41 Weeks

2 years and 7 months ago I was in the exact same situation I am in now.  Who would have thought?  Baby Struik has (so far) failed to make an appearance on his/her own, so now I've given up hope that I will go into labour on my own.  I'm fairly confident that nothing will happen tonight, and so now we just wait for the hospital to call in the morning with my induction time.  It's EXACTLY 2 years and 7 months since I went through this with Matthew and Kayla.  I was induced at 1pm on Thursday the 17th, and they were born at (around) 11pm on Friday the 18th.  Tomorrow is Thursday, the 17th.  Maybe a Friday baby too, this time?  I'm curious to see what form of induction they will use, and if they will be sending me home right away after being induced or if I will be staying at the hospital.  With Matthew and Kayla I had to stay at the hospital regardless of induction type because I was more of a 'high risk' pregnancy.  It's difficult not knowing what time my induction will be and if I'll have to stay at the hospital because planning for Matthew and Kayla is nearly impossible now.  My Mom and I have tried to think of all possible scenarios and who will watch Matthew and Kayla under each one, so I think we pretty much have it covered.  Luckily I have enough extended family that has offered to help watch them if my immediate family can't.  It's really made me wonder how people with little/no family around manages to do it.  I guess their children go with them, or their spouse stays home and misses out?

Anyways, I should get going.  Jon's working on his 'man cave' as apparently he has all of the 'parts' he needs to finish it.  I have been receiving packages all week (and also means just as many credit card charges) and so he's quite excited to do some serious work on it.  Matthew is downstairs helping him, and Kayla is waiting for me to get her a cloth so she can clean my kitchen floor.  Seriously.  (Maybe SHE'S nesting?).  And me, I'm sitting on the couch typing this entry with my belly exposed so I can enjoy watching some last baby movements.  Only a day (or two, or three, or four?) before life gets crazy again.

Above:  Tried to capture Baby Struik's body part trying to push away at my belly.  As a reference, the slight brown line on the off centre of the picture (between my two freckles!) is actually the centre of my belly.  Definitely shows that there was something pushing otherwise it would normally be round.

Above/Below:  41 weeks.  Definitely noticed stretch marks appearing/re-appearing, particularly around my belly button this time.  And under my belly apparently...I can't see that when I look down so I had no idea they were there until I looked at this picture.  Ha!