Nothing new to report. No baby, no subtantial signs of labor. I’m just hanging out in a holding pattern.

Scalini’s Eggplant Parm tonight, so maybe there will be more signs later in the weekend. Hope springs eternal.

Fruit & Veg Count, 2/3: 1 organic banana, ~1 cup spicy Chinese eggplant w/mixed veggies (broccoli, a few pea pods, a few slivers of other veggies)

They weren’t able to strip the membrane this morning. I’m only dialated about 1cm, and on top of that, my cervix was way out of reach. They do think it’s changed some and the Evening Primrose Oil seems to be helping soften things. I should keep up with all the supplements and everything else we’ve been doing. Plus Jill agreed that we’ll go to Scalini’s on Saturday night, if Smudge hasn’t arrived yet by then.

And my blood pressure is still good, although my ankles and lower legs are swollen and unhappy.

I had a violent resurgance of my least favorite symptom this morning, getting sick from brushing my teeth. So they also gave me a prescription for an anti-nausea medication, which they say will also make me extremely tired.

I’m trying some ginger & raspberry leaf tea right now, but if I can’t keep that down, I’m going home, taking the scrip and going to bed.

Come on, Lil Smudge! It’s time to join the world! And grandma’s here, but only for a week. She really wants to meet you and get to spend some time with you.

(They’ll try to strip the membrane again next Friday if I haven’t gone into labor on my own. And at that point, they’ll also talk about scheduling induction.)

Here’s what I look like at 39 weeks & 6 days:

I only have 2 pair of pants left that fit. So yes, I wore a velour sweatsuit to work today. It was actually the second time I’ve worn it, both times being this week.

The actual news for today is that changes ARE happening in my body. We got back from dinner with Jill’s Mom, who arrived today, and both of us noticed that my ankles are hugely swollen. Indeed, not just my ankles, but my calves too. And probably my legs as a whole. They don’t even look like my legs any more.

I think this change has happened, or at least dramatically accelerated, over the last 24 hours.

I’m still technically an innie, but just barely, and my navel itches like hell. I’m on a cocoa butter every 2 hours routine. I even put it on in the middle of the night last night. And I’m having more contractions, mostly starting in the back, but not regular or frequent. Every couple hours, or maybe a little more often than that. But not every hour, I don’t think.

Come ON DOWN, Lil Smudge! You’re the next contestant on Welcome To The World!

Time for more raspberry leaf tea.

Fruit & Veg Count, 2/2: 1 small organic gala apple, 1/2 cup sauteed green cabbage with slivers of carrot, 7 or 8 small asparagus spears

Something is starting to happen, but I don’t think there will be a Smudge appearance for a couple of days yet.

I had a resurgence of irregular Braxton-Hicks contractions, off and on today, and one or two "real" contractions — including one that involved my back even more than my front. But there’s no pattern, other than "more than the last few days."

I also had a burst of cleaning energy, but that could be because my M-I-L-Equivalent (she isn’t technically my MIL, since the IL part doesn’t apply) arrives tomorrow.

Fruit & Veg Count, 2/1: 1 cup carrot sticks, 1 bowl butternut squash soup, 1 small salad, 1 strawberry "all fruit" popcicle.

Ok, it’s unscientific and may not be a Big Sign, but my co-worker the Baby Psychic (his blog doesn’t have any baby psychic content, I’m sorry to say) has revised his opinion that I’m going to be late.

He now says Smudge will arrive "any day now."

And he told me that after I got it established that he doesn’t have to pay to demo his cool product at the Congressional Internet Caucus Tech Fair next week, so he wasn’t just trying to butter me up.

Still no baby, and no real labor.

But something is going on. I’ve been feeling vaguely queasy since last night, and there’s a sort of a pressure-y feeling around where I think Smudge’s head should be, both of which are new phenomenon. And it feels harder to sit up normally, like there’s not as much room between my belly and my legs — which already seemed extremely overcrowded. Smudge also seemed agitated last night, moving a lot, but in a different way than usual. Smaller movements, mostly.

And I’ve determined that there’s only one effective way to get any sleep. Exhaustion. After 2 medium-sleep nights on the couch, followed by busy days with after-work grocery shopping, and Jill having bad dreams last night, I went back to bed last night, with my insane heap of pillows for the reflux. And I slept pretty well.

Fruit & Veg Count, 1/31: Errrr. Ooops. Does the guacamole in my lunch burrito count? How about the "all fruit" strawberry popcicle? It’s a good thing I have you people holding me to account, or I’d forget, not to mention rationalize, more often.

I tried to post on this last night, but somehow managed to erase the whole post instead of publishing it.

Here’s my mini-rant on facial "recognition" technology, which I meant to include in the previous post.  Yesterday’s Silly Internet Quiz that purported to tell you which celebrity you most resemble was based on facial recognition technology.

If you’ve ever heard of it before, it was probably in the context of the Super Bowl a few years back, in Tampa, where law enforcement attempted to use it to catch criminals who came to the big game.

It worked about as well there as it did in saying that I look like Manuel Noriega.

It’s also been implemented in public areas of other communities, like Virginia Beach, VA. In addition to finding criminals, they claim it could be used to locate missing & exploited children.

Of course, when asked about that, Virginia Beach police admit that they haven’t actually located any missing children with their facial recognition software. But you can get away with all kinds of civil liberties invasions if you can justify them with a tie-in to protecting children. It doesn’t matter whether or not the thing works! It might theoretically protect a child from harm! Or catch a criminal! Or better yet, a terrorist!

OK, ok, /rant.

I’m still pregnant. I’m showing no new signs, in spite of my best efforts. Smudge seems to be very happy where he is. The fridge is working again, and over the week, we’ll be filling it. So far, there’s milk, yogurt, hazelnut creamer, margarine, and frozen veggies & pierogies in the freezer.

My co-workers had a very nice surprise shower for me yesterday. Entertainingly, only women attended, even though I work in an industry and a company that is overwhelmingly male. There was yummy cake, and toys and a second car seat for Smudge. It was very sweet. (The party. The cake involved fresh berries and was less sweet and more light than ‘cake’ implies.)

Oh, and I made a bet with one co-worker about my theory that Smudge is coming on Sunday. She doesn’t trust my intuition.

Fruit & Veg Count, 1/30: 2.5 organic gala apples, ~1/4 cup mixed berries (raspberries, blackberries, and currents), ~3/4 cup mixed veggies (mostly brussels sprouts, some cauliflower & carrots)