40 Week Appointment

Well, I just got back from another exciting appointment at the midwives! Actually, they had a water main break at the usual location (90th and Dodge), so they moved everybody to the new clinic at the 192nd and Dodge location. They said it had been quite the day because they were throwing rooms together this morning to get them ready for patients this afternoon. The midwives had not moved to the new location yet, so half the supplies weren't there and it sounded like it had been quite the day...

Anyway, back to my appointment.

Platelet count- 118,000 Up from last time!
Gained one pound, low blood pressue, great heartbeat

Measuring 37-37 1/2, this is lower than it was last week, which shows that I am dropping every week. My midwife checked me and she said she could reach the head easily! (This is quite different from two weeks ago when my midwife couldn't get to the head at all-I was so high yet.) She also said I was about 50% effaced. I said, "I could still sit here for a week, right?" And she said, "yes, you can."

I then asked her how long she would let me go overdue or how this would work at the end with my history. She said that with my platelet issue, she would like to incude me after a week overdue to avoid any problems. I told her, "But I went 8 days overdue with Courtney, can't I just have 9-10 days?" She said it would depend on how things were going. (Remember, I see three different midwives and each one will have thier own opinion on this!)

She said to come back in in a week and evaluate things again, so I have an appointment for next Wednesday. My week overdue date is Friday, the 11th. If I am still around, she said, we could do a bio-physical profile (ultrasound) and non-stress test that day and go from there.

She said she would like to avoid me getting induced too. If I have problems that arise, I will definitely agree to be induced, but I would like to avoid it myself- especially if I do not get an epidural. I've had both kinds of labors and the natural one was definitely easier!

She said if I do go into labor naturally, I would probably follow the same pattern as I had with Courtney. Here's what happened with her:
Thursday, August 10th- felt her drop as we were walking to a park to play with Megan
Friday, August 11th- contractions every 15 minutes for 2-3 hours, went out to eat at Famous Dave's
Saturday, August 12th- bloody show in the morning
Sunday, August 13th- sparadic contractions (spent the afternoon at Grandma Dee's lakehouse, yes, Matt was out on the jetski and I was having contractions)
Monday, August 14th- Woke up at 1 am with contractions 10-15 minutes apart, they stayed like this until 5 am. Got out of bed and continued to contract until about 8:30, they got to about 5 minutes apart and then gradually stopped and Matt went to work.
Matt and I went to the midwife at 10 am and I was 4 cm dilated. She stripped my membranes around 10:30-11 and I was back at the hospital at 2 pm. At 4:19 pm, Courtney Grace Ruwe was born!

So, if you want to do me a favor, pray that this little boy decides to make an appearance soon (within a week would be nice)! He's starting, but we need to keep this process moving! Pray that I can have manageable pain during my labor and there would be a nice, healthy baby boy in the end!