D−1 Day

For the past month or so, Evelin and I have been hurry-hurry-wait for the baby to arrive, and, well, we're still waiting. Since tomorrow is Good Friday, Evelin's 40th week appointment was bumped up to today, and since it seemed likely to be longer than the last few visits, I stayed home with Celeste while Evelin visited with the midwife.

It turns out she's (stealing from Evelin's post over on SheKnows) 5 or 6 centimeters dilated, −1 station, "plenty effaced and thin." The midwife was quite surprised that Evelin isn't feeling anything beyond Braxton Hicks at this point, and was a little worried about the distance between our house and the birthing center — about 25 minutes if it's 5:00 a.m. on a Sunday, closer to 45 minutes during a light morning rush hour, and an hour or two if a truck spills a load of lumber on the Beltway or something.

The plan now is a nonstress test at 41 weeks, a biophysical a few days after that, followed by a 42nd week appointment and induction on 1 May ... if things hold out that long.

Are we ready? Do we have a choice? Things in the house are a mess, but I think that's going to be case no matter what. The co-sleeper can be set up quickly in our room as soon as it's needed; the rest of the nursery has to wait until our next guests get here to help me move furniture out of the guest room (thus turning it into the nursery) and into the basement (thus turning it into the guest room). I have done a lot to declutter the basement, so it's about 95% ready to become more active living space. (Vacuuming is something it really needs ... that and mowing the lawn will be my main Saturday chores, assuming there's no birthin' going on.)

The moblogging features I've been testing seem to be working, so I should be able to snap a campic soon after the baby arrives and to post it here, as well as e-mail it to friends and family. If there's time, I might also post a short note that we're on the way or at the birthing center, but I don't think Evelin will let me text and drive at the same time so it may depend upon how active the labor is at any given moment.^*

Otherwise, I guess we're as ready as we'll be. Celeste is still pretty uncertain about the whole thing. Sometimes I ask her if she'll teach the baby how to crawl or how to sniff flowers or something, and she'll seem pretty energetic about the idea; other times, she's quite dismissive.

^*Actually, according to Dr. Spock online, she's already in active labor — Generally, when the cervix has dilated 4 to 5 centimeters, a woman is considered to be in active labor. That, and because Evelin's GΒS+, the midwives want us to call (and to get to the birthing center) as soon as any pattern to contractions is noticed.

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