T minus one week and one day

Had my final OB office visit today...that's right, final. We talked about our options and Dr. H recommended that we not go too far over one week past the due date (which was yesterday), so we picked a date. On the evening of August 25th we'll check into the hospital and they'll apply a cervical softener overnight, which in and of itself sometimes induces labor; on the 26th, if nothing's still happening, we'll use the pitocin and go ahead and have a baby. (Thus no more office visits.) He suggested that date as Lesley, one of the midwives, will be on the ward that day and can spend one on one time with us.
This is, of course, if Acorn decides not to make his/her appearance sooner. This week I was 1.5 cm dilated and 50-60% effaced according to Dr. H. The dilation may be subjective (since I see a different person each week, Sue's 1cm last week could be the same as Dr. H's 1.5cm this week) although the effacement appears to be a significant change from last week. When he checked, he could also feel the baby's head, which means the rather squeamishly-named "mucous plug" disappeared at some point without me noticing. Again, the slight dilation, effacement, and loss of the plug don't necessarily mean I can expect labor to happen right away, but they are all signs that my body is thinking about it, along with the somewhat regular Braxton-Hicks contractions I've been getting this past week.
I am still hopeful that this will happen the natural way -- I don't love the idea of being induced, although Dr. H reassures me that while it makes the earlier stages of labor happen faster, it's not more painful. We'll see about that!
Send some momentum vibes our way this week!