Well things are starting to happen! Not a lot of change in how dilated I am. I went from 1cm funneled to a finger tip to a full 1cm all the way through now. Last week I was 30% effaced and now I'm at 75% so that's exciting! And the baby dropped a bit more! She is now at a -1 for station so almost fully engaged!
Because I was a full 1 cm my midwife was also able to get in to sweep my membranes. Not exactly a comfortable procedure, but I didn't find it as bad as I've heard. Basically what this means is that she is able to get a finger through and run it between the baby's bag of water (and her head since she's almost fully engaged) and my cervix, kind of like breaking a seal. It can do nothing, or it can help me dilate/efface more and encourage her to drop or it could even trigger labor in the next 24-48 hours. We're of course hoping for that last option to happen!
If you're confused on the terms here is some help:
Station: How far the baby is "down" in the pelvis, measured by the relationship of the fetal head to the ischial spines (sit bones). Measured in negative and positive numbers. -3 is a floating baby, 0 station is said to be engaged in the pelvis, and +3 is crowning.
Effacement: This is how thin your cervix is. If you think of your cervix as funnel-like, and measuring about 2 inches, you will see that 50% effaced means that your cervix is now about 1 inch in length. As the cervix softens and dilates the length decreases as well.
Dilation: How far your cervix has opened. It starts at 0 through the pregnancy and toward the end starts to open. 10 centimeters being the widest.
Other comments: I gave my midwife a copy of our birth preferences (some call it a birth plan) this week. She commented that it was very well put together and that it was a great plan. She also said that with our preferences we are going to have a beautiful birth! That's what we're hoping for! I also called our doula right after the appointment to give her the updates and she said to walk walk walk tonight and try to get a good romantic evening in with Brandon (wink wink). Both can help bring on labor, so who am I to argue! She mentioned that her water broke the morning after her membranes were swept, so hopefully we end up with a similar experience!
My midwife is on call Thursday through Friday morning and again on Tuesday during the day this week...so again, we're hoping that if labor happens that she comes during those times! Of course we'll take her at any point though.
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