Week 39

This week can be summed up in one word - frustrated. Everything went fairly well at our doctor's appointment this afternoon, but Ethan has once again given no indication that he is at all ready to come out and greet the world. His heartbeat was strong and my blood pressure was normal which are both good, and my belly measurements are right on target. I gained a whopping three pounds this week, so I'm right back on track with weight gain as well. (I'm up a total of 22 pounds which is right where I should be. However, if I continue this trend I'll be in trouble the other direction so I think I should curb some of the junk food this week!) Our doctor was able to tell that I've had no further dilation and Ethan hasn't really dropped at all (I almost feel like he was further down a week or two ago if that makes any sense) and he indicated that there's a pretty good chance we'll make it to our next appointment still pregnant. Ugh! I have gotten increasingly uncomfortable this week and have definitely reached the point where I am ready to go ahead and give birth and meet this little guy already.

The most frustrating part of the appointment was the discussion we had after the exam. If we make it to our next appointment (and Ethan has given every indication that we will) we will have to go ahead and schedule an induction. I am trying not to think about that and panic too much, but I REALLY do not want to have to go that route for several reasons. I won't get into everything involved with an induction right now since I'm still hoping we won't have to do that, but suffice it to say that it would involve a much longer, more painful labor with a much higher chance of ending up with a c-section anyway. My little sister is flying in from San Diego on July 31 to meet her new nephew and I would be heartbroken if he decides not to arrive until sometime during her visit. She's making a special trip just to meet him so I would so much rather be home from the hospital and not worrying about labor while she's here! I need everybody to think very positive thoughts that I will just go into labor naturally sometime in the next two weeks!!! In the interim, I am going to be enlisting the aid of every suggestion I can get my hands on to help bring on labor. I'm really terrified of a lot of the procedures involved with getting induced so for my peace of mind I really need this to happen on its own. I was almost in tears when Patrick and I had lunch after the appointment :(

My birthday was this past Tuesday and overall it was a pretty enjoyable day. I went and met a friend for lunch which was a lot of fun and then had a small adventure on my hands when I got home. Our house felt really warm, and over the course of the next 20 - 30 minutes I watched the thermostat climb three degrees (even though I could hear that the air was on.) I called Patrick who called one of the members he knows pretty well who just so happens to own a heating and air business. He had a service tech at our house looking at the problem within 20 minutes - it was incredible! Long story short, a bug had climbed into the unit outside and fried himself which shut down the outside unit. The guy was able to remove the electrocuted bug and everything came right back on. He checked everything else and determined that the system was in good working order so we were back in business. I hated having to pay for such a simple fix, but compared to the thousands of dollars a new air conditioning unit would have costed us I feel grateful that we escaped with only a $100 bill. Later that night we went out to our local pizza place for trivia with our neighbors (a Tuesday night tradition) and Patrick surprised me with a cake and necklace at home before we left.

Holly inspecting the cake

Me at 31 years old and very pregnant

Here's the official word on week 39: "Your baby is waiting to greet the world. He continues to build a layer of fat to help control his body temperature after birth, but it's likely he already measures about 20 inches and weighs a bit over 7 pounds, a mini watermelon. (Boys tend to be slightly heavier than girls.) The outer layers of his skin are sloughing off as new skin forms underneath."