Update: Zip. Zilch. Nada.

Thirty-nine weeks, everyone. So many signs of impending labor—and still no labor! No baby! I wrote recently about how I figured my chances were good for having this baby girl before the July 18 due date, and while I know technically it could still happen, I can’t shake a new, unwelcome little feeling that we’re going over this time.
It’s probably because I can’t help but compare this go-round to the other three. Historically, here’s how this whole labor thing goes down for me. I have a strong, top to bottom, honest to goodness contraction that stops me in my tracks. Another one comes along an hour later, then half an hour, then fifteen minutes or so, then I go to bed and try to will myself to sleep. Then I leap up a few hours later because my water has broken, and off we go to the hospital, where I stall around the four-centimeter mark despite my steady contractions and have to be “helped along” with the dreaded Pitocin—which is something else altogether. So no rounds of practice contractions, no play time, just the real deal. But not this time.
Everything is so different! The mucous plug thing? That was a first. And days of contractions? What is that? I got all excited for a fourth of July baby after contractions started. After the fireworks, we went to bed, excited to be woken in the night with the typical water-breaking hysteria and all it implies. But everything just petered out, until we repeated things the next afternoon with the same no-baby result. Since then, I’ve had rounds of contractions that just go nowhere. It’s maddening!
I’m trying to stay positive. Obviously, she’s as happy as a little clam in there, even if I don’t know how that’s even possible – her head is literally as low as it can be without crowning (TMI? I don’t even know anymore) and any time she moves, my entire belly undulates like the ocean. And I have to dash for the nearest bathroom.
So, like last week, I’m doing whatever I can to distract myself. The kiddos are in camps and we’re enjoying fun little outings to the kids’ museum and the pool and the parks when it’s not 100 degrees outside. I lit a fire under my clients when I mentioned that this baby could come any time now, so there’s no shortage of work to keep me busy. And I keep thinking that we should enjoy this dynamic of just the five of us, because that’s about to change—soon. Even if it feels like I’m going to be pregnant forever. Or at least well past July 18.