38 weeks -- waiting, waiting, waiting

This was overall an uneventful week in pregnancy. They tell me I'm "full term" now, so I'm just waiting. I have tried a couple things to stir things up, but obviously since I'm writing this, no dice. The bottom line is, the baby won't come until she's ready, I'm pretty sure, no matter what!

The first thing I have been doing is walking. I work at the hospital as a nurse, so that's not too hard. I'm working my full schedule. A hard day at work will give me some contractions and low pelvic pain. But nothing regular, and my cervix hasn't changed from last week (1.5 cm dilated, minimal effacement).

Another thing I tried, that I thought might have done it was using my breast pump. I got nothing out, of course, but I used it to get some nipple stimulation going. I did 15 minutes on each side. Nipple stimulation makes the brain release oxytocin (the very same thing they give you through the IV when you get medically induced, your body actually makes!) and can cause contractions. I had fairly consistent contractions for about 4 or 5 hours, but they tapered off as the evening wore on, and stopped by the time I went to bed.

So here I am. Still pregnant. Still waiting on my baby girl.

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A few pictures from this week:

Put myself on the monitor at work on Tuesday... Looking rough. Vitals got better by my doctor appointment, though.

Corey's new stethoscope for paramedic school!

He will hate me for posting this... At our church baby shower. Playing with the gift wrap.

Me at 37.5 weeks!

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Let me know in the comments how y'all have tried (and maybe succeeded?!) in inducing labor at home!