Fermentation's not stuck, it just never started

Sadly, I think the technique on my first mead (the Antipodal Mead from TCJOHB) left a lot to be desired. I 'brewed' it on Monday, but I was late meeting SWMBO for a movie and it was still to hot to pitch my smack pack (the Wyeast Sweet Mead), so I tossed on an airlock and left. When I got home about seven hours later (after two movies, lunch and dinner) I shook the carboy for about a minute and pitched. There were still no bubbles in the airlock this morning, so I assume that it hasn't started fermenting yet.

After listening to the Basic Brewing Radio on mead, I realized that I didn't aerate anywhere near as much as I needed to (my OG was north of 1.1). I also dumped in my yeast nutrient before I left, so if I didn't shake enough it's probably all at the bottom where the yeast can't get at it.

Is it too late to shake the hell out of it? Do you think just swirling it around gently would work? I haven't taken another hydrometer reading yet, so maybe fermentation started but is going very slowly.

I don't mind waiting, as long as I know it's progressing. If this is going to take forever, but eventually complete, that's ok. I just don't want it sitting if I can give 'er a good shake and get this party started.

my last melomel took almost 2wks before it showed signs of true active fermentation and i left it be for almost 4 mo before racking to

Oh, you can stir/shake, etc to aerate. It needs the oxygen. Go ahead and stir it up.

Ok... I thought that aeration was bad once it got to the fermentation stage. Should I take a gravity reading first to see if anything's started, or does it not really matter?

If you cannot see tiny bubbles shooting up the side of the carboy, it hasn't started fermenting yet, so go ahead and shake it.

mead doesn't ferment as vigorously as beer...so don't expect to see stuff swirling around inside.
but you can see bubbles going up the sides, like an opened bottle of soda..just smaller bubbles.