In case you were wondering......

40 weeks and counting.

And I'm not the only one counting.

It's not all my fault, but I convinced myself {and everyone else} that on Sunday, December 26th, I was in labor.

Starting during church at around 2:00 I began to have regular contractions while hoping that my bag of waters would stay intact.  It did of course.

Little by little I started realizing that they were pretty consistent, no matter my position.

Then by 8 or 9 they were about 5 minutes apart and getting stronger so I started getting excited!

Since I had made no accommodations previously I busied myself preparing my home.

Patrick pumped up the birth tub Angela lent me and got the hose connected.

I cracked open the birth kit, gathered old towels/ plastic cloths, pulled down the bins of newborn clothes, cleaned the toilets and scoured the stove top of course. ;)

I called my mum, Julie to tell her I would probably be calling her in the morning to come over to take care of the kids and I e-mailed my friend who is going to take pictures for me.

By 9:30 I called Sherry my midwife and her assistant Tiffany to let them know that I thought I was in early labor so they could be ready when the "real stuff" started during the wee hours of the morning.

I even had Patrick take one last not so flattering late-night picture of me pregnant....

Finally at midnight, everything was in order and I figured I should get some rest since I had probably had some work ahead of me in not to far from that time.

The contractions kept coming. Some quite strong but very manageable.

It was like going to sleep excited for Christmas as a kid......

Christmas never came.

Reluctantly, the next morning I sent Patrick off to work

But...
I kept thinking active labor would come at anytime because the pre-labor contractions kept coming just not as consistently.

It never came.

Since I have been pregnant 3 times prior to this, you'd think that I would know by now when labor was beginning, but apparently I have no clue.

This is the first time I've had consistent contractions before water breaking.

Talk about confusion!

I walked around for over a week thinking I was centimeters away.

And my family called every day, bless their hearts. Repeatedly they would inquire.....

Have you had the baby yet????

Eventually, I reminded, "Don't call us, we'll call you." 

When Sherry checked me this week the confusion ended.

The prognosis: Thinning and barely dilating.

It may sound depressing, but believe me, I have felt much calmer and less obsessed ever since.

Phew.

Now we just wait patiently for the REAL fun to begin.

I'll just wait for my water to break like it usually does. {Crossing fingers}

I'm not interested in being teased any more thank you!