KILLING TIME

Well, the due date has come and gone without any pomp and circumstance. I took down the ticker because at this point it is only going to bum me out to watch it say "40 weeks and 1 day pregnant, 40 weeks and 2 days pregnant," etc.

Thursday just cannot get here fast enough.

Oh, and did I mention, for the first time since early May, I woke up this morning sick as a dog! Nose running like a faucet, sharp piercing pain in the back of my throat, the whole nine yards. Ugh! Will they still induce me if I am sick? Now that I have Thursday in my head, I don't think I will be able to deal with it if THAT date gets postponed due to my current illness.

The waiting, the waiting...it is so hard. It is like being a child and waiting for Christmas to get here, and it is Christmas Eve....except that it is Christmas Eve EVERY day, and you never know which day you are going to wake up and realize it is FINALLY Christmas.

For now, I will just tend to my cold, finish Christmas shopping, and wait.

THE END IS IN SIGHT

Yes, there is actually an end in sight to this pregnancy. I wish it were sooner, but just knowing there is an actual END DATE helps tremendously.

I had a doctor's appointment yesterday, and for the 3rd week in a row I am still only 1/2 cm dilated. UGH! Because of this, the doctor scheduled the following for me:

Next Monday, 12/5, I am to go to the hospital at 3:00PM for an ultrasound, to make sure there is still enough amniotic fluid in there for the baby to keep hanging out.

Next Wednesday, 12/7, I am to go back to the hospital at 7:30PM at which point I will most likely be admitted (provided they are not swamped and they actually have a bed for me). They will administer Cervidil to me, a medicine to soften my cervix. At this point the doctor has to assume that my cervix will continue to be slow and uncooperative; they cannot induce this baby until my cervix gets moving, and they are thinking the only way to accomplish this is with the Cervidil. I guess it needs to remain in place for about 12 hours. So, if the hospital is swamped they will send me home that night, but more likely than not they will admit me.

Either way, the morning of next Thursday 12/8, I will be induced. By next Thursday night at the latest (hopefully!), little baby Mandy will be here.

Of course, there is still a chance I will go into labor before then. In fact, last night I had painful contractions, coming like clockwork every ten minutes for an hour and a half straight. But, just as quickly as they started, they stopped.

So it is still anyone's guess at this point, but no matter what, worst case scenario, I only have to wait one more week.

Holy crap!

HOLY BELLY!

Okay, I have been putting this off for as long as possible....here is a lovely picture of me, taken this morning. This is me, 5 days before my due date.

Nice belly, huh? And look at those dark circles under my eyes! Very nice.

It's almost over...I keep reminding myself of this!