I'll Take It

I had another exam today. Baby looked "sleepy, but happy," according to my MW. He just barely passed the NST. We also found out that I tested positive for Group B Strep, which really just means I may need some extra antibiotics come delivery time. Toward the end of the appointment, she hadn't done an internal and I asked if she planned to. I felt sort of stupid, as if I was asking, "Are you sure you don't want to stick your fingers up my vag today?" But, I'm really trying to beat the clock here and go into labor spontaneously prior to December 14th, otherwise I'll have to be induced.

Knowing my dilation/effacement really doesn't change the course of the future, but it really does make me feel better just to know if my body's gearing up to do this on its own. So, she said she'd check me if I wanted her to and I did. Last week, I was 1 cm/60% effaced and today I am 2 cm/70% effaced. Woohoo!

I know, I know, women can walk around like this for weeks and weeks without labor actually starting. However, it's more encouraging than being 0 cm/0% effaced. I've spent the afternoon researching whether there's any correlation between being dilated and actually starting active labor. I haven't found much, but I have to believe that there is at least some correlation.

I also feel like it shows my MW that my body's on track to do this on its own. I feel like she'll be less likely to recommend induction at 40 weeks if my body has been showing consistent progress up to that point.

She also said that if my cervix is favorable next week, she can strip my membranes. I asked her what "favorable" meant because I thought you just had to be dilated enough to get a finger in there. She said that since membrane stripping can be painful, she'll only do it if she's pretty sure it'll jumpstart labor, which will depend on my cervix. I'm off to spend the next week walking and having sex (not at the same time) in hopes of at least getting some more progress next week.

Also, I'm wondering if the MW last week either accidentally or intentionally stripped my membranes during my internal. I had one internal around 24 weeks after my spotting scare and didn't have any bleeding after that. I also haven't had any cramping or bleeding after today's internal. But, after last week's internal I had some pretty significant bleeding right afterwards and passed a few large clots/mucous clumps. I think it's a little weird that there would be one internal with lots of cramping and spotting and two with none at all.