No Seabee Baby

I’ve written this blog a thousand times in my head. Over and over again in my head. I’m tried to remember every detail, but over time, the memory of Olivia’s is fading. So I must document the few details I have in mind, before it’s all blank.

March 6, 2009
Benny leaves for the Seabee Ball. The moment of goodbye is an emotional one. This is his first (and hopefully last) solo Seabee Ball. We didn’t have a ticket for me, because we thought that I would have given birth to our child by now. I was planning to be at home with baby. Instead I was home with Grey’s Antamony reruns. Plus even if I could find a seat, I didn’t have any dress that fit me. Nothing for Cinderella to wear to the Seabee Ball.


So I stayed home in a quiet house wondering again: “Was tonight the night I would give birth?”

At this point, I have been off of work for 2 weeks and my doctor has given me to Monday, March 9 to have this baby on my terms (AKA natural.) I did not want to be induced and was trying everything under the sun to pursue this baby to come out of my belly. I had a date to be induced (March 9) and I wasn’t happy about it.
I turned to my friend Kati for advice. I ate the hot wings like she recommended. I walked and walked in the rain in circles like my sister in law Kelly recommended. And still nothing.

That night while Benny was at the Seabee Ball joking about us having a Seabee baby, I was knitting and knitting. I was working to get that baby blanket finished. And I did. By 10 p.m. What now. I turned to the Internet and Googled “Naturally induce labor” and started reading.

I made a mental checklist of all the various recommendations and techniques. Nothing was done except two things.

1) Drink castor oil. Apparently this has worked since the Dark Ages. I emailed a hippie mom on island who could supply me with the oil and instruct me on the procedure for drinking. She said I would be pushing out a baby within 2 hours of drinking it. But the online evidence said the oil basically makes a person sick. That didn’t sound pleasant.

2) Talk to your baby. The Web site said that sometimes babies need to know that Mommy and Daddy are ready for them. It sounded silly to me, but was better than drinking castor oil.

So I walked into the baby’s room and said "Baby I know you can’t see this, but your room is ready. Everything is in place. And Mommy is ready. I can’t wait to meet you and see you. I want to hold you and hug you. I want to kiss you. It’s time. It’s time to meet your parents."

I rubbed my belly and waited.

"Ok baby. When Daddy gets home from the Seabee Ball it’s time to come out."

I never picked up the castor oil from the hippie mom. And I never made it to my induction appointment.