It seems like I'm always hearing the Jeopardy! theme song in my head these days. I feel like I'm watching the grass grow, or the paint dry.
It's the Waiting Game. I am now just past 37 weeks, and according to my doctor, my cervix is beginning to open up and thin out (in other words, "dilation" and "effacement" have begun!) so things could get exciting any day now! Every time I have a Braxton-Hicks contraction, I'm willing it to be productive, to open things up a little bit more. (Or, to "dilate" and "efface" a little bit more! Don't you just love all the big medical words??!!) The Doc says the more work gets done through Braxton Hicks, the less I have to do while in labor-- and that sure sounds good to me!
Today, I haven't had many Braxton-Hicks. Pooie. Nothing getting accomplished down there today. (In other words, no dilation or effacement for me today!) I guess my cervix is taking a day off. How nice for my cervix. I suppose it's saving its strength for the next session of grueling dilation and effacement. It is resting up, preparing for its next feat of athletic endurance and prowess, as it completely changes from its current physical state.
Imagine what it must be like for the poor dear. For nine months, there it has been, closing off the uterus, protecting dear little Lancelot. Now, it is being asked to stretch far beyond its current shape and size, and on TOP of all that, to thin out a whole bunch, too! (How many of us can expand and thin out simultaneously??!! I sure can't! Kudos to cervixes everywhere! By the way- what IS the proper way to pluralize the word "cervix?")
Well, dear readers, I'm off to enjoy a lovely Italian dinner with some friends. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!
ps- for any of you readers who are ALSO playing the waiting game, I'm sending wide-open, thinned-out cervix-y thoughts your way!!
Imagine what it must be like for the poor dear. For nine months, there it has been, closing off the uterus, protecting dear little Lancelot. Now, it is being asked to stretch far beyond its current shape and size, and on TOP of all that, to thin out a whole bunch, too! (How many of us can expand and thin out simultaneously??!! I sure can't! Kudos to cervixes everywhere! By the way- what IS the proper way to pluralize the word "cervix?")
Well, dear readers, I'm off to enjoy a lovely Italian dinner with some friends. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!
ps- for any of you readers who are ALSO playing the waiting game, I'm sending wide-open, thinned-out cervix-y thoughts your way!!
3 comments:
Wow. You have made me appreciate my cervix more than ever before. I thought it was just some trifling annoyance that had to be thinned out before I could have a baby. But now you are singing its praises! Giving it kudos! Sending cervix-y thoughts, even! Mostly, I appreciate my cervix more now because after my baby, it is already thinned out and won't have to work so hard if I ever have another baby!
So I'm sending cervix-y thoughts right back atcha! As you know, I was "nanodilated" until the day before my baby was born, so you're A-OK and on your way!!!
Good luck to you. I hope you don't have what I had happen with my first pregnancy (2 weeks of contractions every 10 minutes, after three weeks of being 1 1/2 cm and 70% effaced...)
Even though those last few weeks feel like FOREVER, they're not. As a mother of two, may I give you some advice? Enjoy this time. Pamper yourself. Heaven knows it will be a while after the baby is born before you will again (you will, if you are like me, start to see a shower as a blessed but oh-so-rare luxury about a week and a half after giving birth.) Watch a movie with your husband, snuggling up on the bed or couch with no one crying, no one in between you, and no thoughts that you ought to be doing something more productive, like sleeping. Go OUT for a movie. Eat chocolate and drink a caffeinated soda or two if you like them in case your baby is the kind who will fuss all night if you consume those items. Take a bubble bath. Spend a couple of hours in it. Read a book. Enjoy the little things and savor them so you won't miss them quite so much when you don't have time for them, or they have to be done with a baby in tow. (Not that that can't be nice, too, but it's different.) That way the memory of these last few weeks will always be special.
Again, good luck. I'm sure it's going to be great. :)
I am SOOOO excited for you!! Those last weeks are killer, though. So much anticipation. And so much misery with that big ol' body. Be glad you weren't enduring 100-degree temps as well like I was last summer!!!
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