Place your bets

Less than a week before my due date and this baby’s going nowhere. I’ve been trying to convince my body that I’m nesting by cleaning the house, organizing and washing tons of baby clothes. It’s not working. At my last appointment the doctor rather painfully checked my cervix, shook her head, and said, “Sorry. No changes. The baby’s still floating. I can’t even tell if your cervix is any softer than last week. I don’t think you’ve had any contractions.” As far as I know she’s right. Aside from the real or pre-labor kind, I haven’t even had any contractions of the Braxton-Hicks practice variety. Since I’ve never been afflicted with menstrual cramps I have no idea of what they’d even feel like, since that’s the only analogy (besides a belt being tightened around my uterus) that I’ve been offered. When I started feeling the sharp, stabbing pains in my cervix around the time we were in Florida I thought those might have been contractions, or at least meant that the baby was heading towards the exit route, but clearly I was mistaken.

My official due date is March 5 and unless my health should take a turn for the worse my doctor won’t induce until 42 weeks, which would be March 19, our wedding anniversary. Well, it probably wouldn’t be March 19, because that’s a Sunday, so March 20 would be more like it. In which case why not wait until March 22, my birthday. I feel like I’m going to be pregnant for the rest of my life. Three weeks is an awfully long time and this kid’s not getting any smaller.

My next appointment’s not until Wednesday. Today I’ve got an appointment with a pediatrician and I’m going to clean the baby’s room which Boyfiend and his dad finished last night. It still has no furniture besides a changing table, but it’s painted and the border is up. Then I can move all of the baby items from the living room upstairs- they say walking up and down stairs is supposed to get things moving- and vaccuum the living room for the first time in what feels like months (but has probably only been 2 weeks.)

For the first time during this pregnancy I just watched TLC’s A Baby Story. Of course I sobbed uncontrollably and they were showing an easy, medication-free, midwife facilitated second birth. I’ve also been checking in at my creepy message board religiously, especially now that everyone’s starting to have their babies early. Every birth story, no matter how white trash, makes me cry.

Everyone (my mom, my boss, boyfiend, etc.) was guessing this baby would be early. I’m thinking they were wrong, but the little peanut’s got less than a week to make an on-time appearance. So when do you think s/he’ll come? Take a guess in the comments. Maybe Mix will start a pool.