41 weeks and waiting...

Made it to 41 weeks... Ariel is so comfy she does not want to join the real world! Appt on Tue showed that she had 15.3 cm of amniotic fluid (still a good amount), she had many accelerations on the EFM strip for the nonstress test - she was wiggling around the whole time, and cervix was soft and 1 cm dilated, but not much effaced (not shortened much), and Ariel was still not engaged. During the ultrasound she was very cute and stuck out her tongue repeatedly and had her little fist with thumb pointed out at her mouth. Our plan was to wait for spontaneous labor since she was doing so well and was no indication for induction. Next appt was 3 days later (Fri) to repeat the same exams, except the AFI (amniotic fluid amount) since there was so much on Tue. Again the nonstress test went very well and I was 1 cm dilated, 60% effaced this time. The midwife verified somewhat vigorously that my cervix was 1 cm completely through and there would be potential for certain induction methods (stripping membranes, catheter balloon, artificial rupture of membranes...) if needed in the future. There was no reason to suggest induction yet, so next appt was scheduled for Mon (but hoping labor will come on the wknd!). After appt had some painful cramping and lower back pain for a couple hours that finally subsided. Besides losing bits of mucus plug throughout the past week or so and a few short episodes of cramping/back pain, softer stools, and tiredness, not much else new this past week. Stretch marks are painful at times... She is probably not a very large baby, by the time she is born probably 7lbs, maybe more if she takes a while longer... She is still quite active and Amanda has enjoyed feeling all of her crazy movements this past week.
Hopefully she will come soon! If my water breaks then everything should move quickly... but so far she is not engaged and there is too much water in the way for her head to get very low... so we will see how the weekend goes. Decide Monday whether or not we want to do induction or keep waiting. Tue will be 42 weeks, so will not be able to deliver at the birth center after Tue. We toured a couple hospitals just in case and they both seem like they will be sufficient alternatives if needed, and still may consider home birth but not as likely. Ariel Grace is taking after the women on my side... we tend to be late for everything.. ahh.