We had a looong visit today.

First up was an other ultrasound of Joe. They checked to make sure he was “breathing” ( his little lungs take in fluid and let it back out, which is practice for breathing air on the outside) and that he had enough fluid to move around in. They also checked for gross movement (like waving an arm or bending a knee), along with finer muscle tone (opening and closing his hand). He took a while to do that last bit — his little fists were clenched the whole time — but he must have done it eventually because they let me go and said he had done well. Yay!

You know what else they said they could see on the ultrasound? He has hair!

We didn’t get photos to take home this time, but it’s just as well — the bigger he gets, the harder it is for me to tell what I’m looking at. You can only see an elbow or foot at a time instead of the whole baby.

Next up was a fetal non-stress test, where they hooked me up to two around-the-belly monitors: one to record his heartbeat and one to record my contractions. He kept moving away from where they put the sensor, so it would drop out from time to time — but then he’d turn back and it came in loud and strong. I didn’t have any contractions, so no news there.

Finally there was the pelvic exam, which showed NO CHANGE from last week; nothing has moved down or opened up like it’s supposed to. So we have one more appointment (Thursday of next week) and then the doctor wants to induce labor. I don’t think I’m OK with that option, so hopefully Joe will make an appearance before then. I wish I knew what he was waiting for — we’re so ready to meet him!

That last bit was very discouraging, so Patrick cheered me up by reading two books to my belly when he got home — The Poky Little Puppy and The Taxi That Hurried. (We were going for a punctuality theme; here’s hoping Joe got the picture.)

After story time, I decided that a chocolate malt from Hardee’s would hit the spot. Patrick jumped up and was out the door to get it in seconds. What a guy!