I always planned on starting a blog once we had a baby. We live far away from family and friends, and I know one good way of helping family keep in touch is by having a blog. I planned on waiting until Liam and I have a baby because, let's face it, Liam and I are not nearly as cute or as exciting as a baby.
As most of you know, we are expecting our first baby any day now. Her name is Ella Dawn Keogh, and Liam and I spend most of our time right now waiting for her to come. This experience has become quite the conundrum because of due dates. I have had so many due dates! I calculated my first due date as soon as Liam and I found out the happy news that we were expecting a baby. I used a due date calculator online and found that my due date was August 4. Once I went to my doctor for the first time, they calculated my due date to be August 10. They did not base this on an ultrasound. They used a due date calculator just like I did. I was so early on (only about 11 weeks) that this didn't bother me much. The next month I went in and was informed that my real due date was August 2. It was really nice to have my due date moved forward. And so August 2 became my due date for a very, very long time. In fact months went by, while I was happily getting ready for the birth of my baby girl. I had an ultrasound done at 21 weeks, where I found out the gender. The doctors were a little concerned about her small size, so they scheduled me to have another ultrasound at 25 weeks in order to make sure that she was growing correctly. During this ultrasound, the doctors concluded that she is small but everything was looking healthy.
When I went in to my doctors appointment at about 33 weeks, the doctor informed me that he was moving my due date back to August 12 because, the baby was measuring so small in her 25 week ultrasound. Now this may not seem like a big deal for many people. I know that before I got pregnant, I would have thought that it didn't really matter. But it is a very mean thing for a doctor to tell I woman who is in her third trimester that her due date is 10 days later than it originally was. He was telling me that I had ten more days than I had thought of being pregnant! At first I was quite upset at my doctor; I was not sure what to tell people my due date was when I was asked. I finally decided on my own to go with August 4.
It looked like I was going to be correct with my due date, because when I went in to the doctor (at 38 weeks according to them) I found out that I was dilated to a 3 and 80 percent effaced. The doctor informed me that I would most likely have a baby that weekend. So Liam and I went home and prepared to have a baby. We walked so much, but Ella did not seem to want to come. As the days went by, I got more and more frustrated because I am still pregnant. We went back to the doctor on Thursday and found out that I am almost dilated to a four. The doctor informed me that I would probably have the baby over the weekend (sound familiar to any one) but if not, I could be induced on Tuesday. I now have an induction date set for Tuesday, August 14 (two days after my final due date) at 7 A.M., if Ella does not choose to make an appearance before then. And so you see that Baby Ella has already caused quite the conundrum within the Keogh household. I have a feeling that this is just the beginning of many unsolvable riddles for Liam and I as we start on the path of parenthood.
