Spent a lovely day in the hospital today. We had
a 41wk ultrasound and non-stress test (NST) then had lunch with
my aunt Katie. Lex amazingly was happy (for the most part) the
whole time. My mom is a master babysitter!

No big news on the new baby. Still there, plenty
of fluids, passed the NST with flying colors :) Was much less
stressful then when I had to do it with Lex. This time I knew
what I was getting into at least. And baby was more
cooperative. Lex slept through it so we had to run the test
twice and they used a buzzer thing to get him moving for the
second test. This baby was bouncing around the whole time, very
active.

The ultrasound was interesting because they now
have a 3D ultrasound thing. It sort of looks like a face carved
out of stone or something. A little weird. She also said it’s
hard to get them really clear at 41 weeks because there is so
much other stuff floating around in the amniotic fluids. I
think baby looks a little squished in there. Time to come out
now!!

The midwife said I’m now 4cm
dilated and 80% effaced (for those who have any idea what that
means) and she was telling me who’s on duty at the Birthing
Pavilion this weekend :) I had to schedule another NST (need
one every 3 days until baby is born) for Monday, but we are all
hoping that won’t be necessary. We’ll see.

Alan and I took an ARC Infant/Child CPR
certification class last night. I was not looking forward to it
(real pain to get scheduled, then ended up being 6pm-10pm), but
it turned out to be fun. Glad we did it. Even better, Lex was
an angel for my mom. No crying, no fussing, just a good boy all
around. That gives me hope :)

Off to my
41wk appointment. I scheduled it a bit early (Friday instead of
Monday) so Mom would be here and Alan wouldn’t have to take the
day off. No way can I do an ultrasound and NST with Lex by
myself!

I’ll try to post an update and
maybe an ultrasound pic later this afternoon.

This post is just a bunch of whining, so
consider yourself warned :)

I think I
was very spoiled with my first pregnancy. I was late, but quite
comfortable (relatively speaking anyway). Going from no labor
progress to baby overnight is definitely the preferable way to
go. This time around I’m dilating sooner (which is good
progress, I suppose) but all of me hurts! I now understand all
of the “typical” late stage pregnancy gripes. Well, most
anyway. There are certainly a few issues I can think of that I
don’t have (thankfully!!) that would make things even more
uncomfortable. But I’m achy all over and my belly feels like
there is a bowling ball inside and totally bruised on the
outside. It isn’t really bruised, but it feels that way.
Walking is uncomfortable. Any sort of fast walking (chasing Lex
down the street) is damn near impossible. It takes a real
effort to roll over in bed at night and I have to get up every
hour to pee. Blah! Fortunately my mom is here to take care of
me :)

I think today would be a lovely
day to have a baby, but worst case, Monday is a full moon and a
low pressure system coming through, so hopefully that will do
it. It’s also eight days past my due date. We’ll see
:)

Guess I should be updating more frequently
these days. Not much going on, just hanging out. Had my 40wk
checkup on Monday. No news there. The midwife said “you could
go any day now,” and I thought “that’s that they said last week
too!” Scheduled my 41wk checkup for this Friday for another
ultrasound, a non-stress test, and then the appointment with
the midwife. Lex won’t be very happy at the doctor’s that long,
so it was nice I could do it when my mom is here to help out.
Let’s all hope I can cancel those appointments though!! :)
Otherwise we’re just doing our thing. Lex has regressed a bit
into sleeping in his crib most days and still quite the mommy’s
boy. I learned that he’s only a mommy’s boy when I’m around
though. I went to yoga on Monday and left him with Rosy and he
was happy as can be. Didn’t seem to care that I was gone :) I
guess that’s the best way to be, huh? Ok, now he’s awake from
his nap so I’m outta here…

Waiting is the hardest part, especially
with a crowd. I keep reminding myself that I’m not even due
yet, let alone past due. I probably have a few more weeks. But
waiting is tough. I think my friend (due tomorrow) may be in
labor today. Is it petty to be jealous? I also worry a bit for
Lex because he’s gotten so mommy happy these past few days. He
likes other people, but only if he knows exactly where mommy
is. I don’t think he’s let Joyce or Barney read to him or
really do much with him the whole time, just wants mommy. I
think he knows something is going on. Not sure he fully
understands what, but he definitely senses some impending
something. I’m trying to balance showering him with attention
as much as possible before baby comes, while not making the
clingy-ness worse. Who knows the right way to do that. Oh well.
I’m pretty tired and cranky today so I think I’d best stop
posting my rambles to the world :)

One big difference between this pregnancy
and my first is the ability to feel the baby’s parts. It’s
amazing. With Lex, the midwives could feel big things like
head, butt, back, etc. But I could only ever feel a big, solid
lump. This time around, I can feel individual parts inside,
especially when baby is moving a lot. I don’t know exactly what
they are, but if I press on my belly I can feel something bump
under my fingers and go by, like baby just turned over and I
felt the arm pass by. Again, I’m never sure exactly what part
it is, but it’s pretty amazing to feel. Sometimes my belly just
feels lumpy (when the BH contractions are giving me a few
minutes of relief) and you can just poke around and feel little
hills and valleys in the belly. Very cool , in an alien inside
sort of way!