41 Weeks - Seriously... SERIOUSLY

For all of my friends, family, acquaintances, and you - YES, I AM STILL PREGNANT!

I appreciate all of the phone calls, text messages, emails, facebook messages, words of encouragement and advice. Clearly, its out of our control and this little chica is taking her sweet time to grace us with her presence (showing us who's boss already)! I can't help but love her for being a stubborn little stinker; and kudos to me for being a super duper preggo - I was made for this job.

In reality - its getting hard to be suzy optimist. Not because I don't trust the natural process... its just... well, here's is the rundown of what the last 4 weeks have been like. (Sharing this will help YOU understand what I am going through and since that is pretty irrelevant, it will at least give me peace of mind.)

"They" tell you at about 37 weeks that it could happen at "any minute" and so you then spend EVERY minute consumed with excitement and anticipation - hanging on every twinge of pain or discomfort, wondering if its a precursor to the big dance.

To no avail.

Then your due date approaches and you think, "I'm NOT going to be one of the majority that goes past her due date - heck, maybe I'll beat the odds and go ON my due date!".

The due date comes. The due date goes. You're overcome with a bit of disappointment, watching the hours tick by, feeling nothing short of fabulous. You consider, "Maybe feeling so good IS a sign that labor is around the corner?".

Keep dreaming. Feeling good is a sign of FEELING GOOD. And rumor has it - labor does NOT feel good (I'll let you know the truth... if I ever get to go through it).

The hours and days after your due date creep by. You begin to wonder if you'll EVER deliver this child. Clearly you know that it has to happen at some point but with each minute passing, you become more insanely jaded and more anxious than you ever thought humanly possible. People try to encourage you by saying "Honey, most first time mothers deliver late... blah blah blah". You appreciate their consideration in trying to make you feel better but you quickly remind yourself that THEY are not the heffalump who is a million months pregnant IN JULY.

The words of wisdom evaporate into thin air, along with the days following your due date.

It gets to be a week. You've been back to the doctor for them to tell you, "FORTUNATELY, the baby is healthy as can be and all of her vitals are in check... which means, we will give it more time.". You're elated to hear that the baby is healthy... TRULY. But the "more time" comment practically sends you into tears. You're conflicted because you really don't want to face an induction but you are just SO SO SO ready for this to happen and there is nothing you can do to speed up the process.

You leave the doctor's somewhat disappointed. Your husband is the most supportive he can be - treading lightly between being the annoying overly optimistic dad-to-be who isn't physically carrying the little pookie bear while offering his shoulder to whine on. He then makes a remarkably good suggestion to buy you a milkshake and take you to the park for lunch.

This really changes your outlook on the state of affairs. You think, "When baby comes, milkshakes are going to be few and far between and more importantly... sunny days spent lounging in the park with just your (super duper handsome) husband will be nearly non-existent.

The milkshake/park combo is just the smile inducer you needed.

You enter 42 weeks rejuvenated and with a newfound appreciation for YOURSELF. You begin to convince yourself that you might actually be SuperWoman... because what woman goes into her nearly 10th month of pregnancy and is still active as can be, smiling all the day, and sleeping nearly all the night? Its just not humanly possible so evidently, you are superhuman.

You then experience what you think might be your first REAL contraction and are smacked with the reality of "holycrapIactuallyhavetogetthisbabyOUTofme" and it makes you feel lightheaded and woozy and like you might just WANT to be pregnant forever. The contraction subsides, without reappearing. You spend the next 2 hours waiting for something to happen. The hours pass. The night passes. You wake up the next day feeling even better than the day before... firmly placing your feet on the floor... and starting yet another day of waiting.

... and that my friends is where I am.

UPDATE: The baby-in-utero widget thing on the sidebar of my blog... is now EMPTY... as in there is NO more baby-in-utero. Let's pray the power of suggestion works. Otherwise, that is just creepy (well, it IS sort of creepy anyhow)!