Doctors Appointment

I wish I had better news.
 We went to the doctor yesterday, I know many of you have been waiting to hear the news but I just couldn't bring myself to write about it since I was so emotional and disappointed yesterday.

Baby girl is still not fully engaged.  About the same as last week.  The doctor checked my cervix and still no dilation.  Not even a 1.  But she said it is starting to soften.  So we scheduled our induction.  Originally she wanted to do it on Wednesday but we asked to wait til Friday to give baby girl a couple more days to come on her own and that way my parents will be here for it.  

I am supposed to go into the maternity ward on Monday and Wednesday for around 30mins of fetal monitoring to make sure baby girl isn't becoming distressed. 

My parents fly in Thursday afternoon at about 12 noon.  

We check into the hospital at 8pm Thursday evening.  The following is how the induction process is supposed to go. 

The midwives will come in around 10pm to check the cervix and insert the prostaglandin gels.  If I don't go into labor sometime that evening the midwives will come around again at 6am to check the cervix again and insert a 2nd dose of prostaglandin gels.  Then I will be hooked up to the fetal monitor for about an hour to make sure baby isn't becoming distressed. 

If everything continues to be fine but labor still does not begin the midwives come around again at 12 noon to check if the cervix is ripe and dilated enough that the doctor can break my water, hopefully stimulating contractions. If breaking the water is unsuccessful then an oxytocin drip will be administered.  The goal is that baby girl will be born sometime on Friday.

As the doctor is explaining this all to me, I had to try really hard to be strong and not break down in tears.  I am sure she could see the fear in my eyes.  Afterwards she assured me that there was still time for baby girl to come naturally on her own.  

On the way back to the car I broke down and cried the whole way home.  I know that many women get induced.  I was reading that actually one in five pregnancy are induced.  So I know this isn't the end of the world and I am sure all will go fine.  But it is scary to think and read about all the possible complications and know that the risk of a c-section will go up, and I really really don't want to have a c-section.  But it is also reassuring to know that this is being done for the protection of our baby. Because no one really understands how normal labor starts, we are at a loss to explain why some labors don't start until weeks after the due date. This would not be of concern, except that after nine months of pregnancy have passed, the placenta often fails to keep up with the growing oxygen and nutritional needs of the overdue baby. In fact, the mortality rate of babies born after 43 weeks is double that of those born on time. After 44 weeks, the mortality rate is triple the normal rate. That is why most practitioners are extremely reluctant to allow pregnancies to continue much past 41- 42 weeks.   

I really want the chance of having on all natural labor and delivery, no induction, no epidural, no IV, no catheter, no c-section.  But often times once you are induced the spiral of medical interventions continues and that is what I hate most about it.
In the mean time I am trying to stay positive and hope that baby girl will decide to come on her own before Friday.  

Side note: after writing this post I asked Chris to read it.  He said, " Wow, that is a lot of writing, it was very informative."  I asked if that was a bad thing, he said no, but that is why I am the one who writes our blog because if it was him he would have said.  "no baby yet, check back soon. The End."