2 days to go? Maybe...

My actual due date is only 2 days away. I have a feeling I am going to be saying Hello and Goodbye to November 11th without Kathryn making her debut. At the doctor's yesterday I was only "fingertip dilated" (meaning, pretty much nothing) and had no other signs of impending labor. I wasn't surprised... maybe a little disappointed, but not surprised.

Everyone keeps saying, "Oh, but you never know... you could go any minute! When I was pregnant... blah blah blah." So I've heard stories of women delivering early, delivering late and delivering right on their due date. What will my story be? Can't say... but my guess is late. My mom was due on October 9th and I was born the 12th, so I am taking that into consideration.

So at 39 weeks and 5 days pregnant, one's body is in a constant state of crappiness. Granted, I feel pretty good compared to some people I have talked to... I have had a lucky pregnancy. However, there are still some weird, bizarre things I am feeling that I never knew one could feel.
- Pardon the use of medical terminology here, but I've never actually been aware of my cervix until I was about 33 weeks pregnant. It has always just existed without me thinking about it. But holy moly. The first time I was bumped there by this baby, I knew it immediately. I can't compare it to anything I've ever felt, but it is startling. It stops you in your tracks... lets just say that. I was making dinner one night when it happened and let out an, "OOF!" I wasn't quite sure how to explain to Matt, with a puzzled look on his face, that I now knew precisely where my cervix was. Hmm.
- The same goes for being karate chopped from the inside on my rib cage and pelvis. Well, anatomically, I guess I'm being chopped in the pelvis and kicked in the ribs... as long as she remains vertex (the fancy word for "head down"). I've heard pregnant women talk about it. My own mother recalls very vividly- not exactly fondly- all the power kicks she received to the ribs. But I could never even imagine what it felt like until it happened. And DANG... it is bizarre. Alien-ish almost. What are you doing in there, baby?!
- As of about 36 weeks, I've been experiencing a phenomenon that makes me giggle at inappropriate times... my belly has corners! As she has started running out of room in there, there is pretty much always some kind of body part sticking out, creating a strange shape- an elbow here, a foot there... even her little butt creating an odd bulge right under my rib cage! Belly with corners... love it. Now at almost 40 weeks, the belly is never "round". To quote Mike Rowe, from Dirty Jobs on the Discovery Channel, "It is some kind of rhombus..."

So those are all the funny things... well, not really all of them, but I have used the word "cervix" enough times in this post that I will spare you from other strange details.

On Sunday, my due date, I will be sending Kathryn an eviction notice, so I hope she takes that to heart. Perhaps she has not received the memo that it is cool to come out any time now, so I will give her some slack. I'd rather not have to wait another full week, only to be pumped full of oxytocin to get labor started... come on out, Kat! Everyone is eager to meet you! And mommy wants bladder control back! Thanks so much!