We decided that we didn’t want to rush down to the birth center. Brett got home a few minutes later and I told him about my conversation with Jatolloa. I took this as a very encouraging sign that my labor would begin sometime soon. When I was waiting for Brett to arrive home, I went to the bathroom and noticed that I was leaking some of my mucus plug. She wanted me to come in so that she could determine whether or not it was amniotic fluid that I was leaking. I paged the midwife on call and ended up speaking with Jatolloa in the afternoon, around 3:00pm.
I called Brett to tell him about this change, and he suggested that I call the midwives. Late Friday morning I started noticing that I felt more vaginal wetness, and was even feeling occasional very small leaks of fluid. I continued to have regular Braxton-Hicks contractions, but nothing out of the ordinary. The rest of Wednesday and Thursday were uneventful, in terms of labor progress. She also felt the baby’s head by palpating my belly, and confirmed what Eli had perceived that morning, that my baby had, indeed, dropped! I left the appointment feeling happy and confident that things were headed in the right direction. When she checked my fundal height, she noticed that I was measuring 37 centimeters, down from 39 centimeters the previous week. I saw Jatolloa, who was the midwife who I saw for my very first prenatal appointment. I absolutely loved involving them in my prenatal care, but it was nice to have some one-on-one time with the midwife, too.
This was one of the few prenatal appointments that I went to without at least one my children. I had a prenatal appointment later that morning, and had arranged for my mother-in-law to watch Caroline. At first, I didn’t think much of Eli’s comment, but a short while later I had the thought, “What if my baby has dropped?” I shared my thought with Eli and Caroline, and told them that maybe, just maybe, baby was thinking about coming soon. With excitement and some anxiety, I was waiting for signs that labor might begin soon. As much as I cherish being pregnant, the sciatica was really wearing on me.
It is safe to say that I was looking forward to this baby’s birth-day. I had not experienced sciatica with my other two pregnancies, and it was really interfering with my sleep. I had had a very healthy, low-risk pregnancy, but I had been troubled by sciatic pain during the last trimester. I woke up on Wednesday morning, April 6, and as soon as Eli saw me, his first words to me were, “Mama, your belly looks smaller.” At this point, I was exactly 39 weeks pregnant.
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