 30 minutes ago from Surrey Memorial Hospital, where I spent the last 6 (yes, that's right) hours.  Here's what happened...

I spent the afternoon at my parents' and had my cell phone close by, because I figured I would be expecting a call from the Jim Pattison Outpatient Centre (JPOC) to schedule me for post-date testing.  When I got home at 4:15, there was a message from 2:30 the JPOC asking me to call in.  An hour later, Surrey Memorial Hospital left a message asking me to call them because the JPOC was now closed for calls.  I called, and they requested that I come in ASAP for fetal monitoring and an ultrasound.  Apparently, because I would be considered 41 weeks this coming Sunday and the JPOC doesn't do monitoring on Sundays, they have those patients come in on the Friday before or the Monday after.  Anyways, Jon told me to have a piece of lasagne before I left at 4:45 (thank goodness he told me to, because I wouldn't have eaten anything).  I checked in at the Family Birthing Unit and was hooked up for a non-stress test at 5:30.  Miss Baby Struik passed that with flying colours, and then it was a waiting game for an ultrasound.  I waited until 8:30!  They had to call someone in to do the ultrasound because it was after-hours.  Such a waste of tax dollars, if you ask me, since I'm not high-risk anyways.  Due to protocol, I was wheeled to the ultrasound, and then was supposed to get wheeled back to the Family Birthing Unit again, despite my insists that I was perfectly capable of walking there and back.  However, someone made some sort of error so I was left sitting in my trolley chair waiting to be wheeled back for almost an hour.  When I finally got back to the Family Birthing Unit, I had to wait in the Triage waiting room for over an hour before they finally received my ultrasound results.  I then had to wait about 30 minutes until a doctor had time to look at the results.

Long story short:  Apparently I have polyhydramnios (excessive amniotic fluid) again.  I say 'apparently' because that's exactly what they said I had with Nathan, and it turned out that I didn't have excessive fluid, just a rather large baby.  Anyways, because of the excessive fluid there is risk that if I go into labour at home and have a quick labour that the umbilical cord could come out before Miss Baby Struik.  I had a vaginal examination done and I am 1 cm dilated (but stretch to 2 cm) and my cervix is now only 2 cm long (thus progression has been made).  They sent me home for the night, but I'm getting called back for an induction (by Oxytocin) tomorrow.  So, here I am at 11:45pm, typing out my last blog entry as a mother of three.  I'm eating a bowl of yogourt and an oatmeal cookie because I'm famished from not eating since my lasagne, trying to get all of this out before I made my way upstairs in an attempt to get a good night's sleep.  I told Jon that he better let me sleep in tomorrow because it's going to be a rough day.

Wish me luck!!!

P.S.  I'm fighting a cold that Jon and the kids have had for the last week or so and it's actually left me with little hearing in my right ear...so I'm hoping that clears up overnight because it's really annoying.