is this finally it?!?!

[Preciousfaerie7]

Allright ladies PLEASE tell me i'm gettin close!! Well i'm dialted to a 2.5, -3 (which ihave no idea what that means if you guys do please tell me) and the dr says my cervix is SUPER soft. So i've been loosing by plus since last sat. (not to be gross but it looks like someone blew there nose on the TP.) So this morning i go into the bathroom to pee and i have really pink blood on the tp. it didn't have any mucas with it though.. The rest of the day i have been really crampy and just a couple of contractions. I was due the 18, and my husband just had to leave on the 20th... this little stinker just cant get the clue!! Anyways i was wondering if any of this has happend to yall and if so how long afterwards did you go into labor, i'm trying to decide if i need to get "ready" mentally or not, i dont want to prepare myself for another let down... Thanks

[Danielsmom]

I hope others chime in but the cervix being soft, the dilation the mucus and bloody show are all good signs. Has there been any mention of whether you are effaced or not?

[danav]

The -3 is the baby's station. Zero station is when the baby's head is engaged in the pelvis at a specific level of the pelvic bones...one centimeter above that level is -1, so your baby's head is 3 centimeters above that level (not yet engaged low in the pelvis.) When the baby is descending into the birth canal, the numbers are positive (+1, +2, +3 station). But just because your baby's head is still higher up doesn't mean that birth is not imminent - some babies don't drop down low before labor starts.

I agree that the blood is a good sign - usually that means that the cervix is dilating/effacting because that process breaks some of the little blood vessels in the cervix. I had bloody show (mucus with blood) all day before I went into active labor that night with Ian.

I'd say just make sure everything is ready to go, and then try to rest as much as you can right now. Don't work yourself up thinking "this is it" until you are sure you are really in active labor, though! Is your DH coming back soon??