21 days

That's all I have left...21 days. At least that's all I have until my due date and I'm not even considering the thought that I would go past my due date. Actually, that's because I'm seriously considering inducing on the 20th. My hospital is fantastic enough to allow women to induce at any point after 39 weeks, so why not take advantage of that? I've discussed it with Brett and I think I've got him on the same page. Even though he is scheduled to take his vacation starting the 30th, if I induce on Friday the 20th he can just take some unpaid leave under the Family Medical Leave law and ride it out until Thanksgiving in which he gets paid holiday time. So it would give him a couple weeks off, some paid, some not and since we already filed his family medical leave paperwork with his company, they can't tell him no.

Anyhow, just please pray that my Dr. doesn't try and talk me out of inducing on the 20th. Even though they say you can do it, I know that they like to talk you out of everything you want to do most times. So I will try and be firm about it, because I really don't want to be pregnant any longer than I have to be. It's been an amazing journey, but let's face it, pregnancy is not fun and it really gets hard during the last month. In fact I find my attitude turning from "I can't wait to meet my baby" to "I can't wait until I'm not pregnant anymore!" I know it will all be worth it in the end, but when you're in constant discomfort, it's sometimes hard to remember why you're going through what you are.

On a more positive note, I did start having some contractions yesterday afternoon (I think). It's hard to determine what a contraction feels like when you've never experienced them before, but I think I was having them. Over the course of the last few days I've been having some pretty bad back pain along with some cramping that feels like period cramps. I didn't think the cramps were contractions, until yesterday. I could feel a cramp coming on and then my stomach would feel a bit tighter and then it would ease up after a minute or so. I think the contractions (if that's what they were) were so weak, that it was hard for me to determine for sure that's what was going on. I had several of them in a row, a few minutes apart, but then they went away after I drank some water and laid down. I wasn't expecting to be rushing to the hospital last night, but I'm at least hoping for some progress in my dilation when the Dr. checks me tomorrow. Cross your fingers!!!