Not Here.

Baby is not here. Baby is in there, kicking around and probably laughing at all the commotion it's causing out here.

Early in this pregnancy, I was given three due dates. The firs,t based on last menstrual period, was October 7th. We have obviously blown right by October 7th.
The next due date I was given was October 13th, by ultrasound. October 13th has been and gone for almost a week now.
The latest due date they gave me, also by ultrasound, was October 19th.
That's today, and there are no signs that baby is at all interested in joining the world of the breathing.

I read somewhere that, 24 to 48 hours before labor begins, babies stop making fetal breathing movements, thanks to large amounts of prostaglandins. This makes perfect sense, because if they were still practice breathing close to birth, they could aspirate a lot of fluid and mucus.

Fetal breathing movements feel like hiccups most of the time. I am now far enough along though that sometimes I can place my hand gently on my belly and feel the baby "breathe" in there. Once I felt the heartbeat and that was amazing. It lasted for maybe 30 seconds and then moved away - I think the baby had kind of smooshed it's cord against the uterine wall, so I was able to feel it.

Anyway, the baby gets hiccups every day at exactly the same time. I love feeling them, but these days they're just a reminder that labor has not yet begun, and is still at least 24 to 48 hours away.

Saturday night, the baby didn't get hiccups. I was ecstatic. I was sure labor would be starting soon.

Then yesterday I spent some quiet time sewing baby's quilt, reflecting on the end of pregnancy. I was actually feeling a little wistful about the hiccups thing. I almost cried, sitting there thinking that that had been the very last time I would ever feel a baby bumping away in there.

And then... thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. The little booger started hiccuping, almost on cue.