Last few weeks of pregnancy

We moved to Taylorsville at the beginning of June, in a nice 3 bedrooms 2 baths apartment. I like the place and the area is ok. I love having a walk-in closet in our room and our won bath. One challenge we had though was finding a new OB for the last few weeks of pregnancy. There was no one available at the Murray hospital, no doctors who take our insurance in Taylorsville and we didn't know any doctors in the area either. My friend Karina found out about a doctor her sister in law liked and thankfully he did take our insurance and was happy to help us. His name is Robert Merrill and he works at the Riverton Hospital. The Riverton Hospital is a lot smaller than the Provo or Murray hospitals but well equipped and I hope that the service will be more personal and that my needs will be met better there. I like small places and how cozy and personal they make people feel. This is one thing I miss about Springville... For example, I loved the service I would get at the UPS store in Springville. The employees knew me and they were always nice and helpful. You can rarely get that kind of service in a big city.

Back to going to the prenatal visits, even from the first time I went at Western OB, where Dr. Merrill works, which is on the same floor as the Maternity Ward of the hospital, at 35 weeks I was pleasantly impressed. The doctor is a very nice guy who seems to know what he's doing and the staff was very nice and helpful as well. They even had a nurse entertain the girls while the doctor checked me and ran the B Strep test. The test was negative (even though it was positive both previous times) and apparently I was dilated to 1.5cm and 30% effaced. At 36 weeks I was 2.3cm dilated and 60% effaced and at almost 37 weeks I was 3.5cm dilated and the doctor decided to strip my membranes to help things along. My blood sugar is good, my blood pressure is good too and my weight gain is ok. Lost a couple of pounds but nothing of concern. We decided to have Kaley a week early to keep her on the smaller side so that hopefully I will be able to have another successful VBAC. The induction day is July 5th, a Friday. I got a bad cold a few days before week 38 and the doctor prescribed antibiotics and some cough syrup to make sure that I'll be ok in case I go into labor early. Since the stripping of the membranes I've been having some more contractions that are a little stronger than I felt before and are accompanied by mild back pain. I'm loosing a little bit of the mucous plug every day too. First big chunk came out on Monday, the 24h and I've been having low belly cramping on and off since then. After checking today, the 26th, the doctor said that baby isn't ready to come out yet since I haven't had any spotting at all. The truth is that I never had spotting with the first two pregnancies either so not sure if that is a good measurement. I'm definitely in pre-labor but will have to see for how long. This time I seem to dilate a lot faster so, who knows... Will see how this last week goes. 

I'm excited to meet Kaley but I am a little nervous about the labor and delivery and about the postpartum period. I remember how hard and painful it was after I delivered Alyss so I'm trying to find remedies that will help me feel better this time. Hopefully the third experience will be the smoothest of all.