Anyone here?

[offpill]

Is it just little ol' me?

Seems like there is an explosion of birth stories!

Congratulations everyone!

[MamaFern]

im still around

[DreamsInDigital]

I'm still here and so is Helen and Amy and several other either overdue or not due yet mamas.
Is anyone else totally pissed that the December DDC is having birth announcements and we're still freaking pregnant? :

[MamaFern]

i know!@!!!! i was so frustrated when i saw 3 birth announcements in a row over there!! grrr! how unfair is that!
but soon we WILL have our babies.. and i remind myself that its not a race..but 13 days "overdue".... AK! i think im going to change my EDD to dec 15th just for safety..

[stillill]

:

[flapjack]

Yep. I'm still here, but at least I didn't have the baby on Alex's birthday. There's a small amount of comfort in that.
Other than that: last night we had another false alarm. 3 minutes apart, hurt, pain radiating down my legs and up my belly- but no dilation or anything useful like that. I think the midwives are starting to get fed up with me, and part of me is starting to consider a whoopsie, that was fast... the other part, of course, is considering induction Baby is way down past my tailbone now, but still lying awkwardly (ROL, so his ear is right next to my cervix, instead of his forehead being on it)- I blame my hereditary child-bearing hips, they're obviously too big for this baby. I'm never again bothering with anything under 8lbs, they're FAR too much hard work.
Okay, that was my morning vent Sorry for the whinge

[offpill]

My make busy project is embroidering a Didymos style sling I made... it's actually keeping my mind partly off labour! You may note, however, that it is 3am here, and I am awake... possibly labour thought induced? I have been middle of the night waking since 37 weeks.

[*Amy*]

Still here. Dammit!!!!!!

I had something happening last night, and it stopped, and now I feel crappy and sad. And hearing that the December moms are having their babies already doesn't help.

I'm not managing very well at being Zen about all of this today.

[Slackermom]

I am still here, and SO far from being Zen about this! I know that babies come when they're ready, but I've been stuck in early labour for three days now. I lost my mucous plug on Wednesday, and have had contractions since then. This morning they are more intense and consistent, but I feel like this is taking FOREVER. With DD, I started out with ctx 2-3 minutes apart, so this whole early labour thing is new to me. I just want to get this show on the road! I'm so tired of waking up each morning thinking this is the day, only to go to bed that night with nothing new. Plus, I feel like everyone is waiting for me...family, DH, friends...ugh.

Gripe gripe gripe.

[babykaoss]

i'm still here too, after a huge bout of painful contrax last night after cleaning my bathrooms, and then waking up to painful contrax at 6am that lasted about 20 minutes then stopped.........OMG!!! Tuesday is my biophysical profile (i'll be 41 wks 1 day). Blah. I can't believe its possible to feel like this, after my water breaking and having dd 3 weeks before my due date.........i'm just really surprised i'm still *here*........

just commiserating.

[LeAnnie]

One more still here in the post-date club. Let's get this party started!
Yesterday I went to the gym for a workout in hopes of moving the baby down or breaking my water with a long walk and as many sets of 50lb squats as I could do. Got some funny looks...But this morning had some bloody mucous and more pressure, so I'm hoping he moved.
By the way,
does anyone know how to tell if the baby is posterior vs anterior?
Anyone care to share their comfort food indulgences? Mine have been m&m's, frosted flakes, and a nightly half pint of ben & jerry's. Maybe a donut this morning. Tonight I'll go for a nice glass of red wine. Doula says just don't drink the whole bottle. I'll probably be asleep after 4 ounces....
Happy shopping or lounging to everyone...

[zjande]

Haha LeAnnie, I'm eating frosted flakes right now.

I am still freaking pregnant. Thanks you guys for thinking of me on the weekly chat thread. I'm so frustrated. I was doing great I swear, not terribly impatient, more Zen than Emo Queen, but THEN I had all those signs of labor. Starting Monday night, every single pre-labor/early labor sign in the book minus ROM. I felt right on the verge of labor & I let myself get too excited & expected my baby like within hours, constantly. But no! I am still pregnant. And now I am losing my marbles with impatience & I'm so discouraged. I'm only 2 days past my edd so I majorly feel like a big whiner.... I just let myself get too excited over all my seeming early labor signs. And now I'm having all those ridiculous thoughts like what if I WAS in the verge of labor on Tues, but I did something wrong & my body just forgot to go into actual labor or something?? Yes, I've succombed to Very End of Pregnancy Impatience Insanity Syndrome.

One of the things that got me all freaked out is that I didn't lose my bloody globs of mucus plug with my other kids until I was actually full on IN labor, this time I lost it 2.5 days ago. So where's my freeeeeaking labor?

AND! Now everyone is calling us, like every hour all day asking if I'm in labor! And my mom! OMG, she's also allowed herself to be completely convinced that the baby's on its way NOW & just sits at home by the phone waiting to be told to rush to the hospital to meet me. She even reminded me yesterday that my brother's only going to be here until Sunday, so I'd better be sure to go into labor by then! She calls every half an hour sometimes.

It drives me crazy that everyone is so "When are you going into labor? WHY won't you just go into labor already?" & all that crap. AS IF I have any say in it!!!!

The last 3 days I haven't really left the house because I was so sure I'd be going into labor any second & going somewhere would be dumb. But Lordy, last night I decided that I definitely need to get out of this house. I've also started telling everyone that they should NOT be holding their breath, this baby is NOT coming until Christmas. Today I am trying to regain my sense of humor. Yesterday I felt so depressed. Today I am making up labor songs, like I use the Veggie Tales song "Oh where is my hair brush?" but instead sing loudly with my kids "Oh where is my labor??" Haha.

I'm going to now just pretend that I am going to be pregnant forever & try to get on with my days. SOMEday I'll go into labor, right?? I'm ONLY 2 days past my edd. I must get a grip.

[zjande]

Wow, that was quite a long vent.

Jellyfishy, I almost could have typed your exact post myself! May we both find ourselves with some lovely, REGULAR, powerful contractions soon.

Along with everybody else!

Oh, NOT that I'm trying to get my hopes up , but today is my late grandmas birthdate. If this baby's a girl, her middle name will be Francis, which was that wonderful grandma's name. Wouldn't that be cool if she were also BORN on my g'ma's birthday?

[*Amy*]

Zjande, damn I could have written your post!!

I am SO feeling sorry for myself right now. The nausea is really bad, and I just feel like crying. It totally didn't help that my best friend told me on the phone tonight that I am torturing myself by believing that every day "could be the day" and that I should just tell myself it definitely won't happen until December. And she's pregnant, only 3 weeks behind me, so I thought she might know that saying that doesn't really help a mama.

I'm in the same boat about totally putting life on hold and not going anywhere. I feel like going to the grocery store is too much of an outing to even consider, not to mention I have about zero motivation to go grocery shopping to begin with.

Yeah, and the calls/emails. GOD, people, I update the fricking webpage DAILY, is that not enough? You are so right Zjande, it's like they think we have some secret info we're just keeping from everyone. Like seriously people, there is no one in the world who wants this baby to come more than I do!!

Well, off to another night of unrest I'm sure.

[DreamsInDigital]

I can't even bring myself to answer my phone or check my e-mail, or leave the house. I just want to vanish until he comes out so I don't get anymore "Oh you're *still* pregnant?!?!" comments.
I just know when I take DP to work on Monday I'm going to get so much crap.

[zjande]

Thanks for the Amy. Thank Gawd we can come here for support & commiseration (& venting!).

Well I actually left the house. We went out to Whole Foods for some lovely blue & black cohosh, Rite Aid for some lovely castor oil, the book store for some lovely distraction materials, and out for a lovely Ethiopian dinner. It was actually good. I felt mostly sane the whole time for the 1st time in days!

So, I'm going to try the castor oil. I just drank 2 oz of oil in 2oz of juice. God I hope I didn't just poison myself. I hope all my guts don't fall out of my butt or something. I've never taken castor oil before. I'm worried I'm going to regret it.

I also bought tinctures, one each of black & blue cohosh. I'll start those tomorrow morning I guess, if the oil doesn't do anything. I need to research more on exactly how to use the cohosh. Do you guys know? They're just liquids & on the label it says 30-40 drops in warm water 3 times per day. An article in Mothering recommends 20 drops of each under the tongue every 20 mins for 5 hours for labor induction. Have any of you used it?

Well, guess I'll go enjoy my new reading material (Hip Mama, Bitch, Brain Child & Off our Backs magazines & 2 new books) whilst vigorously stimulating my nipples. Yahoo, what fun!

May you all find yourselves in the grip of labor this very night!!! (I'd like to find myself in the grip of labor, as opposed to gripping my oily stomach in agony please thanks)

[flapjack]

Susun Weed reckons 3-8 drops of tincture in a glass of warm water or mug of tea every half hour until contractions are regular: as it's shop-bought and so probably weaker I'd probably go with 20 drops, but every 30 minutes and put it in a hot drink to stimulate the stomach/ intestines. (With every day that goes by, I become a bigger herbal geek. It's getting kind of fun.) Stop when you are in labour: and be warned, baby's heartbeat may be slightly faster and your BP may be slightly higher than otherwise, because that's what blue cohosh does.
I have to say, I'm kind of sad. I thought you'd had your baby Ah well, tomorrow is another day.

[zjande]

Hmm, interesting. I decided to do what my herbal manuel says which is 30-40 drops sub lingually 4 times a day. What you recommend is also very similar to what the article in Mothering recommends. Maybe I should start the 8 drops in water soon.

So get this. I took the oil a couple hours ago. I have since, ummmm, spent MUCH time in the bathroom (told DP I was taking a bath & then sat in there, emptying everything I've ever eaten in my entire lifetime out of my body), my guts are making the loudest, most horrendous sounds, and I don't think I am done yet. And just now, at 10:20pm, DP tells me "My mom's flying into town tonight at midnight & she's going to stay here". I can only laugh at what bad, terrible, horrible timing that is. BESIDES the fact I have cleaned nothing all day, I live in the bathroom!!! And my guts are NOT making friendly noises! OMG, this is silly.

Thanks so much for the advice flapjack! I do hope all this stuff works for me...

[DreamsInDigital]

Aubrey, I tried 10 drops of black and blue cohosh every 30 minutes for 4 hours with absolutely no results, so I'm not sure if it'll do anything for you. Good luck though.

[*Amy*]

Aubrey, at least you are able to laugh at all of this!! That is good. I really hope all of your guts didn't fall out of your butt.

I'm thinking about maybe going to get some Evening Primrose Oil tomorrow. I know sex would probably as good or better, but the thought of sex right now is just...ugh!!

It's almost 5:00am and I had to get up to get something to eat. No cramps/contractions since about 24 hours ago. I did read in my pregnancy book that those long-ass cramps are most likely Braxton-Hicks, so that makes me feel good that I can at least call them something now, and keep my fingers crossed they are helping to dilate or efface.

Helen you mentioned positioning, but I wasn't sure exactly what you meant. Did you mean that the BH are helping the baby drop? She's been anterior since forever, switching regularly between ROA and LOA. She's still really active (and reactive) too, which makes me feel good.

Man I have a had a headache all night. : All of these hormonal fluctuations are really messing me up these days. At least I hope today won't be as bad as yesterday in terms of my mood. I think you were smart to get yourself some distraction materials (and get out of the house), Aubrey. I started reading a book last night and I'm hoping it will get me through the last few days of this pregnancy with a little less anxiety and restlessness.

Well back to bed. I hope one of you is in labor out there somewhere.