progress

Okay, things are definitely changing. It's still very, very likely I'll have to be induced come Monday morning, but once again the menstrual-like crampy contractions started up again yesterday evening, into the night, and, for the first time this week, have continued, albeit very irregularly, all morning. I woke up about once an hour through the night, but whatever it is I'm feeling is still very manageable. More intense and painful than the two nights before, and they are downright distracting, but I can definitely function pretty normally through the 20 to 30 seconds they seem to be lasting, anywhere from about 6 or 7 to 20 minutes apart. I also woke up to a pretty exciting development that might just be a bit too graphic for blogging. And again, it doesn't mean I'm going to go into labor any minute now, but it's a pretty exciting development.

And Baby G passed both his biophysical profile ultrasound and non-stress test today with flying colors, scoring an 8 out of 8 on the BPP and everything looking good during the NST. His size is estimated to be a bit on the petite side, as our doctor put it, weighing in at about 7 pounds 4 ounces, but of course they could be off by at least a pound in either direction. I'm frankly kind of shocked, what with a history of big babies on both sides, but I'll be happy with a solid 7 pounder.

Finally, I've gone from a "fingertip" to a "loose 1" in the dilation department, about 50 to 70% effaced. That may still be modest progress, but I thought it wasn't bad for a week, especially when paired with the recent developments (sure, I was hoping she'd say a solid 2-3, but it's better than no progress at all!). If nothing else, even if nothing changes before the end of the weekend, I'm feeling a little better about how my body will respond to being induced bright and early Monday morning. I'll of course keep the blogosphere updated as long as possible.