38 Weeks, 6 Days

There's no real reason to do the survey for this week... The basics are that I had been having tons of braxton hicks, a few slightly painful contractions ever once in a while, super swelling in my ankles, and it turns out that the swelling and water retention had spread all over my body including my belly. At my doctor's appointment, I was up 35 pounds and was glad that I was going to be induced the next day since that was the upper limit of weight I wanted gain. The heartburn was constant, the uncomfortable was constant and I was ready to be done.

My doctor's appointment was Thursday, July 5. As the doctor started the exam, none of us were expecting much since my contractions were few and far between and I had only progressed half a centimeter by my last appointment. Dr. Erickson said jokingly that if I was at a 5, I had a free pass to the hospital. Surprise! I was actually fully effaced and measuring 5 centimeters. The doctor said he would call the hospital and see if they had a bed available that morning, rather than waiting until Friday morning. They did have a bed, so we went home, picked up Zane, called Bret and Bri to let them know we were on our way over, called all our parents to let them know she was going to be coming that day instead of the next, packed quick bags for us and Zane, employed a lame attempt at cleaning up the house a bit, took this last belly picture and headed off for the hospital. All within about 45 minutes.

This was by far my favorite doctor's appointment of my whole pregnancy.