40 weeks

Friday the 13th -- your due date! Will it be your birth date? It's still possible... but it's looking like probably not. I'm not really feeling/seeing anything encouraging, and haven't really since the bit of spotting I woke up to on Wednesday morning. I may have had a couple of light contractions last night... but, it's so hard to tell; it felt like it could have just been you moving around a bit.

We have a sun flower randomly growing in our backyard right now (last year, we had about half dozen that popped up, out of nowhere). Daddy has suggested that you'll be born when the sunflower hits full bloom. It's getting close (I'm guessing it'll hit full bloom in the next day or two), so let's hope he's right!

Sunflower - taken the morning of July 13

We had a doctor's appointment yesterday. During the appointment, the doctor talked about induction. Normally she likes to induce by 41 weeks. I'm not so keen on that, and would rather give you the time you need to come out when you're ready (even though I am now hitting that point where I'm anxious for you to come out!). I managed to stave her off until July 23rd (10 days past your due date) for now, assuming there are no serious issues that come up. We have another appointment with her next Thursday, and if you haven't arrived by then, I'll see what I can do about maybe getting you a little more time. I really don't want to be medically induced.

So, now I'm looking at various natural induction methods. But, I'm not super encouraged, because I know many probably don't actually work (and are more "coincidence" than anything, if they do "work"). Some may have some merit, and I'm all about giving them a try at this point! I woke up pretty early this morning, and couldn't get back to sleep, so after a while I came downstairs to sit on my birth ball and bounce/rock/sway/do circles for awhile. I even tried kneeling over the ball for a bit and rocking/swaying. Now I'm sitting on it in front of my computer.

We also had an NST (non-stress test) done at our doctor's appointment yesterday. This is where they hooked me up to monitors on my belly to monitor your heart rate and any contractions I might be having/your movements. They then check to be sure your heart rate looks good and is responding appropriately to contractions/movements (it should accelerate). It felt like they left us lying there forever, which was pretty obnoxious. But, the doctor said everything looked good! We go back on Monday for another NST, and then again next Thursday. Unless, of course, you decide to join us this weekend, so I don't have to go to anymore such appointments -- hint hint!