I can't believe it's not labor

Hey folks, here’s an update. Yesterday Dianna woke up at 4am to mild-to moderate contractions spaced 5 minutes apart. This lasted for around 7 hours, and we were reasonably convinced that Zane would be born on 2/7/07. I packed the car with the hospital bags and car seat, and we had breakfast. Energetically, Dianna has been pretty wiped out in recent weeks, so after breakfast she was able to go back to sleep around 9am, and woke up at 11:30, still having mild contractions. We had a scheduled appointment with the OB/Gyn that afternoon, so we figured that we would be told, “Why the hell aren’t you already over at labor and delivery?”.

First, the good news: both Dianna and Zane are doing perfectly fine. The doctor was able to determine that while Dianna was indeed dilated, Zane had done a somersault at some point in the morning, flipping from vertex:

to breech:












Butt-down, and probably grinning (for whatever reason, I imagine him as having control of his facial muscles at birth). Incredible. This kid is going to be a pain in the ass just like his Dad.

So, for all you gamblers out there, the latest he will be born is on February 21st, when we will go to the hospital for a procedure called “external cephalic version”, which is MD speak for, “coaxing the kid into fliping back over”. If successful (~70% of the time), Dianna will be immediately induced. If unsuccessful, they will perform a C-section. Either way, enter the Zane.

Dianna’s doctor recommended that she not walk around too much, as that could trigger labor, which would require a C-section since vaginal delivery of breech babies is a bit risky. She is currently bored at home on maternity leave, having completed the nursery sometime in early June of 2006 ;-) She's been doing ridiculous yoga poses which are a folk-remedy for inducing fetal flippage. She just got a new cell phone that has >2 minutes of battery life at a full charge, so I am sure she would love to hear from you. As a personal plea, for every minute she isn’t distracted at home, she will be watching ‘American Idol’ and ‘I love New York’ episodes, which I am convinced gives her and Zane brain damage.

We’ll let you know how things are progressing. Much love to all.