41 Weeks

Well, now we're one day past 41 weeks (that's a little over a week over due), and still waiting for baby. Waiting has gotten a little easier, because we've stopped expecting it to come. Even though we know the baby has to be born eventually, it seems like it's never really going to happen!

The midwife did a non-stress test this morning to make sure the baby is still okay. Everything looks fine, it is active and has the variability in heart rate that they would expect. She also stripped my membranes in an effort to get labor going. As we approach 42 weeks, they start to get a little concerned and are interested in doing low-risk interventions. So this is the first step. Hopefully it will be enough and will allow us to avoid something more dramatic like a Pitocin induction. I'm 80% effaced, up from 50% on Tuesday, so we're making progress, and hopefully this means that I will be responsive to the membrane sweeping. Still 2 cm dilated. If nothing happens, I'll be back tomorrow for the same thing, then Monday for another non-stress test, and Tuesday for an ultrasound. The ultrasound is necessary to check that the level of amniotic fluid is still high enough, but we kind of hate to do it after going through the whole pregnancy without one. Doug is adamant that we should find out the gender if we have the ultrasound, though, so we're likely to know one way or another by Tuesday.

For the past several visits, the midwives have guessed the weight of the baby to be 8.5 to 9 lbs, although they admit that they can't/wouldn't tell if it was more than 9 pounds. Everyone assures us that it is NOT a 6 pound baby, which is no surprise.

Below you will find what we hope to be the final photo of me pregnant!