Progress!

I had a routine dr. appointment this morning.  I am now going every week instead of every two weeks like I have been since around Christmas.  I have been getting paranoid about the baby not being head down (apparently they have usually turned head down by this point in preparation for labor.  I haven't felt different and I don't think my abdominal area has changed to a "lower" position.   I was having scary thoughts about breech babies.  I asked the dr. this morning if she could feel the position and she said she would check (yes, THAT kind of checking...all good NDSU students should know what that means!) and she said "Oh!  You are about 1 cm!"  Yes, 1 cm dilated.  AAAhhh!  What a reality check!  Also, she said I was 70% effaced (you can look it up if you don't know what it means!).  I will just  say that 100% is in labor.

I am trying not to freak out too much...someone can walk around for weeks 1 cm dilated.  I know people from school and work who have experienced it.  So who knows.  Maybe I will make it to March 1 and maybe I won't.

I am looking forward to this being done (and yes, I know it is just beginning and nothing will be the same and I won't be getting any sleep for a long time etc. etc. etc.).  Right now I am thinking about wearing normal jeans with a zipper (and yes I know they probably won't fit for a few months) and being able to bend and move like normal again and sleep on my back and drink soda and tea without feeling like I shouldn't be (and yes I know that if I am nursing I will still have to take care with my diet).  I am very excited to get rid of this extra 40 lbs. I am lugging around! 

On to a different topic...many people ask if I have had strange cravings.  I haven't wanted any weird combinations or the stereotypical pickles and ice cream.  Early on, back in the first trimester days, I wanted lots of sugary candy like sweet tarts and sour patch kids.  Then I forgot about those things and was just hungry all the time.  Then I started wanting celery all the time.  Yes, celery.  I have always liked it.  It is so refreshing.  But now I WANT it all the time.  This has been going on for about 2 or 3 months now.  I actually crave it.  I think about it when I am not home and get excited about getting home so I can have some.  I eat a stalk every week.  I thought this was kind of dumb because I thought celery was a pretty nutritionally empty food (Now sweet tarts...those are rich in nutrition and very necessary for a growing baby!)  Well...I read in a library book (You!  Having a Baby! By Dr. Mehmet Oz) that celery actually is a good source of an antioxidant called Quercetin.  I don't really understand what it does but it seems to have benefits as an anti-inflamatory and also the antioxidant qualities prevent cell damage by neutralizing free radicals.  Celery also has a small but worth mentioning amount of calcium!  YES!  Celery is not a total dietary waste!  I was kind of confused when I read that pregnant women should not take quercetin on a website after the Dr. Oz book said it was a good thing to consume.  I believe the website was referring to supplements in pill form and not from food sources. 

Also, this morning I was reading about what it means to be 1 cm dilated and 70% effaced...I wanted to see what had happened to other women and how long it took before they went into labor.  I came across some information that indicated that eating fresh pineapple can  encourage the effacement process.  Pineapples are in season and I have been eating one every week.  I have probably eaten 4 or 5 pineapples in the month of January all by myself.  I looked it up and there is, indeed, alot of information out there about pineapple and labor.  There are alot of women who swear it worked for them.  I also read that the pineapple has to be not only fresh, but also unripe.  Apparently, in tropical locations women have historically consumed unripe pineapple when they are "late" because it is a natural abortificant.  Apparently there is an enzyme in the pineapple that softens the cervix.  I don't know what I believe because who can get an unripe pineapple in America?  The ones I have been eating have been ripe and sweet and juicy and delicious.  Now I am wondering if I should stop eating it so much!  I am not full term until next week so I hope this baby stays in for awhile longer!  Or...maybe it is just an old wives tale...

Ok...enough cervix and dilation talke...I hate to be a dullard and talk about the weather.  I like to think I am more original than that.  However, look at this forecast for this week! 

 What the H?!  There is no snow, it has reached 50 degrees the last two days, and the sun has been blazing bright like an April day.  And it keeps staying like this!  All through January everyone said that we shouldn't get our hopes up.  Now it is February and the 10 day forecast says more of the same!  I was certain that this baby would be born in a blizzard but that doesn't seem very likely!  YES!  This might be the strangest winter I have ever experienced and I like it!  As long as there is snow at Big Sky Ski Resort in MT I am fine with a brown winter!