Checkup and Induction Question

Filed Under Birth, Pregnancy | 11 Comments

Today was my 38 week 5 day doctors visit… I guess it was disappointing in a way. For one, I was hoping to not make it to this appointment. I wish the doctors had never guessed that I would go early, because then I would still be expecting to be pregnant right now.

The appointment started out with my blood pressure being way higher than usual. 132/94 or something like that- please don’t comment on it and scare me because I don’t need anything else to stress over right now but yes that is high for me.

So I made a joke about them sending me over to the hospital right now, and the nurse actually said that I wouldn’t want to go now because L&D is FULL! How the heck does that happen? Besides a full moon and a low pressure system both in one week… anyway she said that people are starting out in the hallways and that they have postponed all the scheduled inductions for now and told people to stay home until they get a phone call! How crazy is that? ANd this isn’t some little podunk hospital. We’re talking about one of the main hospitals here in St. Louis. She said I need to hold off at least a few hours to go into labor so that they can get some of those people cleared out and/or delivered! I guess it’s good that I didn’t go in this morning before my appointment like I was hoping to On that note, I won’t be doing any walking or eating spicy food until at least tomorrow.

I told the doctor I was concerned that I was possibly leaking fluid and so she checked my water and it didn’t seem to have broken or be leaking. She used one of those pH strips and it didn’t change color, and then she checked something under a microscope and it wasn’t amniotic fluid- so I guess I have just been peeing my pants a little bit lately. Lovely. Yet another reason I would like to have this baby soon.

The other not-so-exciting news is that I am at 3.5 cm right now… which SOUNDS good since I haven’t been even having contractions yet, but it’s only a half a centimeter since last week. Jonathon was there and he said something like, “Only a half a centimeter in a whole week?” I got kind of snippy and said something like, “Yes, I’ve been telling my cervix not to do anything. I’d like to be pregnant forever!” She didn’t mention effacement this week so I was assuming no change (still at 75%) and didn’t want to ask. I asked if the baby was any lower and she tried to look hopeful and said, “Maybe just a smidge.” Great. Thanks. The good news is that she’s still head down. My belly has definitely gotten lopsided to the right lately so I was a little curious if she had twisted herself around.

Then the last event of the day was…. drumroll…. scheduling my induction! Ahhhhhhhhhhh I don’t want to be induced. This was NOT part of my plan. Everything I’ve heard about being induced has not been good. My due date is April 14th, which is a Saturday, and she said I could pick any day the week after that and they won’t let me go MORE than a week past my due date. So I randomly picked Monday the 16th (yes, still in hopes that I can make it to the wedding on the 20th but if I didn’t go until then that’s kind of doubtful anyway). She said I could change the date anytime… so now I am thinking maybe I should have made it for Wednesday the 18th or something instead and give Bailey a little more time to get out on her own. What are your thoughts? I would like to hear opinions from people who have been induced- please no horror stories but just helpful input about my options!

The crazy thing is that even if I go past my due date and I’m induced, I will definitely have a baby within two weeks from today! Wow…

Comments

11 Comments so far

baseballmom on April 5, 2007 9:15 pm
I was induced, and won’t go into details, because my situation was much different than yours, and was scary, but I did have the ‘full hospital’ problem, and the doc had to lie so I could go in and be induced on the next day…it was kinda funny! The pitocin does tend to make contractions hurt more, so be aware of that. I ended up getting a c-section in the end.
Karaoke Diva on April 5, 2007 10:08 pm
I haven’t really heard good things about being induced. I was induced with Gavin because of my high blood pressure and it brought on the contractions HARD. Plus induction increases your chance of C-section by 50%. And you know my induction went that route.

On the other hand, going more than a week over due can cause a lot of serious problems too. If you can move it out to the 18th and give Bailey a better chance of moving out on her own, I would. But not any longer than that.
Elizabeth on April 5, 2007 10:24 pm
I have a happy story for you. SOrry, I’m a snoop, not sure how I found you but I have been reading for a few weeks. I have a friend who was induced with both her babies and they were both healthy, and relatively quick regular deliveries. I was induced at 10 days overdue with my son and went into labour about six hours later. He was born after 14 hours of labour. He was born with no problems, just jaundice. Don’t worry about the induction if it happens, just be relaxed and enjoy your last moments with your hubby before baby comes. I am sending you non-induction thoughts, if that helps… good luck and I’m looking forward to hearing your good news. I’m at http://www.devriesthree.blogspot.com
Anonymous on April 5, 2007 11:02 pm
Tara, you darling pregnant girl– this is your first baby. You don’t have anything to compare the contractions to, so even if they do induce you, you’re not going to know the difference between “hard” and “harder.” And, as soon as you get that epidural (you are planning on one of these, right?) then all you’re going to know is the pure bliss of a drug induced numbness. I had a whoppin lot of pitocin myself, and the epidural beautifully counteracted all the pain I felt. Your labor will go well– we’re praying for you!
Bethany
Anonymous on April 5, 2007 11:44 pm
Oops. After reading my post, I realized that the first part sounded a bit condescending– TOTALLY unintentional! Just wanted you to know that your blog is the funniest, most clever one that I read I know that at 10 months pregnant, I never was as hilarious as you! (I especially like the father-in-law-kegel story)
B
Jennifer on April 6, 2007 2:21 am
I don’t have any personal experience with induction so I really can’t give you any advice, except to say that if it were me, I would wait until the 18th. (Incidentally, April 18th is my Little Diva’s birthday and it was a very good day to have a baby!)
Marriage-101 on April 6, 2007 3:08 am
I wouldn’t worry about it. You’re going to have her on Friday the 13th.
eipwek on April 6, 2007 3:35 am
Obviously I have no first-hand experience with birth, so you can take what I say with a grain of salt. If you don’t have a problem with the possibility of getting an epidural and the increased chance of c-section, then induction may be the route for you. True, there are risks involved with going too far past your due date, but (just my opinion) I highly doubt that a few days will throw you into that danger zone. Unless my doctor could give me some evidence that the baby is in distress and/or the amniotic fluid is getting low, I would let her “cook” for as long as 2 weeks after the due date. Again, that’s just my opinion….it’s not based on any experience, just my belief that doctors have gotten unnecessarily induction-happy and that babies and moms could benefit greatly from letting nature run its course (in most cases).
twolinesonastick on April 6, 2007 4:14 am
B- you didn’t sound condescending at all!

Marriage 101- Friday the 13th has actually been a good day in our family, so that would be fine with me

Eipwek- I am going to do everything I can in the meantime to get this going naturally- and yes I plan to get an epidural- but I forgot to mention that since I am a “heart patient” (corrective heart surgery as a child) there are other risks as well with my blood pressure getting higher, so that would be another concern of mine about going along farther.

Anyway thank you all for your opinions- and in the meantime we are leaving it at the 16th and trying some “natural” things but we have the freedom to change the date as it gets closer. We’ll see how we are both feeling and how I am doing emotionally and physically at that point.
Lynanne on April 7, 2007 12:26 am
The horror stories you hear are usually in women who’s cervix isn’t quite “ripe.” Some docs wont give an epidural before 4 cm. If a woman is induced at 1-2 cm (or less), she will have to go through a lot of contractions before she can have any pain relief.

Also, a lot depends on how you are induced. There are different ways to get things going (stripping or rupturing your membranes, using a gel to “ripen” your cervix, etc). Some doctors try those first and others just go full out with IV pitocin from the start.

Contractions due to pitocin can be more intense, no doubt. This is why my doc wont give me any pitocin (due to my prior c-section, my uterus could rupture) However, someone who is already 3.5 cm along may need less pitocin to get things going.

There is a chance that you wouldn’t progress with pitocin and need a c-section. Who knows if that would happen if you went into labor naturally.

It sounds like you’ve already thought through this. I doub’t moving the date 2 days would make much of a difference, especially if you are pretty confident on your dates.
Julie on April 7, 2007 5:10 pm
my two cents would be to pick a date as far away as they will let you and hopefully the induction won’t even need to happen But I am very much unhappy with how much my doctor intervened in Tyler’s birth…that’s why we are going the route we are this time.