How I'm Feeling - 1 Day Late

I was really hoping today would be THE DAY. Yesterday, the whole family celebrated my Oma's 80th birthday party, and it meant so much to her that I could be there (she told me so many times...it melted my heart each time). I reminded her that even if I wasn't there, Lily a.k.a. the center of attention at EVERY family gathering would still be there (with my parents), but she remained firm in her happiness that I was there, as well. And that was so wonderful.



Here's a photo of me and Ryan in Oma and Opa's backyard yesterday, on my due date.

But now the party's over. Literally. There is nothing holding me back from having this baby. Except now that it's evening, I'd rather go to bed and hope it waits until morning. I think I'm going to feel that way every day until the baby comes...hoping that labor starts after a good night's sleep. After Exhaustion-fest '06 with Lily's birth, sleep is my top priority.

So Tina is on-call the next two days, then again on Thursday and Friday. Allison was on this weekend and will be on again Wednesday. I have an NST scheduled for Thursday, and if there's STILL no baby by then, we'll schedule a 2nd NST and also an ultrasound to check the baby's movements, size, and level of amniotic fluid. This pattern will continue every 3 days or so until the baby is born. I'm not sure why my first NST is 5 days after my due date, instead of the normal 3, but I guess it doesn't really matter so long as I still feel the baby moving around regularly.

Which I CERTAINLY do. S/he is beating me up tonight, that's for sure. I think the baby is as eager as I am now. But we're still feeling good and relaxed and able to hold on as long as we need to. All I know for sure is I will have this baby sometime within the next 13 days. Craziness.

I had an appointment with Allison Wednesday. She said everything looked fine, that this baby will probably be as big as Lily - if not bigger (woohoo...), that I weighed 171 (total weight gain: 31 lbs - I think I'll stop counting now), and that even if Tina was on call when I went into labor, Allison would still come assist us if I wanted to give birth in the tub. That's how eager Allison is to use those new hospital tubs! And she's eager to help Tina get some more "tubbing" experience.

I told her that was a wonderful offer, and if I ended up using the tub while in labor, then I'd be glad to see her. I think it would be fun to try - certainly a great experience - but you never know how you're going to feel when it's actually happening, so I'm careful not to make her any promises or get her hopes up too high.

But I must admit: her enthusiasm is contagious ;)