(sigh.)

2 days past the due date. Everyone here is sick. Except me. Micah started showing signs of sickness on Friday with the start of a cold and fevers. On Saturday morning he woke up with his lips full of cold sores (not sure if it's related, maybe just a result of his lowered immune system?) and remained feverish throughout the day. Then last night Erik woke up with fevers and chills and Keziah woke up this morning with a deep cough. It's probably a good thing that we're not introducing a newborn to this house-full of germs right now. If you think of us, please pray that everyone would recover quickly (especially Erik as I'm going to need him when the time comes!) and please pray that I can steer clear of all of this. I really can't imagine going through labour on top of being sick!

Speaking of impending labour, this weekend has been a cycle of hope and disappointment. On Friday Erik stayed home from work since I had woken up with some mild contractions and knew I was going to get my membranes sweeped that morning. Later that afternoon (after much internal debate) I decided to take a dose of castor oil. I figured that if it made me sick, then at least I had Erik around to help. I felt fine for an hour and a half, then threw up suddenly (and violently) and then felt pretty much fine all day. I had lots of braxton hicks all that day and the next and some other signs of labour but I figured it was as a result of the internal exam and tried not to get my hopes up (since Erik was getting his hopes up enough for the both of us!) Then I woke up at about 2 am on Sunday morning with some mildly painful contractions that were coming every 4 minutes and felt like they were getting stronger. I didn't want them to stop so I got up and walked around and timed them for awhile. I was SO certain that labour was starting since these contractions felt different than the braxton hicks. I even emailed my mom at about 5 am to let her know what was happening. Shortly after, exhaustion finally kicked in and I decided to try to sleep. The contractions kept waking me up for about an hour and then next thing I knew it was 8:30 and the "labour" had totally fizzled out. Darn it.

Anyway, that's the summary of our weekend. Now Erik is planning to take the day off to recover - which is too bad since he'll have to take more time off when the baby comes and we can't really afford that right now! At least my mom will be here soon (tomorrow). I'm looking forward to having her here. And I keep reminding myself that the most I can be pregnant at this point is another week since it sounds like my doctor will induce me by next Monday at the latest.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers - I will keep you all posted!!