Exciting week!

Tomorrow is 39 weeks! Wednesday the 19th, I had my Doctor appointment and he FINALLY checked me! I was expecting some kind of progress towards labor (as I had several PAINFUL and intense contractions off and on the week before) and was surprised when he told me I was at 2.5, almost 3 centimeters dilated and a little over 50% effaced!! I was taken aback... that was greater news than I had thought! With Landon, I was not effaced at ALL and never dilated naturally beyond 1cm and had absolutely no certain contractions or signs of impending labor (except that I was as big as a whale!)

Of course, now that I know where I'm at, I am hoping any day now will be his birthday! With my luck, he will still be an October baby... lol!! Alex has been SO adorable every morning, hoping just as much as I am that any given day will be Caius' birthday... his family and my family alike are texting me left and right asking if anything exciting is happening.... it's almost surreal to think I could be hours away from having him here with us!

Yesterday was my mother-in-law's birthday (the 20th), and we were all hoping that he would come then. Obviously, he did not... but it would have been special since Landon shares his birthday with my mom, so we figured Caius sharing his birthday with Alex's mom would be pretty cool too! Oh well... =(

*Caution: TMI Alert!!* Last night, I actually lost part of my mucus plug and it had blood in it!! It's the most amount of blood I've seen since December of last year when I had my last period, LOL!! Most people go into labor a few hours, days or a week after losing their mucus plug... I don't think I lost enough to be anticipating that, but it was still quite exhilarating for me to have some more proof of impending labor!!

My biggest wish for this pregnancy (other than having a healthy baby, healthy pregnancy, and not gaining a whole lot) was that I would go into labor naturally and before October. I have such high hopes that this will still happen! Even if I am late and go into October (which I really don't want to do, but he will come when he's ready), I am still so excited and hopeful that labor will happen on it's own and I will not have to be induced. I really don't feel like I have more than a few days left (if that) but you never know... it could be wishful thinking!

Tomorrow is my final day of work and I couldn't be happier about it. I was so determined to stay at work until 40 weeks or until he came, but was given the opportunity to go a little bit earlier. I took the opportunity and am SO thankful I decided to do so! I can hardly wait to be home for around 7-8 weeks =)