My due date has come and gone. As of Monday, I was scheduled to be induced on January 31st. So many thoughts race through my head as I scour my message boards what seem like hourly for others stories similar to mine. I was so caught off guard by the initial fact that my Dr. was doing a delivery and I had to see a midwife that I never even thought to ask questions.
How will they start the induction process?
Is it really necessary to have me awake at 5 am?
Did you forget how exhausting labor is?
You don't really think I'll sleep that night, do you?
How long will I labor before performing a C-Section?
What are the determining factors for a C-Section?
What is the rate for C-Sections preceded by failed inductions?
What is the rate of a failed induction?
At what point do you determine a C-Section is the better option?
WHAT ABOUT OUR BIRTH PLAN!?
We've been working hard on a natural birth. I didn't want medication this time. I most definitely do not want to be induced. I sure as hell don't want a C-Section. We have tried everything to put me in real labor(short of taking supplements and castor oil) as I don't want extra stuff in my body that it isn't used to. Walking has become excruciating as I have a condition called SPD (Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction)that is making things more and more impossible every day. In the end it all comes down to "if your body isn't ready, it won't go in to labor"... this is where I hate the induction part. I told my doctor that be induced isn't something we want, we want her to come on her own. However, he will not let me go past 41 weeks.
And so I've been researching constantly and honestly do not like what I've found. The thought stands that this baby is a big baby. Possibly the reason why my progress has stalled since week 35. From what I've found, if baby is too big, she cant rest properly on the cervix allowing for dilation to occur. This leads to unnecessarily long labor that stresses the baby and ends in a c-section that should have been performed in the first place. Understand, that although I do not WANT a c-section, I have a very strong feeling its how I will end up.
For every person that has told me they were induced and everything went great and they had a vaginal delivery... I'm confronted with dozens that ended with c-sections. I've also found that most of the people who had "successful" inductions, also were not in the same boat as myself. I had a long labor with Morghan and spent a long time pushing (even being threatened with a c-section) not because she was 8lb 7oz so much as she had a large head that was getting stuck behind my pubic bone. This was already my concern with this baby, not the weight, but more the size of the head. Yet, my Dr wouldn't preform a growth scan. He felt I was being a little paranoid. Continuing on past size, is that she is INCREDIBLY high as stated multiple times and that my cervix has not changed in 5 weeks. The midwife even told me that all these things together increase my odds at a c-section.
I realize in the end the only the that matters is that she is healthy. Its just difficult and somewhat heartbreaking to have worked so hard on a plan to find out that you may not even get to follow through with it.
I'm stressing, I know... but there's honestly nothing anyone can say that's going to make the stress go away at this point.
Amy, no matter what I know she will be fine. God has you in his hands. It is difficult when your birth plan goes all wrong, mine did...but in the end it will all be okay. I completely understand that no words can help you feel better, but I just want to let you know that I am praying for you!!
ReplyDeleteIt'll all work out ok, I know it will!
ReplyDeleteThey'll give you a med to ripen the cervix, an IV med to make you contract, and if you go in at night they often give sleep aids while the meds are "doing their thing". Obviously I can't speak from experience, but I do know that the pitocin makes your contractions significantly more intense, so lots of people do end up with an epidural.
A c-s will happen if there is no cervical change or if something with the baby goes unexpected. And if you do end up with a c-s, request stitches--- staples are horrible and leave ugly marks! and the stitches will leave less of a scar, but i know lots of docs take the easy way out and do staples because its quicker. I know a surgery scrub tech who had stitches (I wish I knew the specific kind, she knew exactly what to ask for) and she said there is hardly a scar left at all.