Anxiously awaiting baby!

One week and four days left to my due date, and I'm sincerely hoping baby will be here early. I just got over a week of the nastiest flu ever and am ready to take the next step into motherhood! Baby teased us on Sunday as I was having many contractions, but it was false labor. What a bummer! I'm currently still only a fingertip dialated and 60% effaced. I forgot to ask the doc what head station baby is in, as a week ago he was a -2, but I can tell he's a lot lower now. I have a very hard time moving around now as he is so low, and it is beginning to get uncomfortable to even sit in a chair, or on a couch...or just about anything.

There are bets flying on when this baby will arrive - Luke's work even has a pool going on now. My bet is still that I'll give birth on Fri, and Luke was betting on today so we'll see what happens. I so want a February baby!

I normally wouldn't mind a week off to enjoy the last few moments of "alone time" I'll get in many years, but with how uncomfortable I am, there is not much I can do that would be productive. I'm ready to be done with all of this so I can shower baby with kisses and change poopy diapers. If baby is still incubating this weekend I hope to finally finish cleaning house, but I'd rather have a messy house and a happy baby in my arms, then a clean house and still be waiting...and waiting... Lord willing, my next post will be a birth announcement!

Oh, the stress of it all..

I heard news that one of my other belly buddies (Alicia) just gave birth last night. That means two people out of the three that had a due date within a week of me has already given birth! My pregnancy ticker says 24 days, or 3 weeks and 2 days remaining to my due date. My official predicition is Feb 27th, as that is the last day my office is open, and my coworker gave birth on the first day the office was open so I just thought it would be fitting. Anyway, I'm starting to feel the stress of it all. There is so much to do, and Luke has been really great - but at the same time really stressing about getting everything done before baby is born. We still need to do a few loads of baby laundry, put everything away in the nursery (there are just mounds of clean baby clothes everywhere), pack our hospital bags, and we still are trying to finish up the video and photos from the wedding we did a month and a half ago. On top of all that, it sounds like some people have hurt feelings over our birth plan/preferences. The whole point of telling people was to eliminate stress, not create it!!! *breathe* Yes, I know I need to chill, I just thank God I have a three day weekend starting in about an hour. I would so love to come back on Tues, with 20 days left to go and nothing on our plates. Here's hoping...

Yes, I am HUGE

Okay, I've begun to notice a pattern here. I wake up, Luke comments "wow, you are big!" or "you are huge!". I go to work, every new customer I see says "You must be due any day now!" or "Has your water broken yet, you look like you're ready to give birth." Thanks guys. You know, it's really not that annoying, I'm just happy people realize it's a BABY and I'm not just obese. I think the waddle limp I have going on due to baby bearing down and sitting on my sciatic nerve helps people differentiate. What would annoy me is post baby, getting a comment asking how far along I am before I shed the baby weight. I guess I'll just have to hide out at home until I can fit back into my prepregnancy clothes... At this point I don't even tell people my due date, I just say "anytime now" because I really don't think I'll go the extra 3.5 weeks to my due date. It would be hard to imagine I could get much bigger then I am now, my skin already feels like it's stretched past it's capacity. Now imagine if I were carrying twins...you see, mom, why that wouldn't be a good idea???

One more down!

Baby has officially "dropped". I noticed this on one of my early morning bathroom runs, I looked down and thought "where did baby go?" He has moved about 3-4" lower then he was, so that means he's locked and ready to go! They say for first time moms, baby drops about 2-4 weeks before delivery, so that would mean baby will be coming sometime between 38-40 weeks likely. The following may be TMI, but I thought would be cool to document - here is the progress I've made towards labor from the common signs:

1) Nesting - check! I started nesting a week or so ago, cleaning and preparing the baby's room with a frenzy.
2)Baby Dropping - check!
3)Cramping/pelvic pressure - not so much, only a few times when I lay on my right side
4)Dialation/effacement - I'll find out on Thurs!
5)Lose mucus plug - check!
6)Bloody show - not yet
7)Contractions - on and off, but not with regular consistency and they rarely hurt
8)Water Breaking - not yet

So, I still have a ways to go, which is okay by me seeing as how I feel we have 1-2 weeks left of things that HAVE to be done before baby is born - such as packing our bags, doing a final thourough clean, and finishing up the wedding pictures/video for our pastor's daughter. So, I'll keep you updated!