37 Week Update

So we went for our 37 week appointment yesterday morning. Apparently, they don't normally "check you" until 38 weeks but when I mentioned that I've had a few painful contractions, they decided to take a look and see what's going on down there. Turns out I'm just barely dilated (1.5cm) and "thinly" effaced. The baby's head is "low," and a certain plug apparently came out when no one was looking. My Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy claims that labor/delivery can occur as soon as hours after the loss of this plug but may also wait "a week or longer." I wish the editors of the book had stopped to explain exactly how much time is meant by "or longer!"

We're convinced it'll be at least another week and probably two before anything substantial happens. I know a lot of women spend that much time waiting at 3cm dilation. But either way, things have become much more real. Neither of us could fall asleep last night and we finally pulled ourselves out of bed around 10:30 and sat up until after midnight. I had painless but strong contractions coming fairly regularly and even after falling asleep, a couple painful ones came along and woke me up. I'd really better wash some of Little Bird's things so she'll have clean clothes and blankets when the time comes.

In the meantime, my husband thought this comic strip was pretty hilarious. (You apparently need to read the mouse-over comment (something about pregnant women playing too many violent video games) to make sense of it. Good thing my video gaming is limited to Super Mario World!)