More Baby

I'm so not the first-time-mother who is totally ready, just can't wait, thinks every twing might be the beginning of being "time". In fact, I'm quite the opposite. I still have a hard time believing this is really happening, I am not counting on it until I get much closer to my due date, when everyone says I look ready to go I say I'm not ready yet, and I haven't even set up the nursery yet. All the stuff we got is just sitting in what is going to be the baby's room. At my last appointment my doctor was so optimistic that it could be any day. He told me to pack a bag and not to leave town. I informed him that I am going to a wedding in Phoenix next weekend. He said that if I start having any contractions I am not to go up to Phoenix. I'm not worried or concerned. His optimism comes from that the baby is head down, he says that the baby has dropped, and that I am dilated to a 2. I'm 37 weeks- so technically it could be any time now. But again I'm not quite ready and I really don't think it will happen early. I really don't want to be past 40 weeks (May 10th), but that is for selfish reasons, we are planning a trip and if the baby comes after 40 weeks we are going to have to scrap taking the trip because the baby won't be old enough yet and we are concerned that I won't be healed enough to go. But if this kid is born "on time" we can still keep our plans. So again I am not concerned about an early delivery. For the most part family history plays a big part in when the baby comes. Yes every women is different, but if the baby is "early", "on time", or "late" is more probably if you have a family history of it. All of my mom's babies, including baby number one came right on the 40 week due date (38 weeks from conception). Apparently it is the same story with my aunts. Since my dad's mom has passed away, I called my Great Aunt Dorothy to ask about my Grandma and her sisters. Aunt Dorothy said that Grandma had all her babies right on her due date or just a few days before-none came after her due date. Same with her sisters. So I feel confident that I have a good family history of babies coming "on time". Also the house we just moved into, across the street lives a midwife who has a birthing home next to her home. They have a birthing tub, an ultra sound, a heart monitor, and all the other basic convinces. I feel comfortable with whenever I go into labor because we are planning to labor with the midwife in the birthing home until I'm fully in labor, and fully dilated to an 8. There a lot of reasons for this choice, one I don't want to go to the hospital only to be sent home, I don't want to be at the hospital in labor for more than 3 hours, and I don't want have a c-section (although there is no direct correlation to any one factor, there is a data to so that the longer you are laboring in the hospital the more likely you are to receive a c-section, this doesn't me causality, but I am willing to do anything wise and reasonable to have a healthy baby and a healthy recovery.) Before I was expecting I had no intention of using a midwife, I have met too many "crack-pot" midwives. But after doing a lot of research and meeting Darci and how down to Earth she is and how educated she is, we feel really confident that this is the best choice for us. Since I'm getting this close, I guess I better start getting ready.