11/3/11

I'm feeling a little disappointed after my doctor appointment today. The last two weeks the doctors have told me that I'm 1cm dilated and 50-60% effaced. Today was the same though Dr. Jamison, a new doctor to me, told me I was much less effaced. I really don't like the sound of moving backwards.

At the beginning of the exam she talked to us about when to call the hospital. She said it's much more comfortable to labor at home so we shouldn't call the hospital unless my water breaks or when my contractions get so bad that I'm crying or want to cry and they are 5 minutes or less apart for at least an hour. I was a little concerned about this timing since we live 20 minutes from the hospital, but she said that's not going to be a problem. She's never had anyone not make it to the hospital.

I'm wondering if my water will break. I know that not everyone experiences this. Sometimes the doctor has to use this hook thing that looks kind of like a crochet hook to break the sack that holds the amniotic fluid before delivery. Sometimes the sack breaks high so there's a slow leak and sometimes it breaks low and it's a gush of fluid. Sometimes contractions start before your water breaks, sometimes they start after and in rare cases they don't start at all and that means the doctor needs to give you pitocin to induce labor and start contractions. Once your water breaks the baby needs to be delivered within 24 hours or there's a risk of infection.

So now we're all ready to get ourselves to the doctor, but it looks like we have to wait a little longer. She did try to make us feel better by telling us that most babies are delivered between one week before and one week after their due date. Our due date is next Saturday so between the 6th and the 19th we'll most likely meet our baby.

On our way in to the appointment today we ran into a lady that we had Lamaze and Breastfeeding class with who is due November 10th, she said that she's not dilated at all nor is she effaced. She also said that her baby hasn't started dropping yet. She is showing symptoms of preeclampsia though so they're probably going to induce her next week.

I wish I could know when she's coming, but I don't want to be induced if I don't have to be.

I hope that by next week we'll see some progress. I'd really like to meet our baby soon. We're both so excited. Everytime I take a deep breath Josh reaches for his contraction timer.

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