So let me try to recap week 39 & 40.
I had a doctor's appointment a day or so after my last post and they said the baby was progressing. i.e. making a move in the right direction. Week 39 brought baby even closer. I was effaced and beginning to dilate. Awesome!
My mom and dad went ahead and came to town on Friday the 5th. Seemed like perfect timing since each doctor's visit reported that she was closer to making her big debut and my due date was still Tuesday April 9th.
At my 39 week appointment I was 80% effaced and 1 cm dilated. They made my 40 week appointment for my due date and said if she hadn't arrived by then they would strip my membranes. Sounded like fun, except not really. So that weekend we headed to downtown DC. Dad had never been to the Jefferson Memorial and none of us had seen the real live cherry blossoms in bloom. What better way to try to coax baby girl out than a walk around the tidal basin? Well, we failed on two of the three attempts. We got to walk around the Jefferson, but neither the cherry blossoms nor our little one felt it was time to peak. Below are pictures of the cherry buds that we did see.
Baby Girl would officially not be an early baby. We went to my 40 week appointment. I was 90% effaced, 2 cm dilated and membranes were stripped. I have been told that the stripping can cause labor to start within an hour, or it can do nothing at all. The latter seemed to be my case. I left that appointment and went straight to work. Call me crazy, but I have hardly any leave and I was determined to work up until I delivered this baby. The doctor said the progression was a good sign, but they would like to induce at 41 weeks if she hadn't come by then. So we set an induction date of Tuesday April 16th.This made me super nervous. I hear pitocin contractions are a totally different ball game, and not the kind of game that would be conducive to the natural childbirth I was still holding out hope for. Call me crazy-many did-but I really loved the idea of delivering med free. Granted, it was an idea-after all, I am realistic and still wanted to meds on standby.
Wednesday afternoon mom, dad, London & I headed back downtown to see the cherry blossoms which were now in full bloom. They are as beautiful as everyone says they are!! So glad I can finally check that off my DC bucket list.
I continued to work and was able to get a lot done before I would be out on leave. Little one being late was actually the ideal scenario at work because it allowed me to get through as much new material with the kiddos before their AP exam. It also allowed me to get everything completely prepared for the substitute and the later I go out on leave, the later in the school year I have to come back. So Friday was my final day. Monday was a teacher workday and Tuesday was my induction date. The kids were so excited for me, but at the same time bummed that their chances of having a teacher who went into labor during their class came to an end. My last week was pretty comical as the kids started to make "bets" as to when I would have the baby and you could watch some of them really start to sweat as they envisioned my water breaking-I think they were picturing needing to reconstruct Noah's ark. Who knew I would be a living biology lesson? No, your due date does not mean that the baby will magically appear on that date. Yes, you are actually allowed to leave your house the day before the due date. You can imagine their faces when they came to class on the actual due date to me teaching as if it was any ordinary day. They are too funny.
Another bonus about her being late was it gave us some great down time with my parents. I know that they must have been bored and just as anxious as we were, but it was so good to get time to visit with them-and not in the typical hurried way that it is around a holiday or short trip. Mom and dad were so helpful in cleaning, doing laundry, cooking-and all of this before the baby got here. It was a huge help that last week to be able to come home and rest up for the big event!!
The weekend of week 40 brought us more walking time. The weather was amazing and we took the chance to head back to DC (cherry blossoms one more time-in passing) and venture to the Eastern Market-something mom had been wanting to do for a while. We walked around, bought some veggies, looked at all the trinkets, enjoyed the weather and each other. But still no baby...
