Getting Closer

It is week 38 and I have just gotten back from my OB appointment. Looks like we've made progress which only means that Emily is one day closer to getting here. YAY! I am currently 2cm dilated, 60% effaced and at a -1 station. I know, I know, what does that mean.

Let's start with cervical dilation, which is the opening of the entrance of the uterus during childbirth. There are 4 phases of cervical dilation:

• Latent phase: 0-3cm (the phase gone unnoticed for most women)
• Active labor: 4-7cm (the phase where contractions begin and intensify, epidural anyone?)
• Transition: 8-10cm (the phase where you want to be put out of your misery)
• Complete: 10cm (it's time to push)

Right now I am 2cm dilated which the doctor said was excellent. According to her, it is easier to progress during labor when you are already dilated to 3cm when you begin. Some women wait 24 hours at the start of labor to get to this point, so I think I'm doing pretty good. Now, don't get too crazy happy though, as she told me this does not indicate when labor will start. I could be 2cm for another 2 weeks, there is no telling what the body will do.

Moving on...effacement is the thinning of the cervix which begins before or during early labor. Effacement is measured in percentages from 0-100. The way it is usually described is, the cervix is like a bottleneck and it slowly begins to shorten and pulls up into the uterus making way for baby's head to push through. I am a little more than halfway at 60%.

And finally we have the stations of labor. The stations refer to how high the baby's head is in the pelvis. The stations are pretty important because it lets the doctor know how far the baby is descending into the birth canal. The stations are measured from -5 to +5. A 0 station is when the baby has dropped, +3 is when a woman feels the urge to push and +5 is when the head is crowning. The following links have some good visuals (animated) as to what the stations look like.

This is a good description and picture at this link: http://atyourcervix.blogspot.com/2006/08/pelvic-stations-in-labor.html

This link has a little video (animation) that shows the baby descending:
http://www.indexedvisuals.com/scripts/ivstock/pic.asp?id=130N-304

Oh yeah and I also got that pesky flu shot at this OB appointment. I never had one before but can honestly say that it wasn't that bad, I was expecting a more painful shot. I also learned that because I will be breastfeeding, that the baby will be getting immunized and she gets the antibodies from the breast milk, which is wonderful as she can't get the flu shot at such a young age and we are heading right into flu season.

So far no contractions only mild cramping so I still think she's going to make her due date. My doctor said my body is showing signs of going into labor on it's own, but if we are overdue, we will be talking about induction. Let's hope that doesn't happen.