Well, this morning was possibly my favorite doctor’s visit yet, albeit quite uncomfortable for Ash and her ripened cervix. The nurse was a new one to us and was quite chipper and let us listen to Ali’s beating heart for a few minutes. Then our boy came in and did his thing which gets more and more painful to watch by the week. After a quick feel, he asks the nurse a question and then says he wants to "strip the membranes".  This is something we were sort of hoping for and very happy that he seemed willing and able. He said everything is fantastic and Ashley is a solid 2 cm dilated. The procedure looked extremely, umm, uncomfortable. The stripping isn’t proven to help much at all, but theoretically it increases some labor hormones and often results in action within 48 hours. We shall see.

On a related note, we wanted to put some hospital information up here for those of you nearby or who just need to waste a bit of time on the internet. So, we’ll be staying/birthing at the lovely Providence Medical Center in scenic downtown Everett. The quickest way there is I-5 north to exit 193 (Pacific Ave) and head west until you see the place on your left. We’ll be on the third or fourth floor of the Pavilion for Women and Children.

Also, we’re hoping to liveblog this labor/birth as best we can, so if you haven’t already, you may want to set an rss feed for this site in the feed reader of your choice to keep yourself in the know. If you have no idea what that means or just don’t care, so be it.

Lastly, my guess for birth has come and passed. My sister Georgia is up next with tomorrow night around 10:30 pm. Right now we’re hoping she nailed it.