11:23 a.m. - 2006-10-05
38 Weeks and No Baby Yet
Just back from the OB's office...
Disappointingly, I've made no progress since last week, despite how it feels down below. My cervix is still so high and back that it was hard for the doctor to even get at to feel (if you're headed toward labor, it will be lower and more forward) without absolutely torturing me. So, she couldn't really tell if I was dilated at all, and thus just assumed that I wasn't. I'm also no more effaced than last week, though the baby has dropped a little lower.
Reassuringly, all the weird pain I've been having sounds normal to her. They aren't sure exactly what causes it, but they do know a lot of women complain about it, and they presume (as I did) that it's really just the baby head-butting my cervix. And the frantic movement of the baby doesn't alarm them, either -- they assume that any movement is good (but the doctor seemed more convinced that it was a fetus doing that to me, and not an alien, as I have been thinking).
We also talked about induction, something I've been wondering about. It seems like every OB has a different philosophy about that. While I want to have this baby born as soon as possible, I can't imagine voluntarily inducing labor before my due date for no good reason. This is my OB's philosophy, too. They don't want me to go past 41 1/2 weeks, and I don't either, so they like to make arrangements for scheduled inductions if they think the mom will want it. And oh baby, the mom wants it. If I do go late, I'll most likely be scheduled to be induced on the 30th. It would be nice to do it over that weekend, actually (like, the 28th or 29th), but the doctor said that most OB's won't schedule induction over the weekend (for no other reason that cutting into their free time, I presume).
Anyway, I know I shouldn't be getting so anxious about all this just yet. Realistically, I still have two full weeks until my due date, and anything could happen -- as the doctor said, my water could break tonight (which reminds me -- should I be always sitting on a bunch of old towels or something?). But anxiety is my specialty, and if I stop now, I might never know how to be anxious again once the baby gets here for real.
But probably not.
