By JUNE STRAIGHT Staff Writer on Sep 10, 2012, at 11:00 AM Updated on 9/10 at 8:32 AM
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Sunday morning, alone in my bathroom, I was hit with two signs that the baby is coming. First, there was the breaking down of my cervical mucus plug (yes, it’s as gross as it sounds,) followed by a rather strong contraction.
For those of you who don’t have to deal with disgusting pregnancy terms every day, a mucus plug is a little stopper in your cervix that keeps the baby and all its vital fluids locked up safely in your uterus. Once you start dilating the plug starts to fall out.
Just a few days earlier, my doctor informed me that my cervix was “soft,” then explained that because of this, once I started dilating more my cervix would open pretty quickly.
So, Sunday, in my mind, these symptoms represented an obvious problem: If mucus plug = dilation and soft cervix = speedy dilation, then June is running out of time to get stuff together for this baby!
Fourteen days until my baby is due and it occurs to me that the little creature rolling and kicking inside me is more than a name and a gender-neutral color scheme. It’s a baby and it’s coming … soon.
I know it sounds horrible, but I was really counting on those 14 days. I need them to wrap my head around the fact that I’m about to be responsible for another life.
Yeah, I know, I’ve had more than 8 months to prepare. But that time was spent researching birth plans and checking off checklists! This last leg was supposed to be my winding down time.
Thankfully, I was too tired to panic over this development. After making a quick trip to the store to buy those diapers and wipes I was supposed to stock the baby’s nursery with, I got tuckered out and put myself to bed where I could Google my options and get some rest.
According to a handful of baby websites, my two labor symptoms weren’t really a big deal and didn’t mean that my baby was due to drop from my womb on the way to the kitchen for a snack. In fact, they said that this means that my baby is right on schedule, that my body is supposed to start preparing for labor weeks in advance.
On the bright side, this information kicked my husband into gear and he finally got around to clearing his baby checklists. And now everything is ready, should our little parasite decide it’s ready for life outside of its host body.
But hopefully, next week, instead of reading about how adorable my new baby is, you’ll be stuck with a rant about how stupid I was to try to work up until my due date.
If you or someone you know is close to her due date make sure you know the signs of labor. According to Babycenter.com, you’ll really be in labor when:
-- Contractions get longer, stronger, and closer together and cause your cervix to dilate progressively. My doctor said not to call until they lasted a minute, and were coming 5 minutes apart for an hour.
-- You pass your mucus plug or notice "bloody show." Mine has started to pass, but apparently it doesn’t count until the mucus is “tinged with brown, pink, or red blood.”
-- Your water breaks. This can happen in one big gush or in a small trickle, but when it happens you should definitely get to the hospital. This is a huge sign that it’s show time!
The site also suggests that you speak with your doctor or a nurse before you come it, because sometimes just the sound of your voice is a good indicator of whether or not you’re really in labor.
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