37 Week Checkup and a New Friend

I have found that if you prepare for something that is possible, whether you want it or not, it will not happen. BUT if you remain completely unprepared, it is sure to happen. Since I'm wanting this muffin to cook a couple more weeks, I went ahead and packed bags for Clinton and myself before heading to the doctor's appointment today. This is the third week in a row I have done this.

I keep bags packed for us with our bare minimum necessities, but just to make sure the doctor didn't examine me and send me straight to the hospital to deliver, I packed ALL necessary and unnecessary items we might need. I then loaded them into the car with the cameras, phone charger, and stroller and headed off to the doctor.

As I had hoped, the report was good. I did not need to go across the parking lot to the hospital to deliver...whew! I was, however, dilated to a 2 and 60-70% effaced. Meaning I'm in perfect condition to induce at 39 weeks, as we are hoping to do, but no promises could be made that the baby wouldn't fall out before then. (I go to a group practice and every doctor seems to have a different opinion about how quickly things can transpire...)

And for the really good news...I lost a pound! ;-) After my weight loss two weeks ago followed by my incredible 7 pound gain last week, I was happy to see that I hadn't done as much damage this week! Every time I step on the scale and see the numbers rolling higher and higher, all I think about is the work it's going to take to get this weight off!

...and now for my new friend. I seem to have lots and lots of contractions during my pregnancies. Up until now I've been able to take my terbutaline and some Tylenol and wait for them to subside. Now that I am considered full term, I've been banned from my much-loved terbutaline....so I have to sit and suffer...and try to decide if I am really in labor or just having another fun round of "practice" labor. The last two nights have required me to make such a decision...

Making this decision is not always easy because I'm often in enough pain that I can't think straight and I sure don't have the ability to sit and time the frequency and duration of contractions to decide whether or not it is a find-a-sitter-call-the-hubby-home-rush-to-the-ER situation. However, there is this awesome website, Contraction Master, that allows me to lay in bed and just hit the space bar as the contractions stop and start. Last night's lasted about 2 1/2 hours, but after the first 90 minutes I noticed the contractions were going from 4-6 minutes apart to 10-12 minutes apart. The website tracks how long each contraction is, how far apart they are and how long you've been having them. (And if you're cool enough to have an iPhone, which I am not, they're adding a special feature for you!)

It's so nice to have real answers when you call the doctor. Instead of the doctor asking how long the contractions are lasting and me responding with, "FOREVER!!", I can actually say, "Between 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 minutes...blah blah blah." Makes for a more sophisticated sounding conversation.

Actually hoping for a couple more weeks of "fun",


...oh, and the reason for wanting to wait a couple of more weeks, is because my dad is scheduled to come up here and take care of Clinton. Seeing as Clinton asks to call his "Poppy" and cries when we hang up, I would really like for Clinton to have this time with his Pop. I also like the idea of Clinton getting to be at home and in his normal routine while we're at the hospital instead of finding places for him to go and stay.