1cm and counting

Today was the 36.5 week doctors appointment for Nikki, and I tagged along for the ride. I went with her last week, for what we thought would be the "birth" talk and first check to see how dilated Nikki might be. Unfortunately, Nikkis appointments have her falling in between her actual weeks, so it would seem that she was about half a week too early at the last appointment to be able to check dilation. So, while we had the "birth" talk last week, this week was the first real medical check on progress towards labor.

Now, got all that?

So, the good news is that Annie is measuring right on target. The last doctor in Nikkis practice, Dr. Gupta, guestimated Annies weight at around 5.5 lbs. currently, and confirmed that she's head down, and beginning to drop, though she hasn't engaged the pelvis. The heart sounded good, active in fact and quite strong, so Dr. Gupta was glad to hear that. The interesting news is that Nikki is already dilated 1cm. Now, this can be a misleading thing. We've had friends who were 4cm dilated at one point, and yet still waited 2 weeks before giving birth. We've had other friends that were dilated 2cm at the 37 week visit, and gave birth 2 days later. Yet another friend who was 2cm dilated at 37 weeks, and went a week overdue and had to be induced. So, though it may not be a definitive mark, it is certainly an encouraging milestone. Sure, it doesn't mean that we should be packing the hospital bag, oh wait, Nikki already has... Well, anyway, it's more that it is encouraging that things are starting to trend towards Annie actually coming out and making an appearance. We've been waiting so long, that to actually have positive signs of progress is exciting.

Sufficed to say though, we have to temper all of that excitement with a dose of reality. It could be another month before she comes out. At the very latest, Nikki already has been given an induction date of May 8. So, one way or another, Annie is coming out by then, and we have to be prepared for that possibility, but man, that'd suck, cus we really want to meet her.

Until next week...