Sunday, February 1, 2015

Inducing Labor

      After my last appointment at the OB, I learned that I would have to make a decision about whether or not to be induced soon, and have to decide before Valentine's day. I'm a bit torn in making this decision, even though I was induced with my other two children and honestly, both of them were good experiences. The first time I was pregnant, I wasn't sure exactly how I wanted things to go. I considered attempting natural, but wanted the option of having pain relief if it got too bad. I figured I would just go into labor, then decide what to do as things progressed. Of course, as I got farther along in pregnancy, the idea of having an all-natural birth sounded horrible with as awful as I was feeling, and the idea of an epidural sounded lovely.
    When I was pregnant with Madelynn, I started having pre-term labor. At 28 weeks, it was discovered that I was already over 50% effaced and was having contractions that eventually brought it to nearly 75%.... or something like that. That was over 6 years ago- I can't remember the exact numbers, but basically it was quite concerning. I was put on modified bedrest and couldn't go to work for 3 months, and also put on medication to stop the contractions. Fortunately, where I worked had a sick leave bank that I qualified for and was able to continue getting benefits and pay during this time. My doctor was absolutely positive that she would be born a few weeks early, and was just trying to get me to 36 weeks before delivering. And then my body decided "just kidding, I'm not going to go into labor on my own." Given the issues I had during that pregnancy, my doctor was nervous about letting me go past my due date, so I was induced on my due date. By that point, I was already 100% effaced and 2-3 cm dilated with regular contractions, so it really wasn't a big deal. Every single mother I had talked to about induction told me it was absolutely horrible and to avoid it if it at all possible. But it wasn't bad at all- I had been having regular contractions for so long, that the increased ones from the Pitocin didn't even hurt, I would just have to stop walking around to catch my breath when a bigger one would come on. It is also worth mentioning that this particular winter was one with absolutely horrible snow and ice storms that shut school down for over a week, and the day she was born was the only day that the roads were in decent shape, so we didn't have to chain up the car and drive down from the top of the hill we lived on. Anyway, basically the entire birth was fine, other than my epidural being TOO effective, requiring forceps because she refused to come out. Recovery was pretty harsh, but the experience in the hospital was delightful.
     When I was pregnant with Ian, I was monitored closely to watch for signs of pre-term labor. I had a bit of a scare at about 26 weeks when I started randomly bleeding and contracting, but no cause was ever discovered, and I was just put on modified activity for a couple of months to be safe, but I never had the problems I had with my first pregnancy. At this same time, my dad was dying of cancer. I knew it was likely that he would never meet his grandson, but hoped that he might miraculously live just long enough to see him. My dad and I spent a lot of time wearing our matching sea-bands to help with the nausea, and I found it ironic that we were both feeling horrible, but knew that the end results would be completely opposite. It's definitely easier to deal with feeling horrible when you know that it will eventually get better and the results would be with it, as opposed to knowing it would just get worse and lead to a terrible outcome. As my due date approached and my dad just got worse and worse, I knew that time was of the essence. There was no medical reason for me to be induced with Ian, but I told my doctor that I insisted on being induced if Ian still wasn't here 5 days after his due date, which is when I ended up having him. I was already 4 cm dilated when I went in, and so getting to the point of active labor wasn't terribly difficult. Ian was born after only a few hours of being in the hospital- I couldn't believe how fast he came! 10 minutes of pushing and BAM, hello world. It was pretty awesome, and then I was immediately put on anti-depressants, because HELLO, given that I had severe post-partum anxiety with Madelynn and didn't even know if I would make it out of the hospital before my dad died, it was clearly necessary. For the record, I healed remarkably quickly with him and was able to leave the hospital the very next day. My dad ended up dying just hours after we put Ian in his arms, and I absolutely do not regret the decision to be induced. I knew he was holding on just so he could meet him, and every day that I remained pregnant was one more day of him being in excruciating pain.
    So this time, I have absolutely no medical reason to be induced and no one on the verge of death (because the person that traded places with this baby died at the beginning of this pregnancy- I can only have babies if someone in my family dies. Seriously.) The kicker with this? My OB is going to be out of town a few days before my due date and the next week after. He won't let me go past 41 weeks (and I won't let me go past 41 weeks, given how Ian was already a bit "overcooked" so to speak with only 5 days past his due date, so we're in agreement.) Which leaves me with two options- wait for my body to go into labor naturally, knowing that there's a strong possibility of waiting longer than I am comfortable with to have the baby and having a complete stranger deliver him, or be induced a week before my due date. I'm already dilated to 4 and having quite a few contractions, so inducing labor wouldn't be a problem, but I've never been induced before I was due. Yes, I know it seems that being at 4 and having lots of contractions would mean I would be having this baby within the next week, but alas, my last two babies were the same way, so I just got to spend multiple weeks having contractions all the time and slowly dilating. To be honest, I will probably end up electing to be induced valentine's day weekend. Why? For one, we don't have much of a support system here. If we were back in Eugene, there's a zillion people I could call to help. We know of a couple people here we can call to help watch the kids, but it's not a guarantee that we will be able to get a hold of them at the drop of a hat- especially if I go into labor at 3 in the morning. Which would mean we would potentially have to drag the kids to the hospital and traumatize them. They've spent enough time in hospitals being traumatized; especially Madelynn. Also, it would be nice to have at least one familiar medical professional at the birth. I am also feeling pretty awful now- two bouts of viruses with only 3 days respite in between has worn me down, the pelvic pain is relentless, the reflux is constant whether I'm standing up or lying down, and now I'm getting shooting pains down the front of my right thigh, so the idea of having one less week of being pregnant sounds pretty sweet. I also miss being able to breathe comfortably through my nose. Neither onption is ideal, but we just don't have as many options here. Well, either way, I think I will start eating lots of fresh pineapple and Indian food. If it doesn't do anything to help things along, at least it's delicious. On a final note, I know that everyone has strong opinions one way or the other about the "right", and if you give yours telling me what to do, I will probably be annoyed and ignore it. I just want this baby to get here safely, whether he falls out on his own or requires assistance. Whether or not you had your baby in a magical waterfall surrounded by fairies or had a c-section, I don't have strong opinions either way and just hope that you didn't have a terrible experience.

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