I have been going insane since I haven't been dilating and hate having to wait each week to find out if I'm getting any closer. So I called my OB today and made her tell me what I REALLY need to be on the look out for.
She said a "a more reliable indicator of impending labor is the passage of the bloody show, blood vessels in the cervix are rupturing as it dilates and effaces. Once you've watched the bloody show, labor is probably just a day or two away"
That is just her opinion and what she has seen in her patients and not the written rule.
Re: the bloody show...
I have heard this too.
Everyone at work thinks it's all about "dropping." So I looked it up last night. For first time moms, once baby drops, the baby will be born within 2 weeks. Yeah, that's helpful.