Dangerous Wonder

I love how as one approaches their due date the seemingly never ending questions are.. "How are you feeling?" or "Have you had the baby yet?" It really doesn't bother me and I appreciate the interest others show in my life. But in order to "kill two birds", I'm going to try to keep the blog updated with all the pertinent info.

Yesterday, I had my 38 week appointment with Dr O'Connell. I had lost a little bit more weight, which is fine for a woman of my size. In fact, the Dr keeps complimenting me on my weight control! Yippee! My uterus measured smaller then last week (for each week you are pregnant your uterus should generally measure the same number in centimeters, thus I should measure 38 cms this week). This week it only measured 35 cms. This is a good indication that Abi has finally engaged into my pelvis and is starting to make the final preparations for "landing". When the Dr checked my cervix I was dilated to 2 cms and 50% effaced, which seems like some progress from last week (1cm, 50%); but for those who have done cervical checks it's almost a negligible difference just depending on who checks you. He did confirm that Abi had "dropped" though, which of course is great. We decided to go ahead and "encourage" nature a little by letting him "strip" my membranes. *Side note here: I owe my friend Michele a huge apology. When she told me that stripping membranes hurt like heck, I kind of "poopooed" her and said maybe it was just her. My bad.... that was extremely uncomfortable and rather painful. I assume this is the case because I wasn't all that dilated or effaced. Anyway, Michele you were right!* The stripping of the membranes involves the practitioner manually separating some of the amniotic sac from the wall of the uterus. The purpose is to agitate things enough to get labor to start on it's own. For people who are 3-5cm dilated and fairly effaced (70-100%)when this is performed it is usually enough to "push them over the edge" and get labor started within 12 hours. For those like me in the 1-2 cm range it may help progress things, but not necessarily in the immediate future. So all that to say... we still wait just like everybody else. :) Despite all that we as humans have learned we still don't know what starts labor or why it may start at certain times and not others. I think God in his sovereignty keeps some mysteries from us, just so we remember who is in control and the true author of life. That said... I wait in peace for His perfect timing.