Pros and cons please

monlyn9

At my 37 week check this past Wednesday I was at 4cm. My doc was concerned due to how quickly my last two labors happened (2 hours start to finish...constant worry about if I will make it to the hospital in time). With my son I went into labor the morning after a 4cm check. Anyway, he put me on a monitor just to make sure there weren't any contractions happening that I just didn't realize (with my previous two pregnancies I never had contractions prior to being in labor) and there was not. We decided that I would schedule my 38 week check on Monday (rather than my normal Wed appt) and he mentioned the possibility of stripping my membranes if I have progressed but not started labor yet at that time. I didn't think anything of it at the time but now I'm wondering why he would need to do anything to get things moving rather just waiting for it to happen on it's own. Is there some concern about being 4+ cm and not in labor yet? Anyone else have any experience being this dilated for several days?