Checkup with the doctor

I had my 38.5 week checkup with the doctor yesterday and received some exciting news - I am 3 centimeters dilated, my cervix is 70% effaced (or thinned out) and the baby is at -1 station. He encouraged me to take some time with Wes this weekend as it will likely be the last weekend we have as a couple before we become a family. :)
Dr. Tsang clarified what a contraction would feel like - starting with firmness in my abdomen that radiates around to my lower back, where I would feel like I'm constipated. This description helped and I've noticed a few since then. Again, nothing regular.
I've begun to dream the last few nights about giving birth - with last night's dream so vivid that I thought I might actually send myself into my birthing time!
I listened to my birthing day affirmations cd while falling asleep and was so excited about the changes taking place that I didn't fall asleep very easily.
Wes and I have walked everynight for the past few nights and I went and walked 1 mile this morning around Hidden Lake. I feel ready and confident for my daughter's birth and am so thrilled that I finally get to meet her! I'm hoping for this weekend, but know that God's timing is better than my own. While I do have some discomfort - mainly pressure on my symphsis pubis, I am truly anticipating her arrival purely for the sake of the joy.

On another note, I found a group of moms here in Tracy who meet to run a few times each week on meetup.com and I was invited to meet them this morning. (You have to be invited and approved to join the group) So I met up with a few of the women at Tioga Park in Hidden Lakes and got the run-down of how everything works. They meet Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays to run and take turns watching one another's children so the other moms can run. They seem like nice people and I am eager to join them once I can run again! This morning I chose to walk(some may say waddle - haha) the 1 mile loop and then I left. These women do races together sometimes and each person can run at their own pace or with a partner. What motivation to get running again after baby is born!

My final thought is that I'm going to begin reading the book "WEiRD", which some people from our church are going through. They'll be doing a 6 week book study, which we cannot commit to of course, but we'll do a study on our own. Since I'll be reading it on my Kindle I figured I'd blog about my thoughts and reflections here, in addition to documenting my experience as a new momma. So that'll give the blog some direction for awhile. Lots going on!