My first trip to L&D

The appointment today was a bit more intense than either Chris or I was expecting. We knew we wanted an internal to see if any progress was being made, I wanted to ask how long they would let me go before inducing and also we wanted to talk about reduced fetal movement again. Claire doesn't seem to move as much as she used to but she really is running out of space in there. So they measured my belly and today I was measuring 37.5cm when I am at 39 weeks. The internal revealed that I was 4cm 70% effaced and at -1 station. The midwife said that we can't really get too excited about those numbers and that while we could have a baby today it could also be a few more weeks. I have been having little contractions but not full on period crampy contractions. Mostly just the top of my uterus squeezes down but not in any pattern.

She then hooked me up to the non stress test monitors again. Claire was not moving around so they had to buzz her with what they call the "baby alarm clock." It felt like a cell phone on vibrate. The first time they used it when moved a tiny bit. There is a certain amount of time you have to wait before doing it again so the midwife left us alone in the room and encouraged Chris to talk to the belly. She wasn't responding with movement to that either. They gave me some apple juice and buzzed her again. The buzz didn't get her to move this time. Her heart rate seemed good but they wanted to check my amniotic fluid levels. They have a mini ultrasound machine there that they used to try and look at the fluid. She needed to get a shot of the fluid without the umbilical cord in the picture but was not able to. So we got sent over to labor and delivery.

At the hospital we needed to do a more extensive non stress test and a biophysical profile ultrasound. By this time I was spotting a bit due to the internal exam. Contractions were being recorded on the monitors but again nothing I was really feeling consistently. It was about 1:15 and Chris and I decided that he would go to work and I would call him if anything was happening. I got to order lunch and hang out for more than an hour before the ultrasound was ready for me. Melanie and my sister in law came and sat with me and also came to the ultrasound. I told Melanie that she better get there because today was her guess and it was all her fault (she predicted my nephew's due date last July so she assumed she would be right about today too). We finished with the ultrasound around 4 and went back to the labor and delivery exam room. The ultrasound tech told me that the score on the profile was an 8 which is the highest score. And my amniotic fluid level was normal. She really had to jostle Claire to get her to move just a tiny bit to record though. I was 8 pounds at birth and my brother was over 9. Melanie was 7.5lbs at 4 weeks early so I have always assumed that this was not a small baby. The ultrasound tech said that she had chubby legs to match the chubby cheeks. I can't wait to pinch them!

About 15 minutes after getting back to the room the nurse came in with the results and said that the ultrasound showed that my cervix was long and closed so none of those exciting numbers from before. The nurse called my midwife and the midwife was very surprised by this and asked the nurse to check me again. So another internal exam. Yuck. Ouch. The nurse confirmed that the cervix was not ripe and that there would be no baby today. Dang.

I was discharged around 5pm. We came home and had dinner from Norma's (Wednesday is normally family dinner night with my brother and his family and Melanie and her boyfriend). After the crew left I fell asleep on the couch having some cramping still but again nothing regular, just waking up now when Chris got home after a very long, tense day at work. I am going to be calling the midwife tomorrow to ask what the heck was going on, if I could have had that much progress and then regressed or what. We weren't exactly ready for today so we are glad she is not yet here but now I am very inspired to get that bag packed and my hair washed, lol.