Living the Smith Family Dream: 40 WEEKS!!!!! And still counting.

Today, July 7, 2009, is my due date. I am officially 40 weeks pregnant. I have made it to full term completely (although full term is from 38 to 42 weeks technically) and I am so ready to have this baby, but, as they say, good things come to those who wait! I hope that is true for us.

I left off after our 39 week visit. Since then we haven't had too much to update really. Not much changed after that visit. The doc stripped my membranes at that visit, but to no avail. Although he expected a baby over the weeked, it didn't happen. Justin had his hopes up for a firecracker baby, and while I wasn't as thrilled with that idea, I definitely got to the point of hoping that would be the case. Especially after my last frustrated rant of a post. Every single day I've received call after text after facebook message after email asking "Any news" "Any baby yet" "Any updates." And while I appreciate that people are excited to meet this baby and that people have us in their thoughts, when you've come this far and still no baby, it gets kind of frustrating when you don't have any answers for these people. Hence my rant. I've also been given SOOOO much advice about how to get this baby out and it makes it seem like I'm sitting home doing nothing. I've read the advice, I've heard about the tricks and I'm trying everything I can and nothing's working. He's just not ready. And there's nothing I can do about that.

Anyhow, we spent our 4th of July as we usually do, with friends of my family. It was a little more low key than usual, but Justin brought the fireworks this year. He picked some up in Pennsylvania on his way back froma work trip and was so excited to set them off. While they weren't as grand as the people at the store said they would be, he had fun setting them off and the kids LOVED the sparklers that we picked up last minute. In a last ditch effort for the firecracker birthday, I had a glass of jazzberry wine, and still, no sign of Jackson.

On Sunday we finally made it to church again. It was good timing too because Pastor Paul has started a morning greeting where he picks one person or couple in the church to focus on and asks people to greet them. Well another new baby was born last week and, on the topic of babies, Pastor Paul thought he would mention that we would be the next couple to have a baby and he asked people to come say hello to us and to Jackson (in advance). Good thing we were early to church for once. Anyhow, after church, one of the members and her mother gave us a lovely handmade blanket for Jackson. She said it's their tradition to make a blanket for every new baby born to the church, so it was a really nice gift. (Speaking of gifts, I will start working on my thank you's for all of our showers and gifts as soon as my online class is over, so look forward to them by the end of July).

Monday was pretty low key for us. My sister and I went to the gym and then we stopped by the hospital so I could pick up some papers for school from the nurse I did my practicum with. While I was there, I told her that I'm worried most about Jackson getting too big for me to deliver. So, she told me that the midwife there (the one I really like) is really good at predicting weight just by feeling around outside. So I went into the exam room and she felt around and said he feels like a small baby, maybe around 7lbs. This definitely made me very happy and hopeful that she's right. Besides that, Not too much happened besides the building of anticipation for today's appointment.

And that brings us to today and our 40 week doctor's appointment. All of the pre-exam stuff went as usual: weight, blood pressure, checking for the baby's heartbeat, which was nice and strong. Then the doc came in for the exam. And the big news is... no news :( Unfortunately I'm still 2 cm and I'm 80% effaced. So the doctor stripped my membranes again. The only thing different about today was that I lost a lot of my mucus plug before my appointment. This is normal and doesn't necessarily mean anything (as women can start losing their mucus plugs much earlier in the pregnancy) but I'm hoping since it was a lot it will progress things some more. In the morning my doctor is going away for the rest of the week, so he scheduled me to be induced next Tuesday. I really don't want to be induced if he's not a big baby, because the use of induction meds can increase my chance of needing an epidural, which I don't want. But I also want enough time this summer to get us all on a schedule so when I go back to school things won't be crazier than I need to be. So I'm pretty content with the date he chose. It gives me one more week to let him come on his own, but it also means that I don't have to wait more than a week for him to come, which could really cut down on how much time we have together this summer. Anyhoo, if for some reason I go into labor before next tuesday, another doctor will deliver me, which I'm okay with because I've met her already and my nurse instructor tells me she's a great doctor.

In other news (not really other news but a different view of things) tonight is supposedly a full moon AND a lunar eclipse. So while I'm not expecting anything to happen tonight, I still have hopes that maybe I will go into labor. Because Lord knows if the planetary forces can't even get this baby moving, nothing but induction will. So I'm saying my moon prayers tonight! And I'll top it off with another glass of Jazzberry wine. Here's to hoping for a howling baby boy tonight :)

To end the post (which is hopefully my last "pregnant" post) here are my 39 week pictures that I didn't post last week and my 40 week pictures taken today. Enjoy!