Elective induction scheduled for Saturday
I have just returned from my weekly midwife appointment, and I'm still only dilated to a 3, still not completely effaced, and the baby is still pretty high up - basically there has been no change from last week, despite all the contractions I've had in the intervening time. My midwife did another membrane sweep, but I'm sitting here on my couch and it hasn't done much. I think that whatever separation is supposed to trigger some labor magic was pretty much successfully done last week, so there's really nothing left to strip/separate!
This left us (husband came to the appointment too) with three options: 1) continue to wait, even though baby is measuring 2 weeks ahead and my odds of a successful VBAC after 40 weeks go down to maybe 50-50, 2) give up completely and schedule an elective c-section, or 3) schedule a "gentle" induction in which they try to jump start labor with as little chemical help as possible (induced VBAC success rates are also maybe 50-50 - the only way I was getting higher than that is with a spontaneous labor prior to 40 weeks, which apparently isn't happening).
Elective c-section wasn't really on the table for me, honestly, as I would always wonder "what if" I had given labor a try - leaving us with the remaining two choices, which seem to me a statistical wash. Thus, husband and I chose to go with the elective induction, and the only availability in the schedule over the whole next week was this coming Saturday, February 25th when I'll be 39 weeks 6 days - so we took the slot. I could of course back out at any time before we begin (but I won't), and since it's a "gentle" induction with no prostaglandins due to uterine rupture risk, it'll take a little while to work even after we begin. I won't go in until ~8pm Saturday night, they'll start with the Foley bulb (which will probably take all night), and then I'll get an choice in the morning between artificial rupture of membranes (AROM) or starting very low dose pitocin. I will get someone in to check new baby's position (I think she's poorly positioned right now, and probably with another extended head!) before AROM so that we don't lock her into something terrible, but otherwise, I'd probably rather try that than pitocin. If that doesn't work, then pitocin it is - increasing veeeeryyyyy sloooooowly.
So will this work??? Who knows. Again, I give it a 50-50 shot. However, I can guarantee that she'll be a February baby, and my gut tells me that this is my best shot at avoiding a c-section - she feels *really* big to me. Part of me wonders if I'm rebelling against my first birth, in that I'm trying to do everything differently in an attempt to avoid a duplicated outcome. I was so hands-off the first time, did everything "right/non-interventionist," and bought 100% into the idea that I couldn't grow/position a baby that I couldn't birth (I laugh at this in hindsight). Well, that didn't work out well at all. So this time I started stripping EARLY, and now I'm getting induced, and I expect that pitocin will make me want to die so I'll end up with an epidural as well - pretty much a textbook medicalized birth and as opposite as I can get from my first approach! Maybe this really will result in a better outcome, though.
However, I haven't lost sight of the TOP PRIORITY: healthy baby. That is what I want at the end of the day.
So keep us in your thoughts, especially late Saturday/early Sunday. I will keep the blog as updated as I can! Fingers crossed...here we go :)
(On the bright side, it's going to be 70°F tomorrow and I am going looking for snakes - today, too! Labor snakes are even better than labor owls, especially for FEBRUARY! Feels like California :))
This left us (husband came to the appointment too) with three options: 1) continue to wait, even though baby is measuring 2 weeks ahead and my odds of a successful VBAC after 40 weeks go down to maybe 50-50, 2) give up completely and schedule an elective c-section, or 3) schedule a "gentle" induction in which they try to jump start labor with as little chemical help as possible (induced VBAC success rates are also maybe 50-50 - the only way I was getting higher than that is with a spontaneous labor prior to 40 weeks, which apparently isn't happening).
Elective c-section wasn't really on the table for me, honestly, as I would always wonder "what if" I had given labor a try - leaving us with the remaining two choices, which seem to me a statistical wash. Thus, husband and I chose to go with the elective induction, and the only availability in the schedule over the whole next week was this coming Saturday, February 25th when I'll be 39 weeks 6 days - so we took the slot. I could of course back out at any time before we begin (but I won't), and since it's a "gentle" induction with no prostaglandins due to uterine rupture risk, it'll take a little while to work even after we begin. I won't go in until ~8pm Saturday night, they'll start with the Foley bulb (which will probably take all night), and then I'll get an choice in the morning between artificial rupture of membranes (AROM) or starting very low dose pitocin. I will get someone in to check new baby's position (I think she's poorly positioned right now, and probably with another extended head!) before AROM so that we don't lock her into something terrible, but otherwise, I'd probably rather try that than pitocin. If that doesn't work, then pitocin it is - increasing veeeeryyyyy sloooooowly.
So will this work??? Who knows. Again, I give it a 50-50 shot. However, I can guarantee that she'll be a February baby, and my gut tells me that this is my best shot at avoiding a c-section - she feels *really* big to me. Part of me wonders if I'm rebelling against my first birth, in that I'm trying to do everything differently in an attempt to avoid a duplicated outcome. I was so hands-off the first time, did everything "right/non-interventionist," and bought 100% into the idea that I couldn't grow/position a baby that I couldn't birth (I laugh at this in hindsight). Well, that didn't work out well at all. So this time I started stripping EARLY, and now I'm getting induced, and I expect that pitocin will make me want to die so I'll end up with an epidural as well - pretty much a textbook medicalized birth and as opposite as I can get from my first approach! Maybe this really will result in a better outcome, though.
However, I haven't lost sight of the TOP PRIORITY: healthy baby. That is what I want at the end of the day.
So keep us in your thoughts, especially late Saturday/early Sunday. I will keep the blog as updated as I can! Fingers crossed...here we go :)
(On the bright side, it's going to be 70°F tomorrow and I am going looking for snakes - today, too! Labor snakes are even better than labor owls, especially for FEBRUARY! Feels like California :))
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| Success! Never bet against a herpetologist :) Also, I am very gray in this photo and patiently awaiting the ability to dye my hair again.... |
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