During the Party

In the midst of the week-long OWTK Online Anniversary Party, my wife and I have been faced with a bit of a conundrum regarding the not-yet-happened birth of our 2nd child. On Friday afternoon, while our daughter was at my parent’s house, we had what we believed would be our final doctor’s appointment. We schedule the appointment in the office down the road a bit from the delivering hospital, for during this appointment the doctor, the same woman who delivered our girl over three years ago, was to “kick-start” the process by stripping my wife (not as interesting I as my over-active mind imagined), because she was already 5cm dilated. It was suggested that we “stay close”. Those were easy enough orders to follow as this town is one of the gems of the Delaware Valley. We two walked up and down this Main Line ‘burb of Philly, left some money in the coffers of the wonderful independent toy and hardware stores that line the main drag and sat down to a decent meal. A stopwatch hung glamorously around my big lady’s neck the whole evening while the contractions got as frequent as every three minutes, but never progressed or intensified from there.

We went home and waited. ‘Tis Wednesday morning and we are still waiting. With the perfect set-up weekend – our daughter snug and secure at my parents - now in the rear view mirror, the Doc offered to induce yesterday morning, when she would be on duty. The plans were laid. Wake at 6am, call the hospital to verify bed availability and if a green light is given, drop off daughter at accommodating neighbor until Pop pop arrives to sweep her away. We backed out. It just didn’t feel right. We are not a couple who makes decisions with the convenience of the options being at the forefront yet we found ourselves measuring the birth of a child by the such factors of: preferred doctor on duty, pre-traffic time of day, availability of neighbor and grandparents for kid-coverage and our doula still in town before a scheduled Memorial Day vacation (which would land us a back-up we have never met).

At the end of the day, we figured that if our very in-womb-active 2nd child is not yet ready to met us then we would not force the issue merely out of convenience. We are still 4 days from the original due date, just hanging tight and waiting to greet our new little girl.

*****REMEMBER THAT YOU STILL HAVE TIME TO ENTER THE FIVE OWTK ANNIVERSARY PARTY CONTESTS: THE POKEY PUP CONTEST , THE GUSTAFER YELLOWGOLD CONTEST , THE WORLD'S FAIR CONTEST , THE CAN DO KID CONTEST and THE PUTUMAYO KIDS CONTEST*****