Sigh

I am nothing but agitated. No labor. No baby. Just a bunch of pre-labor (and labor) symptoms. The last several days have been miserable. My body is "primed" and ready-- beginning to dilate, probably effaced completely by now, lost mucus plug, baby "locked" in place, etc. I am kept awake at night by contractions that come and go, are strong then faint. And my hormones are certainly responding with unbelievable highs (and mostly lows). I truly feel physically and emotionally miserable. It is hard for a left-brained, rational person like myself to realize how "primitive" of a condition I am in right now. It is as if my entire body is screaming only one thing: MUST EXPEL BABY!

And yet, here I am . . . Still pregnant. Now, I realize this is only 37 weeks, but when my body is in this pre-labor state it may as well be 41.

The bit of "good" news is that while on our hospital tour this morning we ran into one of my doctors from the specialists' office (the doctors who will be delivering our baby). After talking with him for a spell and mentioning that my next appointment is Tuesday morning he pretty much said that they would agree to induce at that point. When my body is totally ready but for some reason labor is simply not starting, they will want to try and "jump start" the process.

[Also interesting: This doctor was hopeful that we would deliver this weekend, because he is the high-risk doctor on call all weekend and then was disappointed that he has Tuesday off and won't see me for my office visit. But then did mention that he was back at the hospital Tuesday night. Ahhh . . . These are the advantages of having a father-in-law in the peds unit and a husband who has been known by many of these doctors for over twenty years. In fact, this particular doctor remembers being at Dave's folks' house and meeting Dave when he was about eleven.]

And so, I eventually hope to tell you that our daughter is here, but it looks like it will be at least a few more days (at least) before this happens.