Had a good appointment, got some more info from my doctor today

It's when she'll begin monitoring me more closely. I went into labor at 38 1/2 weeks last time and had no dilation after 30 hours of contractions, so she wants to keep an eye on what's going on in the days leading up to then. It's not when I'll be induced or anything.

That's an interesting read! I'm going to be asking my OB about the different options. She did tell me that most of the usual drugs won't be an option, only pitocin. I don't want any pitocin if I can avoid it. It's a slippery slope toward a lot of other medical interventions. Pitocin makes the contractions more intense and painful so that it's hard to avoid needing an epidural. The epidural makes the contractions slow down so that you are more likely to end up on your back. I can handle the contractions for hours and will probably ask for more time if I have a similar delivery. Last time, she told me that it wasn't worth it to keep going through the pain if there was no dilation and the baby hadn't dropped in over 24 hours. This time, I'm willing to wait it out unless there are signs of fetal distress. I did well throughout the entire labor and never once asked for meds, even though I was in the hospital for about eight hours before my surgery.