Still here.

[rivka]

Still waiting for the baby. There's been no progress that I can see, although saoba thinks the Li'l Critter has dropped even further just since last week. I'm still having some intermittent abdominal cramps and some painless or slightly uncomfortable contractions, but nothing laboresque.

I really got my hopes up too much when the symptoms seemed so promising, over the weekend. It shifted me away from thinking of my due date as the goal, and I started attending too much to every little twinge and ache. It's actually getting a little easier to deal with, now that I'm no longer expecting to go into labor.

Tomorrow we go back to the midwife in the evening. I'm going to ask her about stripping the membranes. It might help, and it's unlikely to cause harm.

I'm not doing much. I brought work home with me, but there have been obstacles - I can't sit for very long at my desktop computer, and until this evening I didn't have the adapter to use the work laptop in our living room. (No three-pronged electrical sockets. We live in an elderly house.) Tomorrow I'll try to knock out a presentation for my boss, and at least I'll feel like I'm accomplishing something. Otherwise I am mostly reading novels, doing needlework, cooking tasty dinners, resting, and waiting for the baby.

I am getting out every day for exercise, at least. Today the sun came out for the first time in days and days, and saoba and I fled the house for the Inner Harbor. We had lunch, toured the USS Constellation (I had never been aboard before), and finished the afternoon with ice cream. I exhausted myself completely - as soon as we got home, I fell asleep sitting upright on the couch. But it was good to get out.

Comments

[ailsaek.livejournal.com]

Healthy baby and easy labor vibes coming your way.

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

ice cream!

one of the good things about how much my life sucks at the moment is that if i even *think* about ice cream, someone is willing to go to izzy's (the best ice cream in town) with me.

[goes-sat.livejournal.com]

Otherwise I am mostly reading novels, doing needlework, cooking tasty dinners, resting, and waiting for the baby

Good- definitely take it easy for now. I hear that freshly birthed humans drain a lot of your time and energy so it will be good for you to rest and eat lots of tasty food. *smile*

<3,
10

[minnaleigh.livejournal.com]

You must be well into the stage where people keep asking you if you've had the baby yet so I thought you might find this story amusing.

When my friend Deb was pregnant and went past her due date, I was very careful not to ask her if she'd had the baby yet whenever we talked because I knew how much it drove her crazy. One Monday morning she called me at work- we talked most weekday mornings at about the same time. I asked her how she was feeling and she said she was tired but good. She asked me about a situation at work and I updated her. I asked if she'd finished a book I'd lent her and she had and she'd liked it. Then I looked at the clock and said, "Hey! Isn't your induction in, like, 20 minutes? Shouldn't you be at the hospital?" She said, "We aren't doing the induction." I said, "Why not?" She said, "I had the baby yesterday." She just wondered how long we could talk before the news came out. That was a cruel thing to do, by the way, hilarious and totally something I would do but cruel.

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

Heee. I like it!

FYI, if you are so inclined

[fourgates.livejournal.com]

I did some quick research on acupuncture points used for inducing labor. Here's a minimally useful study: Acupuncture for cervical ripening and induction of labor at term--a randomized controlled trial (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11802511&dopt=Abstract) The points mentioned, LI4 and SP6, are only two of several that are said to be helpful. Here's (http://www.childbirthsolutions.com/articles/birth/acupressure/index.php?ag=off) a more detailed list with instructions for finding them.

[castiron.livejournal.com]

In retrospect, the dead giveaway sign that I was fixing to go into Real Labor was the sudden decision that I had to climb up on a desk in the office to pry this old poster out from behind the hutch, never mind that the poster had been happily sitting there for years and someone who didn't have this enormous abdominal bulge could have taken care of it perfectly well. It was clearly my manifestation of the nesting urge.

So if you suddenly look up and say, "What the heck am I doing alphabetizing the pantry/dusting the top of the fridge/completely reorganizing the movie collection?", it may be a good sign....

[therealocelot.livejournal.com]

Ok, I feel a little better about my feeling that I HAD to find a basket to put the baby bath stuff in RIGHT NOW.

[barbarakitten-t.livejournal.com]

happy baby vibes coming in your direction...i'm glad saoba is with you now.

[fairoriana.livejournal.com]

Good luck! I hope that you aren't too uncomfortable until the baby comes, and that it comes soon!

[edschweppe.livejournal.com]

I can no longer resist the urge to filk Weebl's badgers cartoon (http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/21/) (silly Flash with sound):

babybabybabybaby
babybabybabybaby
babybabybabybaby
Rivka, Rivka!

[msrexrabbit.livejournal.com]

My first step-father served on the Connie. Closest I've come was spending some time on the USS Belleau Wood, first in the Brig, then in Marine berths.

I was also on the oldest ship in service (after the USS Constitution), just before it was given to the Merchant Marine, and toured the New Jersey, while she was coming out of mothballs (and they really do use mothballs, lots of them) and the Constitution (which I knew more about than the Seamen manning her).

I like boats.

TK

[kcobweb.livejournal.com]

Just think of this time as the calm before the storm, and try to enjoy it. (I know, easier said than done.)

[pameladean]

I thought about you intermittently all through Minicon. I knew that with so many people equipped with laptops and checking LJ all the time, if anything happened, the news would get around. I also thought fondly of the year you actually came to Minicon.

A very good baby to you.

P.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Every year since that Minicon I've wanted to go back, and the stars have never been in my favor. It was probably the most enjoyable convention I've ever been to.