When desperate drink castor oil. Yum!

So here I sit on day 13 past my due date and suffering the symptoms of castor oil. Okay, I wouldn't call it suffering but it certainly isn't comfortable. I slept well until about 3:30am this morning and decided to get up, drink some milk, watch Family Matters and check my email. I finally got an email from a girl who is using my midwife. She was due on the 9th and went into labor on the night of the full moon. The night I thought for sure I would be in labor. Well, she had her baby after 24 hours of labor. Another girl had her baby Saturday as well. She was due on the 1st. Then there is me. Due on the 24th of August and still no baby. How annoying! I think I may have my due date off by a few days but who really knows. So in my desperation for make something happen I have had many people tell me that castor oil can do the trick but be very ugly and painful. I told Joe that if I did it he would have too drink it too. That didn't work.
He went to church this morning and I stayed home to avoid all the gasps from people who were hoping to see me with a baby in my arms and not in my belly. Joe comes home around 12pm and asks if I am going to drink the stuff. I broke down and drank 4 tbs with 2 oz of orange juice. 30 min later drank another 2 tbs and then another 2 tbs 30 mintues after that. It wasn't nasty at all, but what was to come could be very nasty. One of my birthing books said that if it works I would be having contractions within half a day or may start sometime tomorrow.
I took a nap at 330 and woke up around 415. Joe decided to go for a run with Maximus and I decided a walk might help get things rolling a little. I didn't get more than .3 miles away from the house when I suddenly realized I wasn't going to make it home in time to get to the bathroom. Luckily, a thicket of woods were just to my right and I was able to duck away and take care of business without embarassing myself with all the cars driving by. That happened 6 hours after drinking the oil and nothing has happened since then. So I guess we will see if I wake up with contractions tonight or not. I am guessing it's not going to work, but I only say that because I am starting to loose hope in that this baby will ever be ready to come out. I had Joe measure my uterus and it's at 40-41cm which is about 1cm more than last Tuesday. I am praying something happens before Tuesday because that is when I see the midwife again. Our next step will be to sweep the membranes. I really don't want to go that route,but if I must then I must. I am still feeling great. The baby is still moving around a ton and I am sleeping better at night. Now if only I could have some sort of sign! Joe is leaving for a trip with a friend to climb Mount Rainer on the 23rd, so as each day passes he gets a little less excited about having to leave us for five days. I am glad that he gets the chance to go and it was me and our friend who arranged the trip as a surprise, so don't think that it was all Joe's idea to leave his wife and new baby. I am totally okay with him being able to experience this adventure. I'm guessing by the end of this week we will have a baby so check in and I will post when something happens. You can also check my facebook. Be praying for me! I am loosing my mind and my patience!