40 weeks, take two

Well, this certainly feels familiar since I experienced it not once but twice, sort of, with Elias, 4 1/2 years ago. Today is d-day for baby G version 2.0 but she shows absolutely no signs of arriving on time. I had a prenatal check-up yesterday but since I had Elias in tow (currently recovering from a nasty cold that morphed into a minor ear infection) I decided to forego the standard internal exam. I've had two so far and the most progress I'd made as of one week and one day ago was some "softening" of the cervix compared to two weeks before. And honestly, those internal checks are kind of pointless. I could be 2 or 3 cm dilated and still have a week to go, or I could be completely closed up and go into labor tomorrow. I'll know when she's on her way, that's for sure.

So, we wait. And honestly, the whole thing about the second baby being different from the first appears to begin in the womb since I'm nowhere near as anxious and impatient as I was at this point with Elias. It took me until about mid-day last Thursday to wrap up work, after which I submitted Eli's application for Kindergarten in the fall (more on that impossible fact later) - both resulting in huge sighs of relief. We then enjoyed a four-day weekend together, beginning with what I thought might be our final "mommy day" just the two of us on Friday, with Elias edgier than usual much of the weekend thanks to that nasty cough I mentioned above. So I've really only had one day to tackle that endless, "if we have time" list of things to do and enjoy relative peace and quiet before I have a newborn to take care of. Don't get me wrong, I'm anxious to meet her and I have my moments of impatient unmotivation, just wanting to go into labor already, but for the most part, I'm content to wait things out another week or so. I have another check-up and NST scheduled for Monday. Obviously if anything looks awry I'll be induced right away, but at this point my ob/gyn is leaving that up to me. I'll have to have a chat with Neal and just generally see how I'm feeling after the weekend. Either way, it's safe to say we'll have some baby news to share within the next two weeks!

In the meantime, here is one of only a handful of "belly pics" I took this pregnancy, compared to monthly photo ops with Elias. I believe I was 39 weeks 2 days in this one, taken in Eli's room last weekend.

In other pregnancy news, the third trimester, coinciding as it did with the holidays, absolutely flew by! I actually have felt better overall, sleeping better and with more energy during the days, this month than I did during December. In November I worked like mad to prepare for a craft show and tackle a few items off of the home improvement to do list before hosting family for Thanksgiving, during which I came down with a nasty case of pregnancy-induced (I'm hoping) carpal tunnel syndrome. After that weekend, just when I thought I was beginning to taper work, I had four or five past clients return for wedding invites and day-of stationery. It's hard to say no, especially to repeat customers but finally, by about mid-December, I had deactivated all of my custom listings and was no longer taking on new work, even if the request was from someone I'd worked with before. After about a week home with Elias for winter break (one of two weeks total), and no work but absolutely no improvement in my hands (even with icing both wrists at night, wearing wrist splints to bed, etc.), and getting reassurance from my regular doc, my ob/gyn, and the ortho doc, I received cortisone injections. They took about a week to really kick in (on day one the pain actually got worse but I was expecting that) and the tingling/numbness hasn't ever fully gone away, but the improvement I have experienced has been well worth it, allowing me to wrap up the 8 orders I had as of the New Year and sleep without constant pain in my hands and wrists. Hopefully this late stage pregnancy symptom will clear up post-partum.

Otherwise, for all the complaining I've done (realizing how easy my pregnancy with Elias was) I keep reminding myself that there are symptoms and then there are complications. So far, so good, knock on wood. If baby G part deux takes much longer to wrap up, one of the things on my list is to update this blog! So stay tuned for a Disneyland wrap-up and holiday shenanigans, or baby news, whichever comes first!