Weekly Pregnancy Post

Thirty-eight weeks. Two centimeters dilated (at least), 80% effaced, and her head is in the negative one station, meaning it's as far down as it can go without me being in active labor. If you've ever been pregnant than you understand those numbers. If you haven't (or if it's been a while) this basically means that she is more than ready to come out. In fact, my doctor said that some women would already be in labor at this point. If this were my second or third pregnancy I'd likely have delivered by now. She said that because my uterine muscles are all nice and tight I can hold her in there just a little longer and stronger and for some reason she's just not ready to come out yet.

I certainly have held up my end of the deal in helping motivate her to come out. I do about 40 minutes on the elliptical or treadmill each day, I've cleaned my house from top to bottom, I've eaten way too much spicy food this past week, and I've taken lots of hot showers and baths. I still think all of those labor-inducing tricks are bogus. She'll come when she's good and ready but I am certainly good and ready. Baby girl is resting on a nerve in my upper abdomen which is causing some pain, the swelling only continues to worsen in my legs, and I still have trouble breathing even though my belly has noticeably dropped (just compare the above picture to one a few weeks ago). Last night I thought for sure my water was breaking as I was in the bathroom every 5-10 minutes. I think I'm starting to leak small amounts of amniotic fluid because I always feel like I'm peeing myself but I've been assured that when my water actually breaks I'll most certainly know. My contractions are still varied in pattern but can come for a few hours at a time, every twenty minutes, lasting about a minute each. Last night they came about every ten minutes, adding to my anxiety that labor was near. We know it's only a matter of days now but it's the not knowing when that's starting to get to us both. We're both too anxious to play the waiting game any longer!

We're hoping this is our last weekly pregnancy post but she may just decide to hold out until her due date, despite the progress she's already made towards delivery. Her daddy was sort of hoping to watch the Superbowl game with her today. It would've been rather fun for her to cheer the Packers onto a victory by entering the world today but given that it's just two hours to kick-off, I'd say it's safe to assume she won't be a Superbowl baby. I have, however, gotten pretty good at deciphering her kicks though and I'm pretty sure she's chanting "Go Pack Go!!" in there :)