40 week appointment

The "official" due date is either tomorrow or Sunday, so far nothing new is happening. I am having fairly strong contractions but they are not regular. Or I will have ones that are less strong but very regular. Either way, they always change or go irregular after a few hours, meaning I am never in Active Labor. It is very tiring. This has been going on for 4 weeks now so I would not consider that anything new.

Current stats:

• 4cm dilated
  
• 100% effaced
• baby still engaged
  

Most women who are this dilated and effaced are actually in the process of giving birth...it is very weird that I am still not in labor.

They hooked me up to a fetal monitor for 30 minutes to make sure the baby was still OK and it looks good. She did offer to strip my membranes, which could potentially start labor naturally. Or, it could do nothing. Christian was not comfortable with doing this 2 days before our due date so we said no. We will not have another chance to do this until our next appointment, which I think is Thursday (I am not 100% sure).

They have scheduled me for another sonogram late next week if I have still not gone into labor by then because at that point they need to start watching the baby carefully to make sure there is still enough amniotic fluid for it to be safe and also that it is still able to get enough nourishment from the placenta due to its size. I am really hoping we do not make it to then - that would be Thursday also, and we would be around 4 days overdue at that time.

They will probably start some methods of natural induction such as stripping my membranes and possibly even breaking my bag of waters by next week if I haven't gone into labor naturally by then. Of course, if my labor still stalls after the bag of waters is broken, I would have to have be transferred to the hospital and have a c-section within 24 hours.

Ultimately it would be best if I could go into labor naturally this weekend. Believe me, we have tried all the natural methods multiple times. We will continue to try them, so far they haven't really done much except cause stronger contractions which just keep me up all night and then go away before they solidify.

So, no sign of baby yet.

I am still working full time, which is sometimes a helpful distraction and sometimes very difficult to do while weathering the stronger contractions.

I do appreciate your prayers, please keep them coming!