I need to be induced with this pregnancy and likely the rest of my pregnancies. Because Melia came so fast, my OB told me that we would be inducing me with the rest. She wants to avoid roadside babies. If you haven't read my birth story about Melia entering our family, you can find it here: http://thatonecrazygirls.blogspot.com/2014/02/melia-elise-christensen.html
My body was pretty stubborn to get ready, but once my water broke and I got past 3cm, the rest of it was a BREEZE. When I got to 10cm, I had to wait one hour to get Melia in the correct position; she was transverse. I pushed once and the nurses started getting nervous about how quickly she was coming. They told me to push again and then stopped me, had me put my legs down and together and frantically tried to get a hold of my doctor, Julie. The moment my doctor opened the door, out came Melia and Julie had barely had enough time to put her gown on and catch her. Because of that, I am being induced to lower the risk of scary deliveries.
So here's where my real story begins. Baby sister is coming home May 2nd; one way or another. I have had, this entire pregnancy, a feeling that she will come early. Somewhere in April 20's is my guess. Of course I joke with Scott that she will come April 28th because that's our anniversary. Four years with this man and I still love him more and more each day. Scott does NOT want an anniversary baby, so naturally, that's when she's going to come. Honestly, baby sister coming early is just wishful thinking, but I guess you never really know. I am just happy to know that we are close enough to do a real countdown of days. It also makes me nervous because with these last few weeks, I am so, dang, miserable. I am grumpy and tired and Melia is grumpy and two. It's a bad combo. I love Melia so much. I love her so, so much. I know she knows it, but some days, I just lose my cool and even though she always hugs me and tells me it's ok and that she loves me, at the end of some days, I feel awful. With all these big changes coming, and emotions running every which way in our house, I really wanted to make sure that Melia and Mama had one, big day together. Where it was just her and me and a day filled with fun. So, on Monday, April 11th, 2016 Little Miss Melia and I went to the zoo! 
Zoo dates with Melia should be a consistent thing. Despite the fact that I am 9 months pregnant and everything about me hurts, it was the best day we've had together. She was cheerful and so excited to see all the animals and my body cooperated and I was able to walk around the entire zoo, hauling a wagon and a girly around, without hurting at all. Because it was our last big day together before baby sister comes home, I totally spoiled her. I made our lunches at home so we could splurge at the zoo. I bought train tickets and carousel tickets for the both of us. We walked through the gates and the train was just filling up, so we hopped right on. Melia totally LOVED the train ride. She was so excited and could see all the animals great. She kept telling me about the zebras while we drove past them, and since she is my daughter, she lit up when we passed the giraffes and the new baby giraffe was right at the gate. She wanted to ride the train again, but I told her we had lots of animals to see. She very cheerfully climbed into her wagon and we started our trek across the zoo. 
Fortunately, it was a pretty slow day at the zoo. Unfortunately, we got there about an hour later than I had hoped, so when we got the to big kitties (tigers, leopards, etc.) they were all napping. We headed straight to the lions den because all the lions were sprawled out napping in the sun. She loved seeing them right there, but I think she was also a little confused because they weren't roaming around. After the lions, we went to the monkeys, which she also loved. A few of the monkeys were jumping around and we caught them right in the middle of their play. Melia was so intrigued by their swinging and jumping around, it was hard to convince her that we would see more elsewhere. The monkeys led us into the elephant home and the rhinos. It was lunch time for both animals so they were really close to the gates. Which was really cool. When we got to the elephants, Melia made sure to comment, several times, about how biiiig the elephants where. She kept telling me they were "sooooooo biiiggg" and stretched her arms out as she said it! As we moved to the rhinos, which were way closer to us than the elephants were comparatively, she commented on their size too. They were being fed by some workers and Melia asked what they were eating. I told her that what they were eating and she got excited about the fact that they ate what she ate, which was salad and bananas. She was very funny about it.
It was hard leaving the rhinos, even for me, because it was so cool to see them so up close. We went from the rhinos to the gorilla house. On the way over, we saw a peacock laying on the grass cleaning himself. I actually missed the peacock until Melia pointed it out. She loved the colors of the peacock and pointed out how pretty he was. Once again, because we got there later than I had hoped, the big monkeys were all out of their homes. Melia wasn't bothered by it, but I was feeling a little sad that we had missed the monkeys; she loves monkeys and would have loved seeing all the big ones. The rest of the zoo trip was pretty quick after this. We went to see the otters, who were all out of their home as well, but Melia made great friends with the Otter Statue by the exhibit! She saw him and instantly stopped, put her arm around him and told me that he was her otter friend. She asked me to take a picture of them and posed for it and everything. She talked to the otter, told him he was her friend and when I said it was time to go, she didn't want to. I told her we could always come back to see him, but that we had more animal friends to see. We then saw the sea lions, one of which was swimming back and forth, doing some flips underwater that we could see really well. She loved seeing him swim. I felt bad because at this point, I had to go to the bathroom pretty badly; 9 months 
After our bathroom break. We went up to see the big kitties. As mentioned earlier, they were all asleep so we didn't get to see them. I was pretty bummed about it. I really wanted to watch her when she saw those big kitties. She loves looking at pictures of them and making tiger sounds. Another trip; and earlier trip. Since we missed the kitties, we went back down the hill to go through the bird house and see all the little animals. Oh man was Melia in heaven here. She totally went nuts. Window to window she would tell me, or ask me, what animal she was seeing. My favorite, by far, was when we got to the foxes. A few weeks ago, I made "sister foxes" for Melia and baby sister. It is going to be Melia's present to baby sister when she comes to visit at the hospital. Anyway, Melia brought her fox with her to the zoo on Monday and when I told her what animals we were watching (they were cuddled up together taking a nap) she got so excited. "They're foxes! Just like my fox!" and she just wouldn't leave. Finally, the meerkats started playing in the window next to the foxes and she left to watch them instead. One of the meerkats came right up to where Melia was and stood at the window for a minute, perched hand-on-hand with Melia. It was really cute. Our last visit was the bridge in the bird house. We looked over at the four turtles that were there and Melia loved it. She told me right away that she could see turtles and we watched them for a minute. There was a little baby turtle there that Melia was watching very closely. He was cruising around in his little play pen and it was really pretty cool to watch. Last time I was there, we only saw the giant turtle, that's like a million years old and hardly moves. We have seen the old guy move, quite a bit actually, when we have gone. Compared to the baby turtle though, he's got nothing. 
We went out the back door of the bird house to see if we could find the wolves, which Melia also would have loved, but they were off somewhere in their den and at this point, I was really hungry and wanted to eat our lunch; not walk up the giant hill around the back of the zoo to try and find them. So we headed back to our wagon and I told her it was time for a special ride - the carousel.
Oooooh was she so excited to ride the carousel. We were able to find a giraffe for Melia to sit on and she asked over and over if we could ride again. I told her that we couldn't ride again, but that we could eat our lunch and watch as others rode. She accepted my deal and we happily ate our lunch. Melia might have enjoyed watching other people ride the carousel as much as she enjoyed riding it. About halfway through her sandwich, Melia told me she had to go potty. Luckily, there was a potty on the other side of the carousel and we hurried over. She made it to the potty and actually went! Hooray!! We then made our way out of the zoo and off for home. We made one last stop at the giraffes so she could tell them goodbye and see the baby giraffe one more time. 
It was a bittersweet date. My baby girl will always be my baby girl. Melia made me a Mama. She showed me how much deeper love can go. Melia has taught me so much in her two years and I can't wait to learn more from her when baby sister comes. I worry about the transition from only child to oldest. Melia is very much the center of attention everywhere we go. She has always been surrounded by adults who love her and she doesn't know what it's like to share the light. The bossiness this girl has in her is incredible. It's no question where she gets it from, really. She knows what she wants and she's determined to get it. Nothing will hold her back. But that's what is going to make her such a great big sister. She already is. Melia talks to her baby sister every day; she tells her how much she loves her and how she's excited to hold her and play with her. Melia will definitely boss baby sister around when things get to that point, but she will also protect her. She will know how to look out for her and make sure she doesn't get into things she shouldn't. Melia has a heart like I've never seen in such a young child. Her love is endless and pure. She forgives quickly and loves deeply. It takes her a little while to warm up to people, but once she knows they are good, she will remember them. Every night, she prays for her baby sister. She prays that she will grow big and healthy. Melia also prays for me, Scott, her uncles and anyone else that needs it. Every night, individually, she prays for all these people.
I don't know how I will handle the last day of Melia being an only child. I have already shed tears over the last moment I will have with just her. Melia is my baby girl, my sugar bum, my girly, my snuggle bug. Her entire world is about to change, in an instant. She is just so excited to meet her baby sister, and I love that, but I just know it will be hard. I am trying so hard to make these last few weeks easy on her. It is not easy, though. Not at all. I'm emotional about a lot of things right now. I want the best for my Melia. I want her to know how much I love her, every day, even when they are hard days. I want her know that I worry for her, that I want her to be happy and that I hope she can take this new baby coming home relatively okay. I want her to know that no matter what, she is my girl. She made me a Mama and I couldn't be more grateful for her and all she's done for me. Life is all about change, and I think Melia is more worried about me than I am about myself. 19 days. 18 days, at this point really. 18 days left with my Girly. 18 days to make them count. 18 days to show her how much I really do love her, even through all the craziness. I know as she grows up, she will forget how hard it was to bring baby sister home and see that I do love her just as much now as I always have. Her heart is just so tender right now and I want to keep it open. I just need to push myself to be better in these last few days as a family of three, a mother of one. I pray every night that I will have the strength to be better, be happier, be more patient, more understanding of her little two year old mind. Each night I pray that I can show her with my words and actions how much I really love her; that I can push through the pains, the rollercoaster of emotions, the headaches and exhaustion. Each night I pray that when baby sister comes home, I will be able to take the time for her that she needs from me, and the time I need WITH her. I love her. I love her sister. I know they will love each other. I just need to remind myself to Keep Moving Forward. It will all fall into place.
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