The impatience begins

I had my 37 week check up yesterday. My cervix is effaced, but there is no dilation. I was expecting this because contractions cause dilation, and I have had no contractions that I know of. Many women have Branston-Hicks contractions or false labor contractions for several weeks before they go into labor. So far, I have had nothing. Sometimes I think maybe the pain or tightening that I’m having is a contraction, but I think its just gas.

Tony and I have discussed some of the legendary ways of bringing on labor. Probably this weekend we’ll eat spicy food and engage in awkward acts of intimacy. I don’t know if this will help at all, but perhaps it will take my mind off all this waiting for just a little while. I must be crazy to be wishing the pain of contractions and labor upon myself, not to mention all of the sleeplessness and work that comes with caring for an infant. All of that is inevitable, so I want it to happen now.