Baby's non-stress test

Well, I had my weekly appointment today. Again, according to the doctor's office, my due date is tomorrow (Tues, May 19th). I've made NO progress since last week (still 90% effaced, only about fingertip width dilated). The nurse practitioner thought my fundal height has looked a bit small over the past few weeks, so she sent me up to Labor and Delivery to have a Non-stress test (NST) and growth ultrasound done on Baby, just to make sure everything was okay. Derek came home from work, and he, Mom and I went up to the hospital. The NST was interesting, they put two belts around my belly: one to monitor Baby's heartbeat, and the second to monitor any contractions I may have. I was hooked up to the machine for about 30 mins so they could see Baby's heartbeat accelerate and decelerate several times - everything looked great! This was the first time Derek has heard Baby's heartbeat in the whole pregnancy, and he thought it was very special. Then they took me down to have the growth ultrasound. Baby's measurements were about 37 weeks, 5 days and they estimate the weight to be 6 lbs 13 ozs. Doc thinks that's just perfect, so we have nothing to worry about.

So then we started discussing inductions. My doc says my progress is good and bad: good because effacement is very important early on, especially if it's your first baby. Bad because the hospital won't administer cervidil to "ripen" my cervix until at least 41 weeks, 3 days before giving me pitocin to further induce labor. This puts us right at the end of May, meaning my induction probably wouldn't even take place until May 31st or June 1st. Can you even believe it?!?!!? I can't wait that long!! That was pretty disappointing, but I guess there's just no rushing Baby.

Oh ya, one exciting piece of news: all the baby birds that were in our hanging basket have left the nest! We saw them this morning and by the time we came home from the hospital, they had all flown away. They were definitely ready, had full sets of feathers and everything. It's crazy how quickly birds develop. And here we were wondering who would arrive first - our Baby or the birdies. No contest, I guess.

Okay, that's all folks :( Disappointing Monday overall...