I forgot... TMI for some

I had my 39 week appointment today with my midwife and she did my first internal. I'm 1cm dilated and 70% effaced. She said I was almost 80% effaced and she could feel baby's head :) Guess the cramping I'm feeling is something! Mimi (my midwife) also stripped my membranes. Basically what she did was run her finger around the inside of my cervix to separate the amniotic sac from where it is stuck.

I was crampy for the rest of the day but didn't spot or bleed like I thought I would. I also lost my mucus plug tonight. I know that this doesn't mean that labor will start soon but it's the beginning! It's a good sign :)

And after talking to my midwife about trying to labor at home as much as possible I feel better about everything. She said that Kaiser says to call/come in when contractions are at 5-1-1 (5 minutes apart, lasting for 1 minute for 1 hour. But she would suggest that I wait until they're about 3 minutes apart, lasting for 1 minute, longer than 1 hour (a few hours is what she said).

A few articles I read also state that the contractions should be intense enough that they cause me to use the deep breathing or other pain relief techniques and that I should be focused enough on the contractions that I don't have any desire to hold a conversation. Oh what fun!