Planning for birth...

Having a planned C-Section birth (recommended by Karen's OBGYN due to her first C-section) is a so very different experience than a natural "wait until it comes" birth. On the one hand, you know when the baby is coming, so you can prepare. On the other hand, because you know the precise moment when baby is coming, you prepare almost too much.

August 12th had finally arrived. We had "everything" ready to go - the luggage packed for the hospital, the morning taxi pre-scheduled, the house clean, the alarm set for 6:00am when the taxi would arrive to take us to the hospital, and the soon to be older brother safely at Grandma and Grandpa's. Things seemed to be in order except that we had forgotten how tired and exhausted we were.

We slept right through all three alarms. Yes, I know - bad.... The curious thing was that the whole time leading up to this day, we had never missed a beat. Perhaps it was the problem with "over" preparing. Anyhow, we didn't wake up until the taxi driver called us. Apparently he had been outside waiting already for 10 minutes, and finally decided it might be a good idea to call us. A rather embarrassed me (still in my PJs) apologized profusely to the taxi driver - told him to please wait, while we hurriedly got changed.

When I told the poor taxi driver that we were going to the hospital, he must put two and two together having seen Karen's huge tummy. Well, he just shook his head, and drove us as fast as he could to the hospital where we had a scheduled C-section for 8:30am. (Needless to say, we tipped him well....)

We got to the hospital in time for surgery preparations. At least we'll have a good story to tell the grandkids...