40 Weeks!! Still no baby....

Today is the day! You know, the day I marked on my calendar as the DUE DATE! The day we have been counting down to and waiting for and planning for....

The munchkin was late. Early on, I assumed little Peanut would be late too. But as we got into the last couple of months, I was having so many contractions and false labor I thought for sure my body was gearing up and she would arrive early.

June 15th was our first false alarm. I started having contractions and they continued to get closer together and lasting longer. They were not extremely painful though so I hesitated to go into the hospital. It was a Friday night though, so I couldn't go in to see my doctor the next day and it just seemed like something wasn't right. So we headed in, and instead of coming home with a baby, I returned with a diagnosis for a urinary tract infection and dehydration. Apparantly that is what was causing all of the contractions. I was a little confused about the dehydration, since all I really drink is water, but I vowed to try to drink more. As far as the UTI, this was my 2nd one while being pregnant. They assured me this was normal and that being pregnant can cause them very easily with the weight of the baby and all of the pressure sometimes pushing down on things and causing infections. Ugh.

The following weeks, the contractions continued. Nothing that had a pattern or that made me think anything major was happening. Definitely enough to be annoying and make a good night's sleep very hard to come by.

Wednesday, June 27th, was our 2nd false alarm. I started having contractions around 6:00pm. I didn't think much of them at first, evening contractions were pretty normal for me at this point, but over the next few hours they started getting extremely strong and painful and much closer together. Between 9 and 10 they were less then 5 minutes apart and were lasting about a minute each. We decided we better head in. We packed everything up, dropped the munchkin off at my parents and headed in about 10:30. I was literally yelling out in pain and stopping during contractions to catch my breath and hold on to something. The drive there was awful. They were coming in so strongly and painfully, I was afraid we weren't even going to make it there on time. Once we arrived, parked and headed up to the maternity floor, the contractions started to slow down.  Right then I had a feeling we were not having a baby that night and I was soooooo upset! Not upset that she wasn't ready, but upset that we had waited and waited and made sure before we took another unecessary trip to the hospital (which was also a 30-40 minute drive from our home). I really really really didn't want to head in again, just to come home empty handed.

But ofcourse, that is exactly what happened. After hooking me up to the monitors to check everything out and see how my contractions were going, they suggested I walk around a little to see if things would get started again. I walked for a little bit, but then decided to just head home. It just seemed to me that if something was going to happen, it would be happening... and I didn't want to just hang out at the hospital on a Friday night when I could be at home in bed sleeping (or trying to anyway). We headed home around 1:00am. Atleast I now I had two giant water mugs with straws as souvenirs from each trip. I guess that is something. 

After discussing my schedule and daily activities at the hospital, they did suggest I might want to try and take it much easier and that I was probably trying to do too much at this stage in my pregnancy. It seemed everyone else was telling me the same thing (including my husband), so I decided to go ahead and start my maternity leave and try to slow down and relax more before the little Peanut's arrival.  That was a little over a week ago, and I guess it was a good idea, because I haven't had near as many contractions and have been feeling much better. I am going stir crazy though!

So obviously, she will be arriving late. Just like the munchkin. I have absolutely no desire to be induced or force anything along, so it will just be a waiting game until she decides she is ready. I hope it doesn't come to it, but my doctor will only let me go 2 weeks over. That will put us around the 19th for an induction date if it comes to that point (oh how I hope it doesn't go that long!). I have a doc appt today and I guess she will set a date for us just incase. I haven't been having my cervix checked or anything like that, but now that we are at my due date, she will want to check it and see what is going on.

I am definitely ready for her arrival. I have been nesting like a mad woman and I don't think I could find another cabinet or drawer to clean out. I have cleaned and organized every square inch of this house and have cooked, frozen and packed away enough food to feed us all for months. Joe keeps calling me a doomsday prepper. I might have gone a little bit overboard... but it definitely isn't going to hurt anything.  I won't have to worry about any cooking for a while, I can just concentrate on this little baby once she finally decides to grace us with her presence.

It is so strange how different things feel anticipating our 2nd baby, as opposed to our first. I feel so much more calm and at peace with things. I am ready. I just wish she was!

Until then, we will be anxiously waiting her arrival!!

Here's a few pics we took earlier in the week. I am 39 weeks and 4 days along...

The munchkin loves giving little peanut hugs and kisses.

The munchkin gets pretty upset when we tell her that her little sister isn't ready to come out and play yet.

The munchkin will put a hand on each side of my belly and with a very serious look on her face, tell little peanut that it's time to come out and meet us and that we are waiting for her. She will hug and kiss my belly and tell me that she loves her and that we are all family. It's the cutest and sweetest stuff and it just melts my heart.

Look at the size of this belly!!

Me and my sis :)

I am hoping my next post will include some good news about this baby's entry into the world!!

Update: I just got home from my doctor's appt and there really isn't much new going on. I am still dilated at about a 3 and "very thick". Looks like she is hanging in there a while longer. I have an appointment set for next Thursday. They want to do a stress test and make sure everything is going well. I guess if we make it to that appointment, they will then make plans and set a date to have me induced. Hopefully we won't have to go there. She still has two more weeks to come out on her own. I am not too worried about it, I think she will come on her own just fine. That's what I am telling myself for now anyway.