40 weeks!

I've said it since the beginning of this pregnancy, I want to make it to my due date, maybe even past it, and here we are! It's both exciting and frustrating as I know my girl is fully developed and ready to be here, but I'm also impatiently waiting to meet her! (On a side note, I want to point out that Evan has said for quite a while that he couldn't see me making it to my due date...)

We had a great weekend this weekend, even though the full moon and lunar eclipse didn't bring out Wren. I ended up spending about 5 hours in my classroom on Saturday getting loose ends wrapped up and Evan spent that time at home finalizing and turning in his project and paper for his grad school class this semester (it is due Wednesday so we are glad it's out of the way!). We got to go out for Mexican with some friends Saturday night while Oakes was out of town so that was a nice treat and I also did a lot of bouncing on my yoga ball this weekend in hopes that Wren would bounce out. Oh well... Beyond that, I spent the weekend doing a million and a half loads of laundry, wrapping Christmas gifts, and cleaning the house. I'm not sure if we can really call it nesting as I never felt any "urge" to do these things; I think it's more that I was forcing myself to nest as I know that labor could follow that! :) So the house is really quite clean now, all of our laundry is washed and folded, the floors are vacuumed, and the grocery shopping is done. If Wren doesn't make her appearance soon, then this only means the house will have time to get dirty again - ugh!

Oakes, helping me bounce Wren down :) He's a cutie! 

Some delicious cookies Aunt Tina had made for us!  Thank you, Tina!

Oakes, with a happy mouth full of cookie! :)

Alright, now for the anticipated doctor's appointment update and belly shot:

Blood Pressure: 122/80 (seems a bit lower!)
Weight: -3 (total weight gain = +16 pounds)
Heartrate: 144bpm
The belly is measuring at 39 weeks [yay, I feared she was getting too big]
Dilation = 2+cm  
Effacement (thinning of cervix) = 50% (slow progress!) 
Station = -1

So I've definitely felt some pre-labor progression happening with my body but nothing that huge (some braxton-hicks, etc.). Of course, my body isn't showing this, but that seems to be how I roll with pregnancies -- I imagine that if Oakes wasn't under stress during his labor, he'd probably have been late as well since I was progressing so slowly with his pregnancy as well.

Dr. C was much more rigorous with the exam today which I asked for. I figured I'd delay having my membranes stripped until next week so this was a pretty good compromise. We also went ahead and talked about induction, as Dr. C mentioned that the induction spots at the hospital can fill up quickly and he'd rather have me on the calendar and postpone or not need it, than have to try to fit me in later. Usually he schedules things on Wednesdays but he said he had 2 major surgeries next Wednesday so we looked ahead to Thursday, December 22nd as the date. Thursdays are also the day that his new Dr. on staff is on-call and I mentioned this to him, with regards to the Cocksackie (Hand, Foot, Mouth) virus and the fact that she's newly pregnant. He did say that he'd be there to deliver if need be (yay!) but I do feel a bit guilty about it. 

So... we still have our weekly appointment next Monday at 3:30 (unless Wren comes early) and our induction is scheduled for Thursday, December 22nd (unless Wren comes early). Believe me when I say that I'm on mission now.

The 40-week shot.