if you don't have something positive to say...

...don't say anything at all. Actually, you know what, why don't you play it safe and just keep it to yourself. That's right, whatever piece of expert information you wanted to pass along to me, like how at just 1 cm dilated I'll definitely make it to my induction date, save it for the book you clearly should write about pregnancy and childbirth since you're such an expert and, on top of your expertness, have a crystal ball and can foresee exactly how the remainder of this particular gestation will play out. If only I had the guts to actually respond in that way to some of the less than helpful comments I've received since passing my due date last Thursday. On top of being very pregnant, impatient, uncomfortable, and cranky, I'm a bit of a control-freak/know-it-all. So I don't like to be told how something is going to play out, even though I realize, on some level, that I don't have any more control over the situation than these folks with, I'm sure, the best of intentions.

Anyway, needless to say I'm still playing the waiting game. We had our "post-date" ultrasound this morning and while I'll have to wait to talk with the doctor by phone or at our appointment on Friday about size estimates, fluid levels, and that sort of thing, it seems like baby G is still doing pretty well in the womb, meaning we can wait it out at least a few more days. And she confirmed that not only is he heads-down, but also occiput anterior, or facing my back, for now at least. His back generally seems to be on my right side, not my left side, which is the most ideal, but hey, I'll take what I can get. Hopefully he'll stay that way and I'll at least avoid the much-dreaded back labor.

Getting an ultrasound at this late stage is strange. The baby's way too big to get much in the way of recognizable body parts in any one image. He looks like more like a moonscape, but she was able to point out a foot here, part of an arm there, a bit of the umbilical cord, and even part of his face at one point, staring right into the ultrasound wand. And my entire belly was covered in baby-powder-scented gel by the end. I think I used an entire tree's worth of paper towels to dry off.

After a walk yesterday evening I had some pretty strong, although probably still "practice" contractions that lasted through the night, waking me up a few times. They weren't very painful but they were definitely a little different than the straight-forward tightening of the so-called Braxton Hicks, starting low and radiating up and around to my lower back. But they only lasted about 20 to 30 seconds and on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the worst pain imaginable, they were probably about a 1. And they'd pretty much subsided by this morning. But who knows, maybe that means things are gearing up down there.

Otherwise, you could say I'm passing the time with some serious spring-cleaning-style "nesting," although I don't think this counts as a sign that labor is necessarily imminent. I think it's more a sure sign of the onset of some serious boredom.