5 days over due.

I couldn't believe it.

It was Tuesday, Sept 16th and I found myself in disbelief that I was still pregnant. Overall, physically, I was doing pretty good... I had good energy during the day, no swollen ankles, and still able to go for my daily mile walk without much discomfort. Night time was the only time that I was truly uncomfortable - it was hard to roll over with such a big belly, I had to pee every 1-2 hours and the heart burn really seemed to kick in as soon as I laid down.

So you've got to be thinking, "Big deal - 5 days over due isn't that bad." Right? Well in the early stages of my pregnancy I would've agreed with you and even told you that I had a feeling I would probably go past my due date. What changed my mind? Well let me share some excerpts of the conversations I had with my Dr.'s and midwives the last 5 weeks of my pregnancy.

36 week appointment: Dr:"You're 1 1/2 cm dilated and 60% effaced!" me: "Wow! Is that normal for still being 1 month away from my due date?" "Yes, sometimes it can happen early, we would like for you to be at least 37 weeks but we won't stop labor if it happens! Are you guys ready?"

37 week appointment: Dr. "You're 3cm dilated and still 60%! Go ahead and make your appointment for next week but I wouldn't be surprised if have the baby this weekend. Make sure your bags are packed."

38 week appointment: Dr: "Still a good 3cm and really thinned out. You've also lost your mucous plug and your babies head is down and engaged!" me: "Great! But, just in case, what's the plan if I do happen to go past my due date?" (because the last Dr. totally got my hopes up and told me my baby would be here by now...) "Oh honey, you're not going to go past your due date. I've been doing this a long time and I will probably see you sometime this weekend to deliver that baby of yours."

39 week appointment: Midwife: "You're a good 3-4cm, 80% effaced and baby is at station 0! You should be so proud of your body, especially since this is your first. You're doing so much work now before you even go into labor! Go ahead and make an appointment for next week, but I doubt you're going to need it." me: "awesome!" (yea, yea, yea, you guys keep telling me my baby is going to be here any day and I'm still pregnant!) The midwife tried to sweep my membranes to help get labor started but my amniotic sac was bulging and she didn't want to accidentally break my water.

40 week appointment: Dr: "You are 5cm dilated! I don't know why this baby hasn't come yet?!" me: "haha yea, you guys keep telling me my baby is going to be born any day!" Dr: "Lets try to strip your membranes again." She ran into the same problem as the midwife with my amniotic sac. We did an impromptu ultrasound to check on Reaghan and everything looked great. Dr: "Well, once labor starts don't wait too long to come in since you live 30 minutes away and you're already halfway to fully dilated!" me: "Okay, so do I still make an appointment for next week?" Dr: "Yes, it will be a stress test and ultrasound and planning for induction. But I seriously doubt you'll make it 7 more days!"

So you see... from August 13th until Sept. 16th we were expecting me to go in to labor at any moment. Every time I had a twinge, we were on high alert wondering if it was time, because based on what the Drs told me, I was going to go early! And I had several nights where my contractions would get to be about 7 minutes apart but then they would fade away. It was so frustrating! This made the last month of my pregnancy seem much longer than 4 weeks. If you remember my post on September 14th, you know I was getting pretty anxious. We were trying to do things to keep me distracted, so the night of the 16th I went out to watch my sisters volleyball game and got dinner with my brother. I wasn't feeling any contractions or cramping that evening and went to bed fully expecting to wake up and be pregnant another day. I couldn't believe I would be going in to work again!

Unfortunately that night, the pregnancy insomnia was in full force! I kept tossing and turning and sadly being quite grumpy towards Mark. The poor guy was on the edge of the bed and I was still asking him to scoot over to give me more room! I finally decided to take my restless self out to the couch to give Mark a break.

I was in a weird half sleep/half awake state when it happened. My eyes shot open as I felt a pop and then a sudden gush!