Thirty-Seven-and-a-Half-Week Midwife Appointment

I had a midwife appointment last Thursday morning. When I walked into the office, the waiting room was completely vacant, which I knew was a good sign. As I was sitting there the brief time that I did, I saw/heard Margaret from a slight difference -- the first time I had seen her since my first two appointments, so it was a nice sight, even though I did not get to see her for this one either.

After being called back, I peed in a cup (must have been fine), was weighed (144, no change from the last appointment), and was then taken into a room, where my blood pressure was taken (104/68). I actually did wait in the room long enough to get a number of pages read in the book I brought along, but it was not too bad. I saw Helen again for this appointment, one of the midwives who is still just in-office and is not yet delivering babies. She let me know that my group B streptococcus test came back negative (yay -- no antibiotics IV at the hospital!) and just asked me how things were going, if the baby was moving around a lot, etc. She also basically quizzed me and asked me when I would call the midwife on call. I paused for a moment and said I would call when contractions were regular and seemed stronger, totally realizing that I really did not remember the general rule. When she asked me what that meant to me, I pretty much gave up. She said I should call when contractions are eight to ten minutes apart and do not change in frequency when I change positions. She said they will likely even get stronger if walking. Eight to ten minutes seemed pretty far apart to me, like I might not even notice if that is happening, but when I went back and read Elsa's blog, I realized that I noticed when contractions were regular when they were more like twenty minutes apart. Of course, back then I was sitting at a desk at work, so we shall see. Obviously if they get stronger, I will notice. She also said I should obviously call if my waters break or if I feel an extreme lack of movement from the baby. She then measured my belly (measured right at 37 to 38 weeks) and listened to the baby's heartbeat. She said the baby's head was down and decided that her back was lying against the left side of my belly. I asked her whether they would check me in the coming weeks in terms of how dilated my cervix is, but she said likely not unless I really want them to. I figured this would be her answer, as I remember Margaret telling me the first time around that it does not really mean much -- you can be a couple or few centimeters dilated for days or weeks -- so all it does is make you anxious. I am pretty much fine not knowing, at least at this point. She said they would check me if I go late, just to see if things are progressing at all, I guess. I go back for another appointment tomorrow!