I'm Dilating... and Waiting... and Waiting

Hello all! Very pregnant me, checking in! We are 39 weeks along today and a solid 1 centimeter dilated. I went last Wednesday for my 38-week checkup and had my cervix checked, I was one centimeter dilated. The nurse checking me had to go around the baby's head to find my cervix, that's how low he is in my pelvic cavity. As hard as she was pushing, it felt like she was trying to push the baby out my nose!!! When she finished, she seemed all excited that she had blood on her fingers... bloody show, they call it. If I had seen that without having an internal exam, it would have meant that labor was just around the corner. I tell you what, Junior did not appreciate all the poking around she was doing! While she was examining me, he was kicking all over the place. He doesn't seem to like being pushed around in there. He did the same thing when I was checked at 36 weeks to see if his head was down.

I went in for my 39-week checkup today. I've been having contractions every day, just one or two here and there, but I was afraid I was going to be dilated a lot because of them. A week's worth of contractions starting at 37 weeks was enough to get me to one centimeter. I don't want him to be late, but I want him to at least wait until my mom is able to be here. She's driving in on Sunday afternoon. I really want her to be here, so she can tell me what's going on with my body during labor. She went through labor with all three of us kids, even though she only went through natural delivery with one of us. For delivery, it's going to be just me and Bryan, but I'm going to have lots of coaching for that. Bryan's done his reading, although we should probably practice here and there on the breathing techniques. As far as labor goes, though, I know the nurses will likely be in and out during that, at least until I get dilated to a certain amount.

Anyway, I really liked the nurse I saw today. I've seen someone different pretty much every time I've been in for an appointment, but that's par for the course in a military hospital. I think I've actually only seen a doctor once, the rest of the time, it's been nurse practitioners. I know I'm seeing a doctor for my next appointment (if he doesn't come before then). But the nurse I saw today saw that I had a list, and was actually glad I was asking questions. She didn't seem like she was rushing me or anything. She answered all of my questions and asked plenty of her own. She quizzed me on when I should call Labor and Delivery, signs of labor to look for, and bad things to call immediately about. I asked her about estimating Junior's weight, because I know the weight thresholds that gave my mom trouble during delivery, and I wanted to better prepare myself for the possibility of a C-section if he was too big. So she felt around him and said that she estimated his weight to be about 7 and 1/2 pounds. That's a good weight. Of course I don't know her track record on how often she is right about that kind of thing or how far off she is on those kinds of estimates, but still, it gave me a little bit of peace of mind. She checked my cervix, much more gently than last time, and told me that I was still a one... "wow, a very solid one." She thought that maybe the last nurse was "giving me grace" when she said I was one centimeter, but she figured she must be wrong. So I may be closer to two centimeters, but still, not that far progressed. She didn't say whether I was effaced at all, though. She did tell me that the results of my Group B Strep test came back negative, which is good. I had the test done, but no one had given me the results yet. She told me what I needed to do to get pre-admitted, so that I don't have to worry about paperwork when I come into the hospital in full-blown labor. So I got that done.

I finally started packing our bags for the hospital. The diaper bag thingy that Bryan picked out came in the mail yesterday, so I could pack the bag for the baby. Here's a picture:

I was pretty skeptical about it, since I want a sling carrier for the baby. We didn't get a traditional car seat that comes in and out of the vehicle, instead opting for one that can be used from birth to 80lbs or so. I didn't want to have to lug it around all the time. But we needed something to carry Junior around in besides our arms all the time. But I was worried that this Baby Bandolier, as it's called, would interfere with carrying the baby in a sling. We'll find out when the sling comes in the mail. I was also worried that it wouldn't hold everything we'd need for Junior, but I just packed it today, and it does wonderfully.

In other news, we just installed the car seat. Bryan being a guy, he didn't want to use the instruction manual, which really frustrated me since this is such a huge safety issue, but he was already frustrated about the whole thing in general. He is under the impression that we're going to have to bring the car seat into the hospital for them to look at it. So he wasn't really thrilled about going to the trouble of installing it now just to have to uninstall it at the hospital and re-install it. So I just stood back and handed out advice as I dared. He finally got it installed, and got it level. It took about 45 minutes, but the worst part is that I know it's not completely right. I will probably go get the car seat's instruction manual later and take a look at it. That's how we did with Junior's bed; I did the manual reading while he did the manual labor. One of our biggest worries with the seat was that it would be too wide to fit all three of us comfortably and safely in our little three-seat pickup. We'd had experience with car seats in our truck with Julie, the little girl I babysit for, but we were concerned that the seat we'd bought would be wider than any of hers had been. It actually wasn't. We both fit in the truck with the car seat okay. Of course, it's not completely comfortable, but it wasn't horrible.

Anyway, I guess I'm going to end this mini-novella here and go get the car seat manual. It's getting dark, so we won't fix it tonight, but it will be good to know. We won't fix it tomorrow either, unless I drive him to work. He's on duty tomorrow. But I still want to get it right before Junior gets here, of course. Now we're just hoping that the hospital will come out to the truck to check the seat instead of having us bring it in. Hoping... hoping... hoping...

Wish me luck on this baby coming on time!

TTFN!!!

Here's the pictures I promised:

The difference in what I look like between these two pictures is amazing. You have to look close to see I'm pregnant in the first one, but I'm as big as a house in the second... Interesting...