Thank Goodness for Friends and Family

Marcus John was born on September 10 and we could not have managed the logistics without family and friends.

My mom flew into town on September 9 so she could be here for the delivery and the baby's first few weeks. If the baby came before September 10, three amazing friends (Jonathan, Tree, Eileen) volunteered to come at the drop of a hat and stay with CJ. We are very, very lucky to have such great friends. In fact, they came a couple of evenings but I was in false labor, no cigar, no baby.

On September 10, my mom got CJ ready for school and neighbors drove him to school. That afternoon, Maki's parents picked him up and brought him home.

On Saturday (while Maki, the baby and I were still in the hospital), Maki's parents took CJ to his swimming class and took him to lunch. In the afternoon, Maki's parents, my mom and CJ visited us in the hospital.

I don't even know what we would have done without our family and friends. I guess that's why they say it takes a village to raise a family!

Countdown to Delivery

I'm so ridiculously behind with my personal blog, but better late than never. I have a few, rare, quiet moments this morning, so I'm going to go back in time and blog about Marcus John's final days in my tummy and his birth.

The final month of my pregnancy was harder than I remember it being with CJ. But then again, CJ was two weeks early and I didn't have to contend with 100+ degree heat for most of the summer. Seriously, the heat took everything out of me. I missed so many summer activities this summer because of the heat. We didn't go to any county fairs, we didn't go any trips, and we missed many BBQ events because I just couldn't deal with the heat.

I spent the last four weeks mostly working from home because I wanted to stay in comfy, cool clothes and I had sooooo much to do at work before going out on leave. Leave! Ha! CEOs don't really get to go on leave, but I am obviously not working full-time. I held meetings at a local coffee shop, stayed on IM, and worked like heck on documentation and training for my staff.

I had massive amounts of heartburn. I had bottles of TUMS everywhere: in my car, in my office, at home -- and I was popping them like mad. The OB said it was okay to take something stronger but the TUMS worked well, they worked quickly, and I just didn't like the idea of taking a lot of meds, esp. prescription meds, while pregnant.

I didn't gain a lot of weight with this pregnancy, but then again, I started out much heavier than when I first became pregnant with CJ. Interestingly enough, I weighed the same at the end of both pregnancies, so I guess my body just knew where it needed to be. No, I'm not divulging any numbers.

We went to Boston four weeks before my due date. I got invited to speak at a conference and I couldn't say no. The sponsoring organization was in an important industry to the company and they were generous with the travel budget, so I got to bring Maki and CJ. Because I was so close to my due date, I did NOT want to travel without Maki and CJ. My OB said it was okay because my pregnancy had gone so well, I had my medical records with me, and Boston has so many great hospitals. The conference was great, we got to see good friends we hadn't seen in a while, and it felt great to leave DC, even for a few days.

My official due date was September 12, but my OB said they were not going to let me go one day past my due date because of my Advanced Maternal Age (AMA, sounds awful, doesn't it?) and my history of miscarriage. So the doctor scheduled me for an induction on September 10.

I didn't think I was going to make it to September 10 because two weeks before, I was already dilated to 4 centimeters. But I stayed at 4 for weeks, with no pain. Guess I should have been doing my yoga stretches and squatting. Oh well.