The Baby Race.

Shortly after we reached the second trimester and announced our pregnancy, I learned of a few other women who were also expecting the same time frame. In fact, both my cousin and a gal from my mom's group at church were due the same day as me! Another gal from my mom's group was due a week after me. Of the four, I am the only one still pregnant.

The gal from church who was due the same day as me had her baby in late September. The other gal from church had her baby last week. My cousin had her baby today.

There is a tiny piece of me that has a little bit of labor envy, but for the most part I am content. M2 was a few days late, and with P5 I was induced a few days before his due date. This time I will be induced on my due date! Friday the 17th is the big day. Over the weekend we were getting anxious and actually would have liked baby J to make her arrival since we had childcare on standby, our L&D nurse friend on standby, and hey - having 10-12-14 for a birthday would be pretty cool. But despite walking walking walking and eating spicy food, this baby was staying cozy. Instead we got to have a nice lazy last weekend as a family of 4.

Now that it is the work week again, I am hoping that this baby stays in until the 17th. With work, and school and people busy it will be more challenging/disruptive to spontaneously go into labor before Friday. Plus, since I had such a short induced labor with P5, I really worry about having a precipitous labor this time around. Friday will be a good day; our favorite babysitter is off school that day and able to watch the kids, our L&D nurse friend is actually working that day and would then get to be our nurse and get paid to be there, plus I have a few random projects I'd like to finish this week.

At my check up today, the doctor commented that the baby was still head down, but due to excess amniotic fluid, her head was high up floating in the sack and not engaged in my pelvis. My doctor doesn't think I'll have the baby before Friday, so that is a bit comforting. Sleep is not fun - I wake up a lot in pain, needing to pee, and having numbness in my arms, but as a third time mom I know that these nighttime discomforts pale in comparison to the neediness and sleeplessness of having a newborn. 

I'm excited to meet baby J and see how she fits into our family. Will she be born with dark hair like M2? Blond hair like P5? Will she look more like me or more like Mr.P? Will she be small like her sister (7ish lbs) or big like her brother (9ish lbs)? Will she be one of those "mellow" babies I've heard of but never experienced? Whoever she is we cannot wait to meet her!