38-Week Appointment

Disclaimer: If you’re squeamish about female anatomy (or any anatomy, I suppose), then you may wish to skip this post. I won’t hold it against you!

I had my 38-week appointment yesterday. Because most of my appointments only involve getting weighed, having my blood pressure checked and listening to the baby’s heartbeat (which is nevertheless just as cool now as it was the first time around!), I’ve been going to these appointments on my own. Yesterday, though, Neal came with me. This was, after all, going to be the appointment where I would be examined to see if there had been any progress and the doctor was also going to do a “membrane sweep” if I wanted one.

Although it’s supposedly extremely rare, I opted to not only have my husband there but to also have the hospital bag in the trunk of the car because I guess the examination and sweep can sometimes cause a woman’s amniotic sack to break. As we threw some last-minute items in the bag yesterday morning, I told Neal that we were likely jinxing ourselves and now, because we would be so prepared, nothing would happen.

I was right.

I actually weighed in at .6 less than the week before, although it was slightly later in the morning and I hadn’t had as heavy a breakfast as I had been having before appointments. Or maybe all of those night sweats I’ve been experiencing lately made me lose some water weight. Given how gross I often feel in the middle of the night, I wouldn’t be surprised.

My blood pressure was as normal-low as usual, the baby is still head-down, and the heartbeat was normal and strong.

Then came time for the exam and the sweep, the part of the appointment I was both excited about and dreading all at once. But in the end, it wasn’t so bad. The ‘membrane sweep’, also known as ‘stripping of the membrane’ (which sounds much more ominous if you ask me) basically involves the doctor inserting a couple of her fingers even further into the cervix where she does a sweeping motion in an attempt to separate the membranes around the baby from the uterus which is supposed to release hormones called prostaglandins – and those are the hormones that are supposed kickstart labour. This is something that the baby also does, and the idea behind the sweep is to help the baby along. It doesn’t have a very high success rate, usually only 20-30%, and my doctor explained that it usually only works if the baby is pretty much ready to come anyway. But although it does usually lead to a little bit of spotting and some cramping after, it’s not harmful. And I figured, what the hell, I might as well!

As I wrote above, the procedure wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Some women experience a lot of pain with it, but there was only a bit of sharpness which didn’t last long at all. My spotting has been minimal, and although I’ve had some cramping, that too hasn’t been constant or all that bad. In fact, the cramping just feels like a dull menstrual cramp pain. I keep hoping, when I do have the cramping, that it’s going to move into regular contractions, but so far nothing. Interestingly, the spotting and cramping have been worse today than yesterday.

If the procedure is going to work, it should put me into labour within 48 hours. Well, it’s been 27 hours so far, and like I said, other than a little bit of cramping, it doesn’t appear that anything is going on.

Nor do I expect it to. I was disappointed to hear from my doctor that I’m only 1 centimeter dilated. That’s not progress – that’s what I was measuring at week 30 or 31 when I fell on the ice and was in the hospital. The baby has certainly dropped – you only need to look at my belly to see that – and I often feel her moving around ‘down below’, so I’m a little surprised that nothing seems to be happening.

So yeah, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed at all. I am, a little. But then I just have to remind myself that I’m only at 38 weeks, that my last day of work was only last Friday. And although yes, I am more excited to meet Baby Guthrie than I’ve been about anything in my entire life, there are things I want to get done before she arrives. I’m doing one of those things today, cleaning the guest room downstairs which is thankfully close to being done. And I also want to do some writing. Maybe a bit more cooking. Tidying up and organizing other spaces in the house. Sitting on my butt and reading. Getting more sleep.

And besides, the day that both my father-in-law and niece picked as the day they expect Baby Guthrie to come is next Monday, the 28th. To be honest, that would be perfect.