That is the worst picture EVER! Nate swears I don’t look like the great Marshmallow Woman, but I’m not convinced.

Added later- and the nurse totally agrees with me.

Although things are progressing (the nurse swears they are!) and contractions are happening (“that was a strong one,” says Laura), there’s not much going on. Still waiting and dilating.

In the meantime, here’s a picture of Laura’s chart, so you can actually see contractions if you care about such things:

And here’s a picture of the mom-to-be-again, looking remarkably chipper for someone who’s actively in labor.

So, I just read what Nate wrote. I think that “loooooong needle” comment was totally not cool. I’m actively dreading it. Not enough time has passed since Clark’s epidural, and I’m kinda freaked.

And bored. Just waiting around for my body to get serious, but we’re moving in that direction.

We’ve had the first visit from the doctor, are contracting more, and things are moving along. Things are getting set up for the anesthesiologist to come in in a bit for the epidural (loooooong needle!), but nothing new to report.

We’re going to try for a photo of the socks here, which may or may not work.

Mr Finch, here. We are at the hospital (arrived at 6:00 this morning!), Laura is hooked up to the IV, is 80% effaced, and has dilated to 2 cm. We’ll keep things updated throughout the day, but don’t expect photos for a while … we can take pictures, but we have no image editing software on the laptop, so the pix are too big to post (which is a shame, because we have some CUTE shots of the goldfish socks).

More later!

I’ve ripped this dumb sock SO many times. As it is, it’s not perfect, but no one will know. It looks and feels fabulous. I just have the leg on the second sock to finish, and if the baby waits ’til Monday to come, I don’t see any reason why they won’t be ready.

Behold, the Goldfish Socks-

After all the effort I spent trying to knit this sucker toe up for the fishtail effect, it’s kind of silly that I photograph them upside down, but I’m in a hurry.

I’m off to help teach Liv’s class how to knit.

And I totally have sock fever. Good thing I’ve got lots of sock yarn.

If anything exciting happens this weekend, we’ll post. If not, you’ll hear from us Monday with baby updates.

I didn’t knit a stitch ’til early this morning, when I finished the gusset, turned the heel, got partway through the heel flap and realized that, without a doubt, the foot on my sock was too long.

Why can’t I ever knit anything right the first (or even second) time?

So I frogged it. I’ve re-knit the gusset and am ready to turn the heel. So far, I’m seriously digging this pattern. I’m only using the gusset/heel/flap instructions and applying them to my Goldfish sock. The gusset is really nice. I have a very high instep, so I need it. I’m suspecting that I probably need a little more gusset than this pattern gives, but I’m going to knit it as written on this pair, and adjust on future pairs if needed.

Mediocre knitting picture-

They’re probably not going to be ready for the hospital, but I’ll get as much done as I can.

~

The baby descended yesterday. I wouldn’t say he’s actually dropped, or low, but he’s most definitely lower. I can see it when I look at myself straight on. I didn’t have any stomach trouble when I went to bed last night. I feel pressure in my hips and other, low-type areas of my body. I almost fell down in the school parking lot yesterday, picking up the girls for Cross Country, from a sciatica attack. Fortunately, I was right next to my car so I could grab/lay on my bumper ’til it passed. I felt like a dork and the principal walked right by, looking straight ahead and pretending that she didn’t see someone almost fall down in front of her. I’m not sure how I feel about that.

So what do you think? Does this look like a 39 week, 9 pound baby to you?

I remember looking much bigger with Veronica, but I don’t think I waddled this much.

I am feeling much better (from the sinus infection). I’m planning to go to Costco this morning. Depending on how I feel after that, I may venture out in search of pajamas for the hospital. Or the grocery store. Then I want to come home and knit some orange socks.

So, the doctor appt took most of the day. Nate was there for the ultrasound, and they were running extremely late, despite the fact that we had a morning appointment.

So Nate was stressed ’cause he had to get to work.

We ended up flipping the dr appt with the ultrasound, and at the doctor appointment, my blood pressure was high.

It’s NEVER high.

So I got to have my blood drawn. Again. My levels of what-ever-they-were-looking-for were a little high, but not enough to deliver me immediately. Thank goodness.

The baby’s heartrate was low. So after the ultrasound and appt, Nate took Clark to my mother-in-law’s so I could stay for a non-stress test. The baby passed just fine.

At the ultrasound, the technician measured and said the baby was already 9 pounds. Her eyes popped out of their sockets. I was expecting it. Even though I’m not big enough to look full term, I knew he was big. He’s just cuddled up in my body, squishing all my organs to heck.

I’ve effaced 50% and dilated to 1 cm since last Wednesday, which is huge progress for me. I don’t tend to progress fast before I’m in labor, so who knows if I’ll make it ’til Monday, when my induction is scheduled?

That’s my news.

I’m sicker today than I was yesterday, probably ’cause of the long day and stress yesterday. I’m going to try to rest today. I have a bit of work to do for Nate on the computer still, then I’ll knit more on the Goldfish socks. I think I may have started the gusset a little too late and may need to rip it out, but I hope not.

Well, almost.

A friend of mine gave me a bunch of fresh ginger yesterday and told me to slice it thin and simmer it in water for a really, really long time, add a tea bag, milk and sugar, then drink it. She was vague as to amounts, so I used a third of it and made a very strong infusion with an herbal tea bag and some sugar, drank a couple sips, and threw up.

So I diluted it by about half, added more sugar and some cream, and it really did make me feel better. I’ve done the same this morning and my head is clearer, my throat doesn’t hurt. Yay!

This morning, we’re going to the doctor for an ultrasound to see how big the little guy is, and I’ll get checked again. Maybe we’ll schedule an induction, I’ll let you know.