By Samantha Harrison I decided I would stop working right before my due date, enjoy a few days of relaxing and anticipation and then somehow begin labor “on time”.  Meanwhile, lurking in my mind was the nagging dread of the suspected long, difficult car ride through traffic to the birth center while laboring.  As it turned out, neither of these ideas were true. I was convinced I would not have much time waiting at home, especially because Sabrina had “dropped,” and I was having regular Braxton-Hicks contractions.  I worked all the way up to three days before my due date of June 20th and had been enjoying the days prior to her due date relaxing and nesting at home with family.  It was a sweet, peaceful time. For days leading up to her due date, I was getting contractions that felt different than the Braxton-Hicks I’d experienced before, happening nightly around 10 PM.  I would have a few contractions and then they would fizzle away.  On Sabrina’s due date, I had a massage scheduled just in case I wasn’t in labor.  The time came and I was still pregnant, so I went to my massage appointment and felt great.  We spent the rest of the day buying a kiddie pool and floating around, not realizing that we still had eleven days yet to float. The next day we had our 40-week appointment. We talked about all the things I could do at home to get labor going. We scheduled our 41-week appointment just in case I still hadn’t had Sabrina, but I remained sure though that we would. Days kept passing and my patience began growing thin.  I was anxious and ready to meet my baby.  I’d been doing all the things to get things going including eating 6 dates a day (for the last 28 days), drinking lots of red raspberry leaf tea, eating spicy pineapple, taking evening primrose oil, walking, sex, yoga, squats, etc.  Nevertheless, at 41 weeks I was still pregnant. Our 41 week visit on June 27th included an ultrasound to make sure Sabrina had enough amniotic fluid, followed by a non-stress test.  Everything was well.  Sabrina declared she was perfectly content right where she was for now.  At 42 weeks, I would not be permitted to give birth at the birth center, so we discussed with our midwife how we would proceed getting into labor before … Read More