Midwife's Appointment : Dilated and Effaced

So we had our weekly appointment today and she did the usual measuring of the uterus: 40 cm = on target! She checked for his heartbeat: healthy as a hummingbird. I've gained a whopping grand total of 42.9 pounds. My blood pressure was low/normal as usual. My cats and cows have moved him to my right side and into a pretty darn good position. She said that it was "ideal" because he needs to begin going down sideways (that's just the way the pelvic bones and his head shape work together) and then he turns his head backwards. Then she did a vaginal exam to check to see if I was dilated and effaced. I am! I am! I'm 2 cm dilated and 50% effaced. Here is a chart to help explain what dilation and effacement is:

Effacement is basically the thinning of the cervix and dilation is the opening of the cervix. I found this informational image from victorybirth.blogspot.com. The crazy part (to me anyways) is that she could feel his head! WHAT?! She didn't use any fancy tools just her fore and middle fingers and she could feel his head. So baby is loooooooow. She said that his skull is at 0 to +1 station meaning how low his head is in my pelvis. Check out this great animation of childbirth stations(plus you can see how he goes down sideways and then turns his head backwards):

She also told me about some other sciatica stretches and went over what to do if we go past the 41 week mark. Although after she checked my cervix she said that she thinks he'll come before or on this weekend! EXCITING. She said that she is the on-call midwife on Thursday and Saturday and that Saturday would be a great day and we would come in, give birth, have lunch together and then hang out and eat birthday cake. Hahah. Funny midwife. She also told me to bind my belly because when she felt for his head he was very posterior (not in the back labor sort of way thankfully). I asked her what she meant and she grabbed a doll from the shelf and basically held it head down at an angle going into her pelvis, so his legs/body are out frontish and his head is down and back; he looked like a missle shooting into her pelvis. So, if I bind my belly it will straighten him out allowing him to drop lower into my pelvis. Plus I am still putting the ice pack on there for a minute to make sure his hands aren't still there over his little face. Oh, and she said that usually sciatic pain means a long baby and she bets he'll be a "21 incher" and then Mike said while pointing at himself, "long legs" and then pointing at me, "long torso." Stay tuned.