38 Weeks

I went for a prenatal checkup yesterday, and I got some more exciting news. My cervix is 80% effaced. 80%! Also, Janice (my midwife) told me that this time, she could feel the baby's head. So, that means he's dropped. I'm not totally sure how all this works, but she told me she had to push his head down to reach around to the opening of my cervix to see how much I've dilated. She said I'm somewhere between 1.5--2 cm dilated, but she couldn't be 100% sure. While she was pushing his head down, that was pretty painful for me, so she didn't it for very long. I asked if all this means he could be born early, and she said it's possible. She said I could go into labor tonight or two weeks from tonight. Waiting is really hard!

Everything else was fine at the appointment too. Isaac still has a strong heartbeat, and my blood pressure is still within the normal range. My uterus has also grown since last week - from 37.5 to 39 cm. I asked her if she could tell how much he weighs, and she estimated that he's about 7 pounds now. She also told me that I'm "all baby," which was reassuring. Hopefully it won't take too long to lose the weight if that's the case.

I've had contractions since yesterday's visit. I had some yesterday and then again today at work. Isaac also feels heavier in my stomach, and there's been quite a bit of pressure. Part of me would really like to have just two more days at work, because we're heavy into fundraising this week and progress reports go home on Friday. There are also a few minor things I need to do to be totally ready for the sub to come. The other part of me, though, really doesn't care about all of that and just can't wait for him to be born. Not knowing when I'm going to go into labor is really driving me crazy. Did I mention that waiting is really hard?