Day #15

More doctor appointments.

I had an NST this morning at 9 a.m. Everything looked good there. Dominick wasn't awake when I got there and his heart rate wasn't going up like they need to see it do, so they had to "buzz" him this morning. That woke him up and he's been up ever since I think! They checked my fluid and it's down but not scary down. It's at 9.70 which the tech said is ok this late in the game. They used to say "normal range" was 10-20 but now it's aparently 8-24 so I'm doing ok there still.

My OB appointment was at 10:30 but I know better than to think I would really get in there that early. I got to a room around 12 p.m. and they checked Dom's heart rate which was in the 140's. Still healthy! And then the diabetic nurse came in to check my blood sugars. They are still high in the morning. Which has nothing to do with what I'm eating. So she's upping my medicine at night for the next two weeks. Which is fine. The dr. came in around 12:45 p.m. We chatted and he felt my belly. He said that my uterus is soft and moving...I don't have a clue as to what that means but he didn't say it in a bad way so I guess that's a good thing! He was getting ready to leave and asked if I had any questions. I asked if he wanted to do the membrane stripping today like he had mentioned last time and he thought that we did that last week. So we did that today...

It wasn't the worst experience ever but it was definitely not the most comfortable experience I've ever had either! First he checked to see if I was dilated...I'm still only dilated a "fingertip" so around 1 cm. Then he gave me a warning. He told me that some women find "membrane stripping" so unbearably painful and others find it merely uncomfortable. He told me to tell him if I was hurting him because that was not his goal at all. But the longer he could do it, the better my chances or going into labor on my own are. So when he started, I tried to remember my breathing exercises from class. It wasn't unbearably painful but it was way more than just uncomfortable, I thought! I was able to make it through as long as he needed to do it though. He told me that I was doing a great job and that labor would be nothing since I did the breathing exercises so well...Yea right! I know he says that to everyone but even I'm not naive enough to think that an internal exam is just as painful as labor...Hopefully it's close though! :-)

He told me that with how big the baby is and where he is situated (he is right on my cervix; he could feel his head) he's hoping that I'll go into labor on my own within the next week. Either way though, induction is two weeks from Thursday...we're getting there!!

After he was done I was in a lot of pain. Lots of cramping, which he said is normal. Hopefully it will turn into something more. I've been cramping ever since and it's 3:00. I guess I should rephrase that...hopefully it will turn into something productive OR hopefully it will just stop and wait for the real deal!

Tonight I'm going to my friend Ashley's for dinner. I'm really hoping that the cramps will be done by then and I can just enjoy a night out with some friends.

Luckily I have NOTHING to do tomorrow. Today felt very rushed. I'll be glad to sleep in and get to be lazy. Nick will have to let me too because it's my birthday!! No chores for me tomorrow!!