39 week appointment

Mr. Ibis came with me to my appointment today. Because of the weather, the parking lot was nearly empty - it's almost always jam packed. Somehow we still had to wait a good while to see Dr. J, but when she came in she was in a cheerful mood and seemed to have plenty of time to spend with us. In fact she kind of stood around at the end as if waiting for us to ask questions... but honestly, what is there to talk about now? We're just waiting.

Anyway, I'm still right where I was. 1 cm dilated, 70 or 80% effaced. She saw on my chart that last week's NP called me at 70% and she said I'm about there, but she'd say a little more than 70. Whatever. Clearly it doesn't matter very much.

Presumably the baby's head is still at zero, and she could feel him there, but from feeling my abdomen she said his head was still pretty high and not in my pelvis yet. Which is confusing. Then she added that there's a "whole lot of noggin" there. So I guess I just have a giant-headed baby whose head extends from my pelvic bone way up into my abdomen... SWEET! That should be fun to squeeze out of my vagina.

She also eyeballed Mr. I and noted that he's pretty tall (6' 1"). Of course Mr. I had to tell her the legendary story of how he broke his mother's back coming out... have I mentioned this is my favorite story EVER? Dr. J said, "Oh - it must have been the coccyx - her tailbone? Well, we'll hope this baby is just long...."

Dr. J remembered that we had discussed me going to 41 weeks before talking about induction. I don't remember that, but it's entirely possible that I've forgotten. I don't care. The game plan now is I go in a week from Friday - I'll be one day past my due date - and get a Non-stress Test (NST) which is basically just fetal monitoring and checking my fluid levels. Then I'll go in Monday and get another NST, and the following Thurs/Fri for another NST, and then we'll schedule an induction. Hopefully I will never get to the first NST.

Mr. Ibis is now guessing that I'm going to have the baby this Saturday on the 9th. The Unicorn guessed the 10th (we kept telling him dates until he gave us a reaction and that was the one he picked). My guess is the 18th. My mom is here the 12th through the 19th and I don't have high hopes that she is going to meet this baby.