Every woman who has given birth has a birth story and feels the need to share it. I'm no different in that regard but hope that my story might help another soon to be mama. Before I was pregnant I never really paid much attention to birth stories. I never watched "A Baby Story" or any other reality shows of the kind. I unfortunately only had Hollywood and a few of my girlfriends' stories to go off of.
Of all of my girlfriends who have given birth, the majority were induced and ended up with a C-Section. Note: A C-Section is MAJOR surgery. We're talking cut-through-seven-layers-can't-drive-a-vehicle-for-8 weeks-or-stand-up-after-rocking-your-infant-to-sleep major surgery. It's something I've always known I wanted to avoid. Well I also had reached an understanding in my pregnancy not to have a set plan since God usually belly laughs at me when I try. That said, I also knew I didn't want to be induced since the most common outcome of inductions are severe contractions worse than those of natural labor and an eventual C-Section.
We found out at about 16 weeks that Bo had a double vessel umbilical cord. This means that instead of the usual 2 arteries and vein he only had one of each providing him nutrients. Low birth weight, brain damage and heart development issues can sometimes result in a baby with a double vessel cord. Since it was so early on, we were able to monitor his growth which obviously went as well as could be. That said, Dr. Taylor didn't think I'd make it past 39 weeks without having to be induced. I had a moment when she said this and then pushed it away. I couldn't change his condition and therefore didn't have a reason to stress out about it. 39 weeks came along and he was doing fantastic. He was already weighing in at an estimated 7 pounds and his head was in the 95th percentile. GULP. This was fantastic news and meant I would be able to go to my 40th week without having to be induced. After week 41 the placenta slowing starts breaking down and nutrients pass through much slower. Most doctors won't let any pregnancy go past 41 weeks for this reason. Since Bo was at a higher risk, Dr. Taylor didn't want to push it and gave me a choice between the 2 days she was scheduled to be on call 24 hours. Monday, May 2 or Thursday May 5. Of course I chose Thursday to push it out as long as I could (HA! A pun!) and of course God laughed.
Monday the 2nd was my last check up with the Doctor to find out how far I'd progressed if at all. Since Sunday the 1st was my due date, I was feeling a bit let down that Bo hadn't shown any signs of coming. I'm a deadline driven person and know it's unreasonable to be so focused on a due date, but with all those hormones you wouldn't tell me I'm wrong. :-)
I woke up Monday morning feeling anxious and a bit frustrated knowing I'd most likely have to be induced since I wasn't feeling any contractions. I showed up to meet the hubs in the waiting room and began bawling when he told me he'd cleared his calendar and we'd have the afternoon to go to Capitola and have a lovely lunch in the sunshine. I was just happy he was giving so much support. I was also jam packed with hormones of all kinds filling my head with so many emotions. I was nervous, excited, apprehensive. You name it, I felt it. It was no surprise really when the PA took my blood pressure, shook her head and said "wow that's really high. My guess is Dr. Taylor will send you right over to the hospital". Sure enough she walked into the exam room saying those exact words. I looked at Shawn and started bawling. Like a little idiot. I was scared. I wasn't ready. I was emotional. Those are some bad combinations when it comes to me. I did my best to compose myself and prepared to head over. As we left the office my friend Moni and her hubs were sitting in the waiting room. Cue tears. AGAIN. I mean seriously. Through sobs I explained what was happening. Moni hugged me and told me it was going to be great. Her poor hubs offered a hug with his arms but his eyes were saying OMGthisisnutsarewegoingtohavetodothistoo?
Since we didn't have my bags, the hubs had to go home to get those and drop Winston off at school. He checked me in and assured me he'd be right back.
The nurse took my blood pressure and put me in a gown. Shortly after they drew blood. My BP had gone back to normal so I of course asked if I could go home. The nurse wasn't authorized to allow me to but said she'd call Dr. Taylor.
The doc came to check on me and said since my BP had gone down and blood work came back beautifully it was up to me. "You're here now, so you can stay and go ahead with the induction or you can go home. I'm fine with either." Of course I couldn't make this kind of decision without the hubs so I waited for him to come back.
What a sight that was. The hubs walked in lugging my XL suitcase, 2 pillows and an overnight bag filled with snacks and last minute additions I had texted him to pack while I was being admitted. What? I didn't know what I'd need!
His smile slowly faded when I told him Doc said I could go home but of course it was up to me. He wanted to talk to the doc and so when she assured him I'd be perfectly fine to head home that's what we did. I wanted to push out my induction as long as possible so it was a blessing that my BP had gone back to normal and I was okay to wait it out a bit longer.
Part 2 coming SOON...
