Well, that was short lived!

Contractions mostly fizzled out by the afternoon. Had a few more while taking walks in the evening... but no continuation, no pattern. Took a hot shower and went to bed, hoping, HOPING I'd wake up in labor. Nope. Decided I didn't feel like going into work, would stay home and try and walk some more. I had one contraction while walking. Just one. Met Ray and his co-workers Ken and Jeremy at Red Robin for lunch. Decided I'd walk the mall afterward - since it was right there, and should be more interesting than walking my neighborhood... again. So I did... slowly and with some shopping. For 3 hours. Ray called me with some advice to head over to Brookstone and use one of their massage chairs. So I did... but they wouldn't let me use them. Why? It's been known to start pregnant women into labor, and they can't accept the liability. Sheesh! I should've slipped the guy a $50 and had him look the other way! I'm due! I WANT to go into labor! He did let me use the "u-squeeze" foot massage thing, which was pretty intense, and did a really great job moving fluid out of my feet and ankles. I was hopeful that would get some of those ankle pressure points for labor... but alas. Managed to have one other contraction this afternoon. But at this point, I'm just kind of tired and sore. Came home, took a nap. We fear that 08/08/08 is not to be the birthdate for our little girl.

A little progress...?

So last night I took a 45 minute walk (had to come in because a storm was coming) and a long, hot shower. I was having a little back pain and general crampy feelings. I rocked in the chair for a while before going to bed, hoping that I'd be awakened by stronger labor pains. No such luck. But the general crampy feeling did continue this morning, so I did agree to go to the OB (with only a little whining about it). Hopeful that I'd made SOME progress. Didn't gain any weight (yay! Last week I put on few pounds, most of which doc attributed to the fluid retention). BP was 120/78. Everything was looking fine. Baby is still head down, still 50% effaced, more anterior and... after a painful moment, doc said: "Okay, now you're dilated to one." So he gave me a little push, and we are hopeful that it will take. My crampiness increased in intensity and moved on into contractions between 11 and 2. At that point, I decided to leave work so I could do some stuff around the house and go for a walk or two. By the time I got home and put in a load of laundry.. the contractions had stopped. So I walked. And they started back up. And I came home to get something to drink... and they stopped. So they're coming and going. I'll get a few of them, and then none. So we're definitely not in any sort of active labor, and I think it's possible that I could go through this kind of thing for days. I hope not! Ray's really excited about the possibility of an 8/8/08 baby, and my OB is actually on call tomorrow (but not the weekend). So... keep your fingers crossed! I do NOT want to be able to go into work tomorrow, and hope to be in the hospital within the next 12-24 hours!

I am SOOOOOO ready!

I've been ready. But I'm actually feeling like there isn't anything I can even do to get more ready. Everything is done. All I can do is clean the house again. Or yard work (which I can't quite care about right now). Everything that I needed to get done at work is done.
This weekend we put the cradle together.


We finally got the dresser. Andrew and Ray and Adrian put it together on Sunday, and Kath and I filled and organized it.


We put together the car seat/stroller travel combo a few weekends ago.


And now we're into the second week of co-workers asking me "Are you still here?" and me getting dressed every morning to realize that my maternity shirts barely fit over my belly.


So now it's just a waiting game. I'm ready. She's not. Must be one of those girls with a mind of her own.