Despite the contractions that started early this morning, we are still without new baby this evening. I hoped this really was going to be it. Not only am I nearing that JUST GET OUT stage of pregnancy, this is the one day in a good stretch that isn’t already a friend or family member’s birthday.
Today was supposed to be my last OB check-up. My OB, bless her, ended up getting called over to the hospital so quickly that she ran out of the office still on the phone, without telling her staff where she was headed. They waited for the text to hear what was going on so they’d know how long the waits would be, but in the meantime they started moving people around as best they could. I know it’s a fact of life that OB/GYN appointments are some of the longest waits ever, but really … when I know that when it really matters my OB will drop everything like that to go take care of one of her patients, that makes me feel pretty good about her attention and care for me as another patient. I can wait.
Today we saw the nurse practitioner, who I also love. Some changes, but not a whole lot of “progress”. There are more and more signs that my body is gearing up for labor, though. She said that everything today could have been signs of very early labor, or it could be a while longer. (Every profession has their own personal version of “It depends.”) “You still okay with waiting it out and being patient?” [i.e., no induction planned when I go post-due date] “Yep, as of this week I’m definitely still good with that.” I’d just rather not do that again unless (as with Seth) something really necessitates it!
We left with instructions to go walk a lot and some clues about when to actually head to the hospital. And then we walked … and walked … and ate lunch. And walked some more. Still no baby, but lots of discomfort and irregular patterns of contractions. We’ll see what the next few days bring …