Any day now...

Well, baby #2's due date has officially come and gone now. It's now May 29th and she's decided she's not ready to come yet. Our last doctor's appointment was on Wednesday and she still appears to be doing fine in there. They checked to see if I was moving along at all and said I was a good 2 cm dilated (up from 1-2 cm last week) and 70% effaced (up from 50-70% effaced). So slight progress is being made. I'm perfectly happy to make a lot of progress slowly like this to shorten the hard labor. I was never checked before I went to the hospital in labor with Lily (and was only 2 cm) so I can't really compare this to that experience yet. I'm hoping I'm already further along than I was when Lily's labor started. I'm still assured that this labor will be faster and easier.

The practice I'm in now doesn't like people to go past 41 weeks. Everything I've ever heard suggests that there can be negative effects to mom and baby after 41 weeks as well. The placenta can start to deteriorate, the baby can start losing weight, and the baby is more likely to have it's first bowel movement (meconium-which is bad if it gets ingested by baby during delivery). I'd probably prefer to wait a little longer if the baby still looks like it's doing well but it would be hard to refuse an induction at that point. Our next appointment is on Tuesday (40 weeks 4 days) so if we make it until then I imagine they'll start talking about when we'll induce. Hopefully we won't make it until then. Lily came without any help so it just seems hard to believe that this baby won't/wouldn't either. Hopefully soon. A lot of times people go late on paper because the due date was actually miscalculated, but since we had so many early ultrasounds we can be certain of the due date we were given. Development changes so rapidly in those first few weeks that they can pinpoint it down to the day with a lot of accuracy. This wasn't the case with Lily because we didn't have an ultrasound until she was 12 weeks along.

I think I've actually felt a little better physically lately. I've been doing a lot less. Lily and I have been going to fewer activities (although last Saturday was a really busy day, with three different events). I've been resting more. My sister arrived on Tuesday evening, so she's been helping out around the house a lot (I haven't done any dishes since she got here). It's still hard to get up off the couch and I get odd cramps in muscles randomly, especially when I first get up. But overall I feel pretty good. I'm sure it also helps that my cold is pretty much gone now. Breathing fully and not having constant coughing fits is nice. I should probably try to get some walking in to help this baby along.

I've had time for a few projects and nesting activities, which has been nice. My hospital bag is packed and waiting in the living room. After having several contractions in the middle of the night that were a little painful a few nights ago Scott and I finally got the last few things together so I just need to grab my toothbrush and then put it in the car. I took a big suitcase to Lily's birth and barely used anything, this time I just have a small carry-on that's half full of presents for Lily. We don't want her to feel left out and wanted to get her a couple things to occupy her time at the hospital.