38 week update

I turned 38 weeks yesterday. Yay! The days go by slowly but the weeks go by quickly. We had a doctor appointment yesterday (Josh has been coming to all of the appts- such an invested Dad already). Still 1cm dilated and 60% effaced with a very soft cervix. I wasn't disappointed that there wasn't any change because I know it doesn't mean much. Dr. Song said it could be any day now. I told her that I hadn't felt her move quite as much that day but I wasn't too concerned because I had felt movement throughout the day. I think Dr. Song had a case of CYA because she ordered a NST for me (Non-Stress Test). They hooked up two monitors to my belly and had me lay on a chair for about an hour. One monitor tracked the baby's heart rate and the other tracked contractions and movement. (For some reason) they were surprised to see that I had fairly strong contractions every 4-5 minutes that lasted 60-90 seconds. Braxton Hicks contractions normally only last about 20 seconds and come very sporadically (not in a consistent pattern). The good news is that Claire responded well to the contractions- her heart rate didn't dip at all. After having constant contractions the past 2+ months, I have become quite in tune with my body because I would say, "I think a contraction is starting" and then a few seconds later it would show up on the screen. Claire had good movement throughout the test so they weren't concerned. Based on the frequency and length of contractions, it should be any day now! Dr. Song also said that she thinks I am going to have a quick labor. With all of these contractions my body has gotten a lot of "practice" in and she thinks it will respond very well to labor. Her quick labor prediction is also based on the state of my cervix. I am all about quick labor- as long as it's not dangerously quick!

We are just so excited to meet Claire. I want her out NOW! :) And the reason I want her out is much more about being excited to finally meet her and be with her than it is about wanting to be done being pregnant. True, I have a terrible time sleeping and I'm uncomfortable, but I think I'm doing pretty well for being 38 weeks. We just want to be with our baby girl and begin our family. I was hoping she'd come last weekend so I took a super long walk on Saturday and made spicy pasta. No luck. Every night I go to bed I think, maybe tonight!

We are very, very sad to say we won't be attending Heather and Sean's wedding in Wisconsin on Saturday. It breaks our hearts that we can't be with them on the most important day of their life. We will definitely be there in spirit and be praying for them and thinking of them all day long. We love you guys. We hope you understand.