Holy COW!

Maybe "cow" isn't the appropriate word, considering how extremely pregnant I am...

Anyway. I went to the midwife this afternoon. First of all, my blood pressure is not elevated and I am not spilling any proteins or anything in my urine, so there isn't any preeclampsia. I was a little worried because I had this awful headache for two days (still have it, actually) and that can be an indication of preeclampsia.

The baby's heartbeat was perfect, and baby has plenty of fluid, which means the placenta is still functioning just fine. The baby is still head down and is definitely anterior. The baby has moved much lower in my pelvis but is not engaged, which is normal since this isn't my first baby. She estimated it's weight at right around 9 pounds, normal if not small for me. I tend to have gigantic babies.

And now the graphic stuff. Feel free to stop reading, I don't blame you.

The internal os is 4 centimeters dilated and easily stretches to 5. The external os is 5-6 centimeters dilated. I am about 95% effaced. The most exciting part, though, is the baby's bag of water is bulging, and when I laugh or cough or do anything that exerts pressure, it bulges more and the baby's head comes down really low, onto the cervix. The midwife could feel the baby's sutures in it's head (the place where the bones come together, for those who might not know) and get this, she could even feel the baby's face! I asked if it felt cute and she said yes. Of course. I've yet to have an ugly one. Maybe this one will come out with Groucho Marx eyebrows and just freak the shit out of everyone. That would actually kind of make my day, to have a baby with Groucho Marx eyebrows.

The midwife gave me a recipe for how to take castor oil. She wants me to do it tonight after dinner, but I'm a little scared to. Just the thought of it makes me literally gag. I'll give it a shot though. She also gave me a higher potency of caulophyllum, a homeopathic remedy, and said to take it every hour.

The baby being low really explains a lot. For instance, every time I have a contraction, no matter how small, I feel like I need to go potty. It's that big old head pressing down on everything.

The midwife said it would not surprise her at all if I go into labor tonight. I think that would be great, and here's why - the baby would be born on the 27th, which seems to be a good day for us. The Hub's birthday is September 27, and Beastie's birthday is July 27. I like October 27th; it just sounds like a good day. 10-27-09. Yeah, I like that. I also like that fact that I will be 41 weeks 1 day tomorrow. I like the double ones in there. Of course, this is probably the OCD talking. But you know.