I have my laptop back (hurray!) so I can now update everyone with what little news I have.  I am now a week past my “official” due date.  Not that it means much, as my midwife pointed out to us today, since 41 weeks (not 40)  is used to calculate due dates in France.  “So,” my midwife cheerfully commented, “you’d just be hitting your due date now if you were in France!”  French women are also permitted to drink wine while pregnant, but that is neither here nor there.  

Here are the stats from the appointment:  I have gained no weight in the past week and a half (yippee!)—I’m holding steady at 39 pounds total weight gain.  Blood pressure was 108/78.  I am FOUR cm dilated.  This makes me happy.  Zero station.  I forgot to ask about effacement, but last time I was there, I was 80%, so I assume it’s still right around there.  Baby is estimated to weigh around 8 lbs.  We made the decision to have the midwife strip my membranes today.  We are hoping this will facilitate things.  If the baby does not come this weekend, I go to the hospital on Monday for a non-stress test to ensure that the placenta is still doing its job.  If so, we can allow the pregnancy to continue and we can have my membranes stripped again.  If not—well, we’ll cross that bridge when (if) we come to it.  

As for how I’ve spent the last week—I’ve been reading.  I read 3 novels—all of them were great!  I’ve been doing a lot of cooking, and even mustered energy to work in the yard and trim the overgrown bushes.  It’s not like I wanted to be doing yardwork, but I was willing to do just about anything to jumpstart this whole labor process.  R and I have been enjoying our evenings—we walk a mile and a half circuit around town, usually pausing to take pictures and get dessert.  We are savoring these last few evenings together as a couple.  

OK, I’m off to make some stir fry for dinner!  Expect more updates soon!

 

Aww…..Rob’s Father’s Day message is so sweet.  We are 2 days past my due date—we could still have a full moon baby (June 18th) or a Summer Solstice baby (June 21st).  Either of those would be fun!  A baby on Friday the 13th of June (my due date) would have been neat for a couple of reasons.  Rob and I moved into our first apartment on Friday the 13th of April, 2001.  We then got married on Friday the 13th of July, 2001:

Having a Friday the 13th baby would have been neat, but the baby has other plans.  That said, I need to take a break from the baby blog for a few days.  On Friday, my laptop battery decided to die, so I don’t have a terribly convenient way to log on and post updates.  We have a desktop computer I could use, but ugh….I can’t use it while reclining in bed or on the couch.  I’m expecting to get my laptop back sometime this week, so until then I’m over and out.  Peace!

We spent a good portion of what would have been my first Father’s Day in the garden, tending our little 15’x30′ plot, helping our “green babies” get nice and big.  The idea is for them to bear fruit that becomes the first set of solids that our human baby eats.  Anyway…

It was a good day.  And A. got me a very nice card.  Sweetheart that she is.

And of all the photos we took today, the above seemed the most appropriate.  With the two fully formed blossoms hanging out in the background (just out of focus in the depth-of-field), waiting for the other one to burst forth from its little bud.

Here goes…

The above in honor of tonight’s breastfeeding class.  The rest are here.

If you have only one more documentary you can watch for the rest of the year, make sure this is it.  Please please please, watch this.