Happy Birthday! Not the baby, but to my friend who is 40 today!

The last time I checked myself was early Friday morning, because my contractions hadn't let up through the night, and I had some big ones that woke me up. (The OB's said it was ok to do self-checks up until my water broke.) There was still no change at ALL. So I was really disappointed.

I kept having the same kind of contractions all day Friday, but I refused to give in to the urge to see if anything was happening. Then I called my friend Heather, to see what was going on with her. She said my presence had been requested by her boyfriend, Eric, for going out dancing. Today is his 40th birthday, and he wanted to dance with "a bunch of hot ladies"- meaning Heather, her sister Holly (my other BFF, and my labor support person), and me. I was pleased that even as a huge whale, he still considered me a "hot lady", lol! How could I resist? And there was the added incentive that it might help things along, too.

I checked myself before I got ready, not expecting anything at all, but I wanted to know before I left what was happening, if anything. OMG! Where did my cervix go? I completely missed it, because it had come forward, and had thinned out quite a bit. All I could find was a little bump, and the opening was a bit wider, maybe not quite 2 cm, but more than just the 1 cm I had before. And (here's the gross part) when I was done checking, I think what was left of my mucus plug came out, too. YUCK!!!! Lemme tell you (without describing it), it was just NASTY.

So we drove down to Portland, and did our dancing thing. All my friends were surprised to see me still pregnant. "Aren't you over 41 weeks now?" said one of the girls. Umm, yeah. "Holy crap! I didn't think they'd let anyone go that long anymore!" So I told her my OB is a good liar, and he told the rest of the staff that my EDD is Monday, and related my trip to L&D. She was really happy that they let me go home to wait it out. She doesn't have any kids of her own, but her sisters have been induced, and she knows it's not pretty.

I found out that Holly is going to visit their mom for the weekend, and won't be back until Tuesday! WTF? I understand, though, her mom is going in for some testing to see if her breast cancer is still gone. (She's been cancer-free for 2 years, YAY!) I only had a couple of contractions that I could feel while we were dancing, so I was kind of bummed. I had a few more on the way home, so in the shower I checked again, just to be sure my earlier estimate still held true. My cervix is almost flat!!! Maybe it was just the position I was in, but I really hope that it's actually doing something, and Alex will come soon. I am so over this being pregnant thing.