Unsolicited Uterus Update

Sorry, no bebehs-only kittehs

First things first; No, I have not had the baby yet (but I did start my maternity leave today). As of right now, I am officially four days overdue, but with due dates being nothing more than an educated guess, it's really not that big of a deal. Or at least that's what I keep telling myself. Captain Husband came home for a quick weekend visit, mostly because he could tell that I was reaching my breaking point after last week's disappointing doctor's visit in which I was informed that I was neither dilated nor effaced at all. LAME. We both hoped that his visit home would help me relax a bit (plus give my dad a break from all of the action-packed adventures that happen around here on a regular basis, ha). I think we were both secretly hoping that by some strange twist of fate, I would go into labor while he was home and then everything would be fine and dandy. Well, he got on a plane back to Oklahoma this afternoon so that didn't quite happen, but not all is for naught...

Since I'm officially overdue, I now have to go in to the hospital for fetal monitoring, in addition to my usual doctor's appointment, to ensure that my placenta is still doing well and that there's enough amniotic fluid surrounding the baby and so on and so forth. Today I had such a visit, which worked out well because CH was able to go with me. I was hooked up to a bunch of monitors and left to recline while a little machine recorded my heart rate, the baby's heart rate, and contractions, if I was in fact having any. Well, it turns out that I was having contractions, but I was just completely unaware of them. Ok, not totally unaware: I will spare you kind readers the details, but suffice it to say, they did not feel how I expected them to feel nor where I expected to feel them. The doctor did a quick internal and discovered that I was 1 1/2 centimeters dilated and about 25% effaced. Finally, some progress!

As the evening has progressed, my contractions have become more regular, so here's hoping that this little bambino will finally be making his debut some time in the near future (I've been monitoring them on my iPhone thanks to Labor Mate--of course there's an app for that). However, there is one small, minor problem--just where exactly I will be giving birth. Dewitt is no longer an option due to a freak gnat infestation in their surgical department; as a result, they are not admitting laboring patients due to the slim chance that they might need a c-section, which they wouldn't be able to do due the whole gnat situation. They expect it will take several days, or possibly a week, to get everything cleaned and sterilized and ready for use. This leaves me in a bit of lurch, but fortunately I live in Northern Virginia, where there are hospitals seemingly everywhere. Unfortunately the closest one is also the one with the worst reputation in the area, so obviously that's a no go. As of right now, Dad and I will probably head on down to Stafford Hospital, which is about a thirty-minute drive south of where I live; it's a small, brand-new hospital with great reviews, so I think it will be a good fit. Plus one of the nurses who was monitoring me this afternoon also works there, and she made a good case for delivering at Stafford now that Dewitt was no longer an option.

So that's all for now; thank you in advance for the well wishes and words of encouragement--I'll try to update as much as possible as things progress!