Approaching the Endgame

Dear Sophia,

We went in for my regularly-scheduled appointment today. I haven't been feeling very well (nauseated in the mornings, really tired, lots of mucus draining down the back of my throat - ugh) but things were normal - pants off, uncomfortable pelvic exam, ultrasound (HR 141), pants back on. Next, the doctor said he'd like to have some blood work done and he led us out of his office, down the hall, to an unmarked door. He put in a code on the little pad beside the door, then led us through a super-secret hallway - er, the nurses's lockers - and into the obstetrics unit to good ol' room 183. A nurse I've seen several times for getting my blood drawn came in with her little white caddie and did her thing wonderfully, as always. She tourniquet-ed my arm, commented on how beautiful my vein was (woohoo!) and did the deed. I always love seeing her when I need to get my blood drawn because she is especially gentle and I've never felt uncomfortable with her.

A couple minutes later, I was getting set up on the machines. The nurse, who was perfectly nice, found your heart beat pretty quickly, but I'm sure it was easier because you're bigger than you have been in previous visits. At one point, the nurse turned the monitor so we could see the little lines which were being produced by our bodies. It was actually really cool because I hadn't gotten to see those before and actually understand what they meant. When you started moving a lot more than normal, and creating more of the "chopped-up worm," as Aunt Kym and Daddy were calling it, a nurse came in and said "Oh, it looks like she has hiccups!" That was probably the highlight of the visit for me.

Oh, and guess what else? I had one definite contraction while I was all hooked up. I probably had a couple smaller ones too, because I definitely felt my back knotting several times and when I looked at the monitor the little black line was going up, but there was one for sure which had a significant arc. However, both the doctor and the nice nurse checked my cervix and my body still isn't quite ready. They say my cervix is soft, albeit high (and the word "posterior" was mentioned a couple times too.) The doctor said I was still fingertip (or "fingernail," as Aunt Kym said), while the nurse said she might go as far as saying I am at "1." They ended up sending us home because I wasn't progressing, and included the usual discharge instructions of "come in if your water breaks."

Well, yeah.

As it stands, I'm a bit physically uncomfortable, but it looks like we're slowly-but-surely getting to the point where you can be delivered. Our next appointment is on Uncle Adam's birthday. Maybe we'll end up celebrating two births on that day? We'll see.

Sincerely,
Mommy.