Emi Watch: Day 5

Dear Emi,
Dr. Chan has decided to get things moving by having me check into the hospital Wednesday evening. The fetal monitoring showed you're still doing okay in there, but he doesn't want to wait until it shows you're in distress and then have to go in and do an emergency Cesarean. "I want to get you delivered," Dr. Chan said. He examined my cervix, but there hadn't been any change since last week, even though the monitor showed I was having contractions, albeit mild ones since I didn't feel them.

I told Dr. Chan I'd had a few contractions over the weekend, including three early that morning when I was still sleeping. The sharp pain that started at the top of my uterus had woken me enough to alert Daddy, but after three, short contractions they stopped and I immediately went back to sleep without even noting the time.

"That's good," Dr. Chan said. "We know something is going on."

It doesn't sound like much will be happening Wednesday night except for getting registered and taking some lab tests. The real work begins Thursday morning, when he'll start inducing labor. He cautioned that we'll have to be very patient because it'll be a long time before you'll actually make an appearance.

It was a relief to know the waiting game was over for the most part. Daddy and I were both glad you'd be coming out before anything could go wrong. "My blood pressure is going up," he told me over the phone that day, after I'd delivered the news. "I'm having trouble focusing. I keep thinking about Emi."

When he came home from school, I was in your room rocking in my wonderful chair. I told him how I'd gone purposely gone to Peet's for a cup of decaf coffee before my appointment with Dr. Chan to jump start you for the fetal monitor. Unfortunately, when I got to his office another patient was still using the monitor and it was another half-hour before it became free. Meanwhile, you were bumping along inside me the whole time I was the waiting room. "But as soon as I hopped up on the table, your daughter decided it was time to take a nap," I told Daddy. "I had to keep poking her to get her to move."

I made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner tonight. While I was browning the meat, Daddy went dumpster diving in our trash bin to find the shower cards that had accidentally been thrown out during last weekend's massive clean-up. Luckily, I'd put them in a plastic, zippered bag so they were still clean and dry. Family and friends had written lovely little notes in the cards and I couldn't bear the thought of losing them. I tucked them into the scrapbook I'd bought for you at Kozo, the Japanese paper store in San Francisco.

Maybe tomorrow I'll get started on your scrapbook...