She's Coming Out Sooner!

I had my sonogram today, but unfortunately, the pictures didn't come out that well. The above picture is the camera looking at the top side of her face, and the the 2 light areas above her head are her hands. She was positioned upside down, so if I looked down at my belly, it's like I was looking directly at her face. The heartbeat was healthy and she weighed in at 2.5 lbs. Her delivery date is November 26th, however Dr. B informed me that she'll most likely induce labor at 38-39 weeks, just to be on the safe side, because of my condition. That means that she'll enter the world on or about November 12th! That's only 8 weeks away! Holy crap! We were a bit sad, because we wanted her to be born on November 25th, James' birthday, but of course we are thrilled that she's going to come sooner. (I knew it! She wants to get out already!) I have to tell you, she looked adorable in the ultrasound pics. (Really, she did!) Looks like her nose may have the priviledge of prominence, rather than my pug-like Asian nose. (Thank you, James.) But who nose. (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

I told Dr. B that I'd like to try giving birth naturally, without an epidural. She kinda looked at me like I was crazy. She explained to me that when you induce labor, the pain is much stronger, because the contractions are brought on quickly. I'm not going to rule out an epidural, but I'm very curious to see how much pain I can handle. When am I ever going to experience this much physical pain? I know you're probably thinking "why the hell would you want to?!" But I guess I can be a little sick puppy sometimes. We shall see. She also suggested James and I watch a video about labor and birth just to prepare ourselves mentally (and physically) for what's coming. I have to admit - I'm not at all nervous. Just excited. Not scared about labor, contractions, the pain, none of it. I'm used to hospital environments, and I'm pretty low maintenance so I'm feeling relaxed about the whole deal. (I know, I say that now...) We signed up for a baby care/feeding/infant CPR class that my hospital is offering. I've also ordered a book recommended by many who are considering natural birth called "Ina May's Guide To Childbirth." So I'm feeling pretty good about preparing for this delivery. Let the countdown begin!