A Baby Story - Deciding to be Induced

Today, my son is 3 weeks old! He is a joyful presence in our lives and I've enjoyed being his mother immensely over the last 21 days. So it's about time that I got his birth story written out! We just got internet setup at our new home last night so let's see if I can get this show on the road!!

Disclaimer: I generally don't use words like "cervix" or "vaginal" here on my blog. However, this is a birth story. If you don't care to know, just don't keep reading!

In my last post, I was 40+5 and feeling good. Starting to get a bit impatient but still happy and healthy. Well, on Tuesday, June 5 (our 2 year wedding anniversary!) I went in for my midwives appointment and second biophysical profile and ultrasound. Unfortunately, at my midwife appointment we found out that although my cervix was very soft (woop for evening primrose oil!) I wasn't even at 1 centimeter yet and LDB was still at a -2 station (still not descended all the way). Basically, my body was not planning on birthing a baby anytime soon. T (the midwife at this appointment) talked with us about some different options for induction in case we were interested. We decided to wait until after the BPP to make a decision.

So, at the BPP Dr. H and the nurses were still impressed by how healthy he looked but decided it was time to check his size.
Oh. Boy.
I told Dr. H that I really didn't want to know but he said it was necessary now that I was almost at 41 weeks to check his size and make sure he wasn't growing too big. So he made his measurements and his eyes got bigger and bigger. I explained that we have a family history of big babies and his response was, "Well this one is certainly following the family tradition!" He did his calculations, warned us that these guesses have a large margin of error and then gave his estimate. 11 pounds. Let me go ahead and say here that I did not believe at this point in time that I was growing an 11 pound baby. I was convinced the guess was wrong because very, very often they are. Dr. H wrote a note for our midwives and we took it back to their office to discuss options with Midwife T.

K and I had a long time to talk before we saw T and I was so defeated. I did NOT want to be induced but I knew that we were running out of time and options. After lots of thought, prayer, tears, and conversation with Midwife T we decided that induction was the best option. T explained the risk of shoulder dystosia and other risks with large babies (but remember, I didn't believe he was that big) and we all felt like we'd better just get it over with. I told her the sooner the better, because I didn't want to spend days fretting. We went home and she called 2 hours later to tell us that they had fit us into that night's schedule. We needed to be at the hospital in an hour and a half ready to be induced! We called our family, finished packing our bags, and headed that way. We explained to everyone when we called that because my cervix was so closed this was going to be a loooong process so don't feel like you need to rush to Cowtown. A truer statement had never been uttered!