38 Weeks

At the end of every pregnancy, there's that appointment with your doctor that leaves you feeling incredibly discouraged and hopeless.  There's nothing wrong, nothing to worry about.  There's just nothing happening.  For some reason, at that 38 week appointment, when you hurt all over and are generally OVER being pregnant, you convince yourself that your doctor might suddenly exclaim, "Oh look, there's the head!!  It's time to have this baby NOW!".  But, of course, that doesn't happen.  Instead, at this week's appointment, as I sat in anticipation of some kind of news of progress, my doctor simply smiled and said, "You're still 2 cm dilated and about 50% effaced.  Everything looks great!  See you next Monday!".  How anti-climatic.  Of course, I knew that's how this appointment would go but there was just something in me that hoped for more.

So, there you have it: baby and I are healthy, I am having contractions off and on throughout the day, my body is preparing itself for the work of labor, but we are not in the homestretch yet.  I've never gone into labor early before so I don't really expect this time to be any different.  I'm not trying any crazy home remedies: no castor oil or pineapple for me.  They don't work, trust me, I've tried them before.  When this baby's ready, he'll be here, it's just that simple.  For now, we are just going about our normal routine and enjoying these last few weeks together.  Work is busy, our home life is even busier.  We are packed and ready, all of the last minute details are in place.  See you soon, little buddy.  We're ready when you are.