39...

Yup.
Still Pregnant!

One of our friends had an engagement ceremony today... my belly got touched so much! And yes...they get THAT dressed up for just the engagement!

Some of you have asked about our labor plan, etc...(so if you're a guy you may not care to read on:)

We are hoping for a completely natural delivery. No intervention (pitocin, epidurals, happy gas, etc) of any kind. That's our prayer and that's what we'll be going into the labor and delivery room with in mind and acting towards. Anthony knows to ignore me when I ask for an epidural (until maybe I draw blood or cause severe bruising to his person...then maybe we'll see!) We're ready though. And I'm anxious in an anticipation kind of way. I've read as much as I think I can on the subject and talked to as many friends as I can about their experience... I'm just ready to go through it myself and finally experience what "Isaac's birth story" is gonna be!

Dr. Chow is great and with the help of our prenatal class, we've got some good tools to hopefully help get us through. Dr. Chow encourages the patient to choose what position she wants to deliver in (but covertly suggests a side-lying/left-lateral position for her own ease of guiding the delivery and catching the baby), she doesn't do episiotomies routinely and thinks they're unnecessary most of the time (which we've learned nearly every woman here gets one because doctors think they're necessary), her c-section rate is only 7% for first timers (average for the world is between 10 and 20%), and she encourages skin-to-skin contact upon delivery in order to help set-up baby and mom for breastfeeding success. We feel so blessed to have found such a great doctor here who shares so many of our values!

For those of you who have asked about "progression" of any kind (see, guys, I said yall might not want to keep reading!)... doctors here don't do any pelvic exams until you actually come to the hospital in labor. They just don't see the point. I have to admit I'm curious if there's any dilation or effacement, but really we're fine with not knowing as a whole. The "What to Expect when You're Expecting" book says it best... (something like) "Dilation is only part of the equation and doesn't indicate with any sureness when labor will start. Just ask the woman who gets told she's 2 centimeters dilated and that labor could start at any moment, only for her to sit 2 more weeks in anticipation. Or the woman who leaves the doctors office sad because she's been told it'll be at least another 2 weeks and finds herself a mother by morning!" So really... I think I'd be frustrated right now if I knew "centimeters" and "% of effacement"... since I don't, I'm fine with being pregnant until my due date. If he comes before that it'll be a fun surprise, and if he comes late, at least I'll only be frustrated from the 15th on instead of like from today on... :)

Hope that answers some of the questions you (ladies) have had!