37 weeks

162 lbs (-1 this week, just like my pregnancy book predicted)
1.5cm dilated
50% effaced
-1 station (although the doctor said he could feel the baby's head much more this week, so i'm not sure why the number is still the same)

congrats baby!! you are now officially full term! mom is v. excited about this. you should be able to completely function on your own (bearing no major complications) if you are born any day now! if you go the full 40+ weeks, i am sure you will be huge (8 or 9 lbs), but please stay in my tummy until you are ready. you need the extra fat that is accumulating under your skin, and mom still has many things she wants to finish before you come into this world.

i think my doctor might have stripped my membranes yesterday. my internal check last week did not hurt nearly as bad as i expected. it was so bearable and short that i told james he didn't have to take off work and come this week. however, this week's check was super painful! at one point the doctor said, "here i'll help you out a little bit" and even deeper pain ensued. i asked him what he meant by help me out and he said he was stretching my cervix (maybe it will help later but at the time it did not feel like any sort of help). i wonder if he stripped my membranes and stretched the cervix, but who knows. he said i probably will be experiencing more contractions because of what he did (i am feeling bh contractions!). he should know that i really would not mind being pregnant 3 more weeks. if i start to get anxious, i'd rather have more sex or use blue cohash or something rather than have the doctor inflict pain. oh well.

thank you all for your comments and thoughts on the last post! i have decided to go ahead and get the mirena iud, and i feel much more peace about it now. the crux of the moral debate seems to be whether life starts at fertilization or implementation. if you believe life begins when the egg implants in the uterus, end of discussion--most birth control methods are fine. however, if you believe that life begins when the egg is fertilized, then most common forms of birth control could (very small chance) cause an "abortion" (the pill, iud, etc.). the same people who are anti-iud's are usually anti-pills and often are anti permanent procedures to prevent pregnancy (claiming that you are playing God).

personally, i'm not 100% sure when i believe life starts (from my limited research there doesn't seem to be conclusive scientific evidence either way and to an extent i think that is part of the mystery of life), so the following factors influenced my decision:

1. i really would like to plan when i have my next child. as much fun as it was to be surprised with baby kehrli, taking care of one child will be more than enough responsibility right now.
2. i love that the mirena iud lasts for 5 years. (obviously i am not good at taking pills, and it just stressed me out whenever i missed a day--albeit for good reason :).). we'll probably have another baby in about 2 years, but i'm not going to think about that for right now.
3. the chance of an egg being fertilized with mirena is very low. not only does the iud thin the uterus, but it releases a chemical that damages sperm and thickens mucus to prevent sperm from ever meeting the egg.
4. mirena is much cheaper than pills over the long run (at least with my insurance).
5. breastfeeding does provide a sort of birth control (although i would not solely rely on it alone). this makes the chance of an egg fertilizing even lower.
6. i talked to my doctor and although he didn't give me a blanket answer to whether or not iud's are abortion, he highly recommended it as the best form of birth control for me.
7. i have heard many good things about nuvaring. the convenience of the iud makes it a little more attractive to me right now, but i think this would be my 2nd choice.

all of this talk about birth control makes me realize how crazy it is that we got pregnant. if the pill really did thin the lining my uterus, it must've been really strong to begin with because the egg still implanted (i even took the pill for 2 weeks after conception because i had no clue we were pregnant). i am still not sure exactly what day we conceived, but i'm guessing it was the 2 days in july that i did not take the pill and tripled up (that does not work and cannot be good for the baby). i also had 2-3 drinks (which is a lot for me) one of those nights when we were staying the embassy suites. i'm dead sure i got a nasty bug in ecuador in august and the baby somehow survived my malnutrition and dehydration. all that to say--baby, you are a fighter! i cannot wait for you to come into this world.

love yall and happy tuesdays!