DUM...DUM...DUM...Induction

Today at 3:15pm we had an appointment with our midwife, Carol. I had a few concerns going in to this appointment because lately I've been having some problems like blushing when I have a Braxton-Hicks contraction, trouble breathing (more than normal) and a racing heart. So, I notified Carol of this upon starting our appointment and she checked my blood pressure.... it is really high. She took it about 10 different times in both arms and in one arm she got a reading of 130/80 and in the other arm she got 120/90 (120/80 is normal for a healthy MAN... they like pregnant women to be in the 70's). She then said, 'we need to start discussing an induction'.

So, the converstation consisted us of asking tons of questions. She said that they start off the induction with giving me a medicine, inserted, that will ripen my cervix. They sent us home, to get some rest and at 6am tomorrow we are to call the birthing center to make sure that there aren't any other people in labor and then we can take another dose of this medicine, orally this time. Then we get to head up to the birthing center at 10am! Once there they will check me again for dialation/riping/etc and we'll go from there.

Right now I am feeling a LOT of contractions. It's so different than I imagined. It actually feels like a Braxton-Hicks combined with low menstrual cramping/diarrhea cramping (sorry TMI... just FYI) . I would say they are about 20 minutes apart for about 30 seconds. If our contractions get to 6 minutes apart (from the start to the start of another) lasting for one minute each for one hour then we get to head up to the birthing center tonight and we are in full-swing of labor (this is called the 6-1-1 rule because we live far away from the birthing center... normally it's 5-1-1). 

We are SO excited right now but we're also nervous. I'm a little upset that Little Graham doesn't get to pick his own birthday and I feel like we're pressuring him... but Carol explained to me how hard it is for him to stay inside of me with high blood pressure. She said he is ready... so we fully trust their opinion.

We plan on updating facebook every hour tomorrow. Please don't call us as we will need to keep communications open with our families. We will post something (hopefully a picture), even if its small, as soon as he joins us!