Let me see if I can quickly capture the past two days.

Yesterday we went to the birth center where Maureen, the midwife, swept my cervix. Almost immediately after, I started having contractions. She sent us to UNC hospital for an ultrasound. The ultrasound indicated that the baby, while still enjoying a thriving uterine environment, measures at a birth weight greater than 11 pounds! After Maureen got the results of the ultrasound and saw how regularly I was contracting, she sent us out to get some lunch and walk around, too see how things progressed. Contractions continued, going from 5 mins apart to 2 or 3 minutes apart. We went back to the birth center at 3:30. Maureen got a room ready downstairs and had me hang out in there, with my belly all bound up, to see what would happen. I guess we stayed there. . .I don't remember, a couple of hours, maybe? Nothing else much happened, no dilation, so we went home with instructions to call this a.m.

This a.m. I called at 8:30. Was told to meet Maureen at 12:30. Went in, had an exam, still no dilation. A doctor from UNC was there, she examined me, swept the cervix again. She and Maureen discussed my options. Option 1 was to go home, come again tomorrow a.m., do another sweep and see what happens, if no change then they would insert a Foley catheter into my cervix to see if that would help dilate it. Option 2 was to go ahead and insert the Foley catheter today, go home, if no progress tonight then to go to UNC tomorrow morning to be medically induced. I went with option 2.

They inserted the Foley catheter, after much painful poking and prodding, and I immediately began to have contractions. We stayed at the birth center a couple of hours and were given the choice to hang out there or go walking around Chapel Hill and see what, if anything, happened, or to just go home and see what would happen. I chose home. And here I am still. It's now 10:15 p.m. Tuesday evening.

Contractions have basically stopped. Although I still have the occasional one that really hurts like hell. There's blood at the end of the catheter, which freaked me out a bit, but Maureen says that it is normal and perhaps a sign of dilation. But since contractions have more or less stopped. . .I dunno. . .I'm thinking that there's really nothing going on. What good are contractions without dilation and what good is dilation without contractions? And why, oh why, won't this baby come out?!

It looks to me, at this point, like I'll be at the hospital in the a.m. But. . .wait. . .the midwife just called. I could be going to the birth center first and trying some of their herbal induction stuff. Good grief! Who knows what's gonna happen now? I'm going to go get in the bath and then go to bed.

To be continued. . .