37 weeks

We officially have a green light!

Had a check up with the doc and he says baby is doing great and she is now welcome to make her arrival whenever she wants. Unfortunately, I strongly suspect that she will repeat what her older sister did--after her attempt at an arrival arrival was rejected, she decided to dig in and refused to budge until we kicked her out by induction. Contractions? yes. Progressive labor? No.

Speaking of which, this strange condition of mine continues. But now I have even more fun terms to describe it. Added to the list of "non progressive labor" or "an irritable uterus", we now have "an excitable uterus" and "dysfunctional labor". I continue to have contractions (this week they were 10-12 minutes apart for a day and a half but am making very little progress. Doc even checked to make sure and I'm 50% effaced and 2 cm. While normally this might mean labor is imminent, doc said nothing to that effect and we're trying to be patient.) It's ironic really, with one statement from the doc, we went from "keep her in as long as we can" to "can't she get out already?" But since I'm past the risk of a preterm delivery/NICU baby and no longer losing amniotic fluid/risking infection, I feel much better and feel like life is a little more the way it should be (last minute washing/cleaning/organizing, dates with daddy, playing with my girls, basking in the excitement, etc.). More details from the check up--baby's heart rate is great and my fundus measurement is right on the normal average (which happens to be small compared to my first two pregnancies but not enough to be concerning--hopefully that just means no more nine pound babies for me!).

It makes me think about an episode of the sitcom Friends when Rachel is pregnant. Having reached her due date, she has a tender moment with her friends as she expresses her appreciation for them and for all she has been able to experience, even saying how beautiful pregnancy is and that she's actually going to miss it a little bit. But the next scene (the next day), she's frustrated and miserable and can't wait for the baby to come! I'm not at my due date yet (technically still have three weeks to go) but I feel those twinges of whispering "I can't believe its almost over", immediately followed by an exasperated "how much longer?!"

Patience. And in the meantime, kid--consider this your two weeks notice. :) see you soon.