D-Day

Sept 24th-Well, today is the due day (and my grandma's birthday) and still no contractions. We had an appt yesterday. Still not dilated. We set up an induction to start Sunday evening, Sept 28th. The induction is a two-part process. I will get a tablet on Sun evening to help "ripen" the cervix and then pitocin will be started through an IV on Monday morning to start contractions. Hopefully, I won't need to be induced. We are all praying that the baby decides to come on its own. But, at the very latest we should have a baby by Mon/Tues next week! In the meantime, I will continue to walk and try to stay active. They say it doesn't really help speed up labor, but I figure it can't hurt either!

39 weeks

Sept 19-39 weeks and 2 days, still no sign of impending labor. I've been resting a lot the past couple of days and have decided I really like a restful day. I can finally see my ankle/feet bones again though there is still some swelling by the end of the day. The baby's room is basically ready, minus a few decorative touches here and there. We've accomplished most of the things I wanted to get done before the arrival of the baby, so now we just sit and wait. I've attached some pics of the nursery and pics of me this week. Acckkk! Look at those feet!

Last day of work

Sept 17-Today was my last day of work!! Yea!!! Can you tell I've been waiting for this day? My sweet husband sent me a beautiful bouquet of flowers with wishes for a happy birthday and a good last day of work. The day went well, but I was so glad to be done with work for a few months. My legs (from the knees down) are particularly excited about a break. I now having pitting edema from the knees down at the end of each day. Not the most attractive look. I know it would help to prop up my feet for a couple of hours each day, but have you ever tried this?! I have too much to do to prop up my feet for a couple of hours each day!

38 weeks

Sept 12-38 weeks and 2 days, still no activity. I realized I was more ready to have this baby than I thought when I grew pretty discouraged about not dilating any. Tummy is still measuring a week behind, but all is well. Baby is still quite comfortable in my tummy; still sitting quite high. Oh well. I'll just have to be more patient.

We had a tour of the labor and delivery area and the mother/baby unit in the new hospital (where I now work) earlier this week. The laboring rooms are huge and very nice. Not that we will need a lot of room since Justin will be the only other person in the room with me. I guess we will have visitors earlier in the laboring process, but as the pain intensifies I might embarass myself by acting out of character, so Justin will be the only one to witness that. :) The mother/baby room is nice also, though not as big. The best part is that it is a private room. At the old hospital the rooms were semi-private. So glad I won't need to share a room!

This weekend we are going to camp in the motorhome at Justin's parents house and celebrate September birthdays. Gwinn, Emily and I all have Sept birthdays. I celebrate the big "30" this year. Agh!! At least I get a great birthday present this year!

Baby Shower

Sept 4th-Justin's sister, Emily, hosted a baby shower for me and baby at Justin's parents house. Justin's grandmother, mom, cousins, and aunts and my mom and cousin attended. The guests were supposed to wear clothing according to what they believed the gender of the baby would be. Seven women wore blue (boy), six women wore pink (girl), my mom wore green (undecided), and I was the party pooper wearing brown. I wanted to look cute and only had one option. :) Can't wait to see which women were right!

I had some surprise gifts from family in TX and CA. We received many items that we needed and almost no duplicates. I felt much better prepared for the arrival of our baby after this shower.

36 Weeks

August 29th-We had our 36 week appointment today. My belly measured small, so we got to have another ultrasound. There was some temptation to discover the sex of the baby, but we held strong and resisted. The baby was fine and there was plenty of amniotic fluid. I guess I'm just lucky to have a smaller tummy. (That does not mean that I have not grown in other areas). :) We found it a little amusing, though not surprising, that the baby's head measured 37 weeks and the femur measured 34 weeks. There will be no denying that this baby belongs to us. :) I still haven't had any real contractions and there is no sign of the cervix thinning or dilating. This is a good thing though because there is still much to do in preparation for the arrival of this little one.