State of the Uterus 39 Weeks
August 5th, 2008 by ariana
Excuse me while I take a few deep breaths.. I am still traumatized by my appointment yesterday.
It all started out innocently enough, I met the only midwife in the practice that I hadn’t seen before and she was as great as all the others. I weighed in at 160, a 2lb gain from last week. (I sure hope some of that is water weight!)
Then I asked for the internal. Big mistake!
First she put her fingers up there and said my cervix was still pretty posterior. At this point it was like all the other internals I’d had, mildly uncomfortable but nothing unmanageable. Then she started moving them around trying to do something, I didn’t know what but it was SO painful! Then she said “take a few deep breaths and I won’t move my fingers,” so I did, and that was ok. But then she SHOVED them in my cervix and it felt like she was digging around for something!
At one point I actually screamed “Please stop!” but she kinda kept going.. it was really weird and It still makes my cervix shrivel when I think about it. I don’t think I’m going to ask for any more internals, Jeff will just have to wait until I go into labor.
Turns out that the external opening (OS) to my cervix is a fingertip dilated, so she was trying to see if she could get her finger in there to get through to the uterus and if she could, she would have swept my membranes. But because I am only 50% effaced, she couldn’t. The back of the cervix is still pretty closed.
She said that by doing whatever the hell it was she did that she actually moved the cervix from posterior to anterior (which is good I guess) and maybe dilated me a bit more.
Jasper’s head is at -2 station, which is good progress because he was still at -4 last time they checked.
So the official stats: fingertip dilated, 50% effaced, -2 station. I really don’t think that knowing these numbers was worth the unpleasantness of the whole experience!
I also asked her at what point they start monitoring and talking induction. Their policy is to allow you to go all the way to 42 weeks so long as the BPP and NST tests don’t show any reason not to.
Jasper, this is your mother talking. It is NOT OK to stay in there another 3 weeks!! If you do, you will never hear the end of it. I will lay a Jewish mother guilt trip on you for the rest of your life – don’t say I didn’t warn you!
You might also like
 |
|
|
|
Ariana – if that same thing happens for you, you MUST yell out “In your face, stupid doctor!” in between contractions. That’s how it’s done.
I really enjoy reading your blog. I’m expecting Oct. 7 and it’s so cool to hear what’s happening with you. I’m sorry to hear of your experience, if someone is SCREAMING, for pete’s sake, I’m not sure why she would continue against your will.
I’m very excited for you and your new family.
I’m so sorry for your experience. I know every practice is different and I don’t want to scare you but you may want to research waiting until 42 weeks to intervene. My sister is a NICU nurse and wouldn’t recommend it. I know different strokes for different folks but it’s best to be educated when making a decision like that. I hope Jasper comes when he’s good and ready – on the 10th, we’d be 30 years apart! ;)
Oh my gosh, note to self – don’t ever ask fo ran internal.
Trying, yes, what is that all about? Don’t these kids know that their parents waited long enough to conceive them that they don’t also need to wait extra long to meet them??
Yay Quincy, that’s the kind of story I need to hear!
that was my internal experience as well! horrible. I was thinking if labor is anything like this pain, I’m in serious trouble.
it seems like we have a lot of “hesitant” babies on the nest these days. induction city!
Don’t give up hope! I went in for an appointment on a Friday, five days before my due date. My doctor actually said “I don’t think you’ll be having this baby this weekend.” My water broke the next night.
That really made my cervix cringe.
Ok that made me want to runa nd hide under the covers. I dont think I will be uncrossing my legs for the rest of the day! I am glad things are moving along for you!
I loved the talking to. Maybe if you tell him again how cute his room is he’ll decide to hurry out.
That appointment was traumatic! Labor might be a walk in the park compared to that. Eek.
Mel, why do they do that? I guess everyone would say no if they knew what was coming!
Yvonne, thanks for giving me hope :)
I went into labor at 5 am in the morning, was in the hospital at 10 am and got sent home at noon because they said I wasn’t dilated at all and there was no way I was going to have the baby anytime soon. An hour later, my water broke and I was on the way back to the hospital. My son was born just a few hours later. So don’t worry – it really can happen pretty suddenly!
OMG, i know exactly how you feel! I had my midwife “stretch” my cervix, with no warning either!! Luckily, I was already 80% effaced and the baby was at -1 station, so I went into labor a few days later. I dunno if that helped any, but I do know it hurt like hell! One more reason to get an epidural, you don’t have to feel the pain of the internals! I don’t think you’ll go 2 weeks overdue, at least I’m hoping for your sake you don’t!
Sorry to hear your appointment was a bit traumatic. I like the stern talking to at the end of the post, if Jasper knows what’s good for him… :)