48 hours and counting

Justin and I made Scalini's Eggplant Parmigiana tonight to try and induce labor. I found the recipe on a link sent to me via one of you helpful bloggies :) (http://www.scalinis.com/Bambino.htm)



They say that more than 300 women have given birth within 48 hours of eating this. Considering I've taken 14 herbal supplement capsules at 3 different times today, in addition to drinking herbal teas and getting acupuncture, we figured this couldn't hurt our chances. If I do go into labor in the next 48 hours we won't know what to attribute it to (probably Parker just deciding to come out), but at least I can say that I've tried this. We've gotten a lot of unsolicited suggestions from neighbors, checkout people, strangers, etc. around town, some of which we've already tried and others that are only explainable as being coincidental. I'm not interested in mowing the yard (it's a high in the 40s), hiking a mountain (I can barely put on my pants), or starving myself (how would I then have any energy to push). But eggplant parmigiana...now that's something I can live with! It's actually so good that we've decided to put it in the ol' recipe box. Don't you wish you could have had dinner with us tonight?

So here's to those of you who voted for Friday or Saturday! I'll eat leftovers for lunch tomorrow just to be on the safe side :)

How far would you go?

Our midwife says I'm 4cm dilated and almost 100% effaced. Parker's down even further in my pelvis. So why am I not in labor yet? We don't know.

So, I'm pulling out all the stops. After getting the stress test done (he's still doing great...no worries), I had an appointment with an acupuncturist for a "labor inducing" session. 5 needles and six herbal supplements later, I still am not in labor. It was an interesting experience to say the least. I'm supposed to go back in tomorrow and Friday for more acupuncture if labor hasn't started but it's really expensive so I may just stick with the supplements and see if Parker's just trying to beat out his sister by going 10 days over as opposed to to 9. On my way home from the appointment, I got some eggplant to make a recipe for eggplant parmesan that has been said to induce labor. So hopefully one of these things will work. Even if it ends up only being coincidental, it will make for a good story one day.

We'll see what tomorrow holds. Sorry for those of you who voted for today! (You can cheat too if you want.)

For those of you who guessed Tuesday

I tried to give you all an unfair advantage by taking castor oil and for a short time I thought it would work. Justin and I went on a date to a movie and coffee and I definitely was having regular contractions but they faded and so here we are on Wednesday about to head to another prenatal appointment. I'll have a stress test done on the baby to make sure he's doing okay. I'll keep you all posted. And if you voted for Tuesday, I'm okay if you want to cheat and vote again :) Thanks for all of the encouragement and I'll try to post that salsa recipe later.

Another poll

I forgot to survey how long you think he'll be! Take a second to guess whether Parker will take after his slightly height-deficient mom or height-enhanced dad. And this time the ".5" simply means half an inch. I realize that for weight I put ".8" as in half a pound or 8 ounces. I hope you all are smarter than I seem to be currently. This kid needs to come soon before I lose too many more brain cells!

Just for fun

I've put up two polls: one for you to guess Parker's arrival date and the other his weight. Help me pass the time by taking your best guess!

Analogies

Here are some I've come up with to describe my (continued) pregnant state:

an overripe pear, bruised and buried in the back corner of a drawer in the refrigerator

a tomato that was over-watered and split

a balloon about to pop

a forgotten hot dog left on the grill that has split down the middle

Feel free to let me know if you have any to add.

Indulging myself

We had our prenatal appointment this morning. As you can see from the "countdown" clock, we're now into the positives and it looks like that's where we'll stay for the moment. Jeanne, our midwife, said we're still the same as last week. Here we come 41 weeks! I've considered getting a t-shirt that says "Built for Two" because these little babies seem to like their accommodations. I do recognize I am blessed though because some women aren't able to carry their babies to full term so I'd rather be on this end of things.

Nevertheless, I'm now bored. I finished Madeleine's Christmas stocking:

The nursery is all set up and ready. Here's the crib I got on Craigslist for $50 with the mattress and bedding...a steal of a deal!:

So what are we to do now? Well, I do love Craigslist so...

I got this foosball table for $20 yesterday and we've already gotten our money's worth out of it! Justin beat me every time but I feel like I should be given a handicap because of the belly. If Parker doesn't decide to come out soon, I'll have even more time to improve my game because I'm desperate for distractions. Let me know if any of you have ideas (or foosball strategies to help me improve my game).