Everything Possible

So now I figure that Rachel takes after her father in that neither one will do a damn thing unless they feel like it (and I mean that in a loving way). John is an infamous procrastinator among his friends, and it seems that Rachel will inherit his personality. Which also means she will be very patient (or at least more so than Eric or I) because God knows she's patiently taking her sweet ever-loving time to get here!!!

Yesterday I had so much pain in my joints that I couldn't walk up or down stairs, or lift Eric, without pain. John had to stay home from work to basically take care of Eric while I helped. Last night I had my 40+ week appointment with the midwives. I begged the midwife to strip my membranes in order to possibly induce labor. When I walked into the appointment I was 3 centimeters dilated and 50% effaced. When I left I was 4 centimeters dilated and 75% effaced.

Today...? Nothing. Nada. So this morning I drank 3 tablespoons of castor oil with orange juice. This brought on some contractions... and let's just say it effectively cures constipation. So I walked around a lot. Also had some contractions. But then nothing.

So I finally decided to make the "Break your water cookie" recipe that a friend sent me on facebook. It's ginger cookies with cayenne papper. They aren't bad, actually. Unfortunately I'm not a huge fan of ginger cookies, ginger snaps, etc. John, however, came home and started eating those cookies like they were filled with narcotics (John's a big fan of ginger-anything). At least they won't go to waste. And there's little chance of John's water breaking!

So ever since implementing those things I've had some strong contractions, maybe once an hour, but nothing to write home about. I'm just hoping that tonight, or tomorrow, is the day and I can stop being in pain. Of course, I'll be in more pain.... [sigh] But if it has to happen sometime, it would be nice if it were sooner rather than later.