It’s getting to be quite difficult to type on a laptop!

Although this Friday will mark 40 weeks, the 40 week checkup was this morning. We got there on time this time but had to wait because I took too long providing a urine sample. Blah. We brought the little crappy misting fan that we got to help me deal with labor and being roasty, and it was used well.

Anyway, this appointment was with the regular doctor I’d been seeing throughout most of this experience. He gave the overbaking speech (what happens if I go overdue) which was a bit scary. Not looking forward to induction or having the baby chopped out of me, that’s for sure! It’s also very unlikely that they’d let me hit 42 weeks if my body tried that.. not that that’s optimal, but he’d be a Virgo if he did hold on until then. So, I’m apparently 1.5 cm dilated – and that makes pelvic exams really uncomfortable, not that I will give a shit about that piddling amount of pain when I’m in labor. Things are progressing, I’m not YET overdue, and there’s surely a chance he could come out on his due date, which would be neat.

Random people in public (like restaurant hosts, bank personnel, etc.) are amazed that I’m still going out and about. Either that or they’re afraid my water will break and they will have to deal with it.

Speaking of restaurants, when we went to The Olive Garden a couple of nights ago, the family the next table over had a very young baby. I noticed that she? didn’t cry a lot, and wasn’t especially loud when she? did cry. I have been worried about going out in public places with the baby but I now realize that he will be far more annoying when he is a little older.

Digressively: something I found interesting but James thinks looks like more of a pain than it’s worth – Mei Tai baby carriers.

Yesterday morning at the tender time of 10:30, we were in the waiting room at good old Kaiser for a 10:40 appointment for the 39 week checkup. At the not-as-tender time of 11:20, we were still sitting in the exam room waiting for the doctor. What a reward for coming in early – we should’ve stuck to showing up late.

The nurse asked if I wanted to be examined (internally, the fun stuff) to see if there was any progress, and I said yes. This resulted in the removal of the lower half of my clothing and the mostly modest covering by one of those blue drapes. Said draping turned out to be futile and mostly uncomfortable, as being pregnant, short, and undressed means that sitting on a paper table does not work very well. Anyway, the doctor (yet another unfamiliar one) was sort of.. we didn’t like her, anyway. She was technically all right, and she actually washed her hands, which most of them don’t bother with. She didn’t do the internal, citing that since we attended the childbirth class I’d know if labor were imminent. Sigh, why was I sitting there in a damned drape, then? Once the doctor arrived, though, the entire process may have taken five minutes and I was working on very little sleep, as is often the case these days. We weren’t feeling very assertive.

Anyway, his head is where it should be (pointing down and not dropped yet) and his heartbeat sounds good – musical, even! This won’t mean much to most people, but it sort of reminded us of the Magical Trevor song.

In any event, the baby is not coming yet. There’s still a week until he’s due, so no big deal. I suppose I’d have liked the extra hand-holding since I’m inexperienced at this, but I trust that he’s not going to just fly out without any pain. Even the women who have no clue they’re pregnant that do shows on Discovery Health are often significantly sick in some way before the surprise kid pops out.

It’s a very weird feeling, wanting a pregnancy to be over already but being terrified about the new person about to join our lives. From what I understand, that’s supposed to be normal.. doesn’t mean it doesn’t feel weird!