Hospital tour, eating a lot of spicy food, still pregnant....

On my March 6 OBGYN appointment, I weighed 158 lbs! I was shocked to have gained 3 lbs in 1 week but during my appointment Dr. Shafi said my baby was probably 7.5 lbs (so the baby gained 1.5 lbs in 2 weeks) and would probably be close to 9 lbs at birth! I definitely feel bigger with this pregnancy. I didn't feel that way though until the last couple of weeks. I thought my size was the same looking back at pictures but then all of a sudden my stomach got huge and even other people have said I'm much bigger this time around. Dr. Shafi says I should have no problem vaginally delivering a 9 lb baby though. Also at this appointment I found out I was 1 cm dilated (yahoo!!) and still 50% effaced. She will be on call March 19th so I can go into the hospital to be induced (Pitocin started right away to bring on contractions). I just need to schedule this 48 hours in advance. Nathan isn't too keen on me being induced that day since it's our wedding anniversary so I will talk to my doctor and see if there is another day we can schedule it (if we need to). I'm really hoping to go into labor any day now and am slightly frustrated as each day goes by and I'm still pregnant. But tomorrow I have another appointment and I believe they will be stripping my membranes to help induce labor depending on what my status is. I really hope I am further along.

Nathan and I went to the tour of Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital on March 7 from 7-8pm. It brought back a lot of memories for both of us from when I delivered Ian. And being there just made me that much more excited to have this baby and meet him / her. I actually brought my 'hospital bag' with me just in case I went into labor while I was there. That would have been so convenient but of course it didn't happen. My friend Liz Jegasothy stayed with Ian while we were gone and she said he was a perfect angel. It just reassures me that he will be fine while Nathan and I are at the hospital when I'm in labor.

Today Ian lifted up my shirt and put his sippy cup straw on my belly button and said, "baby drink water" and then looked up at me and asked, "baby happy?" It was one of the sweetest things he's ever said and it made me so excited for him to meet the baby. I keep telling him he is going to be a great big brother. I always ask him, "is the baby going to come out of my belly?" And he tells me "stay house" (stay / live in our house). Then I ask, "where is the baby going to sleep" and he responds, "sleep crib." And when we are in the car I ask him who is going to sit in the new baby car seat. Most of the time he answers, "Luke" (his friend who did sit in the van next to him once in a car seat) and when I say, "no" he responds, "Mommy's baby."

The other day Ian and I went to the grocery store and then to Turf Time right afterwards. By the time I got home I was exhausted! It's getting to be so much work to move around that much. All I want to do is sit. But luckily the weather has been nice the last week so Ian is playing outside while, for the most part, I just sit and watch him.

Every time someone asks me, 'how are you feeling,' my answer is always, "so ready to have this baby" which is very true. Honestly, I'm quite surprised I haven't gone into labor yet. For the past few days I've eaten a lot of spicy food. Nathan made the same dish I swear put me in labor with Ian: chicken with rice, salsa and hot peppers. I've eaten 3 meals of it plus last night he made a spicy fish and tonight I had VERY spicy chicken fajitas with jalapeno peppers. I guess this baby isn't too affected by spicy food. Guess I'll just have to remain patient. But when I lost my mucous plug (which I thought I lost Thursday) yesterday (and more today??) I thought for sure I'd be going into labor shortly since I lost it with Ian the morning I went into labor. But apparently it can be up to 2 weeks before you go into labor after losing the mucous plug. I know he / she will enter the world when he / she is ready. Let's just hope it's not too much longer!

38 weeks, 3 days