Well, in general, I feel so blessed with such a smooth pregnancy. I can eat and sleep so well just like before I was pregnant. I really don't have many typical pregnancy symptoms at all! Of course, there is a little scary story when I was 29 weeks. It all started on Saturday after I made love with my husband in the morning. After ML, I found a tiny little bit of blood on the tissue after I peed, and then no more blood for the rest of the day. On Sunday, we ML again and I had some cramping on Sunday night for almost 30 minutes. The next day is Monday, 11/26/07, I had cramping again at work, so I called my OB and reported my situation to her. She called me back after an hour and it was 3:30 PM at the time. She ordered me to go to the hospital right away to be monitored. She thinks I have typical pre-term symptoms, bleeding and cramping even I told her the bleeding was so tiny. Anyway, I reported it to my supervisor and she OKed me to go right away . I also emailed all my co-workers and attorneys. Some of them looked really concerned. I stormed out of the office building, called my husband to inform him what's going on. I didn't want him to go to the hospital, because from the bottom of my heart, I know it's probably nothing. I took the bus to the hospital and got there in 10 minutes. I waited at the OB ER for more than 30 minutes and a friendly nurse took me in. I was strapped with baby heart rate monitor and contraction monitor. An extremely friendly French-American female medical student asked me a bunch of questions which were already asked by the little nurse. She even started chatting with me. And a more senior looking resident male doc came in to give me a check up of my cervix. He then reported to the chief resident doctor that the cervix is completely closed. The chief resident doc, a 30 something woman said my contractions might be caused by dehydration, so she ordered me 2 bags of IVs. I started one, called my husband and asked him to order me Eel over rice from the nearby restaurant, so I can eat after I finish. While I almost finished the 2nd bag of IV, the woman chief doc came in to check my cervix herself to confirm it's closed. She said "Yeah, it's definitely closed." After the IV was finished, I was finally sent to home. I took a cab home and the contractions were still there until late that night after I fell in sleep and they were completely gone the next day. After that experience, my husband and I stopped ML. Also my conclusion is Braxton Hicks contractions are very normal during the late stage of pregnancy and I wasted my time and $50 ER co-pay! Although BHC can be uncomfortable, but they really come and go very quickly. After that experience, I still had some BHC from time and time and they were virtually painless.

I started my weekly appt. with my OB last week at the 37 weeks. After she checked my cervix, she told me I am 2 cm dilated already and she is very happy with my progress. She gave me instructions for when to go to the hospital. 1. The water breaks. 2. When the contractions become every 4-5 minutes for 1-2 hours. Yesterday I just went in for another weekly appt. at 38 th week. To our surprises, she told me I am already 4 cm dilated and she said, "You are going to have the baby very soon," but she doesn't know how soon. I was quite happy and nervous at the same time. I feel happy, because I know so many women have to go through so much pain to get to 4 cm and I just get there without feeling anything. My OB even joked with me about my progress, "Hahaha...I am having a baby." Sounds like a painless and joyful experience! I am feeling nervous, because I am sure there will be some pain ahead also this means my baby can come out any day now! Somehow I don't think I am ready yet! The other good news today is my mom got her visa to come to the US to be with me during the labor and give me "I feel so grateful that I can get this kind of help and support from my mom. Honestly speaking, I don't think my husband can do much even he will be nice to me, but it's completely different.

So far, all I have to say is I am really blessed with such a smooth pregnancy. So, I will keep you all informed about my labor experience:)