Nope, no baby yet!
My doctor's appointment this morning confirmed what we'd been fearing: I am not at all dilated, effaced, softened, and Baby D is a BIG BOY that hasn't dropped like he needs to. Right now, the doctor has estimated him at 9 lb. 5 oz.! He is comfortable, healthy, and very happy to stay right where he is. (He did mention that Baby D is probably closer to 8.5 lbs right now, based on his experiences with late ultrasound-sizing.)
The doctor went through the same "big baby" spiel that he did last week (and when I say 'the same' I mean, the EXACT same), which basically means that I could choose to have a c-section right now, he could induce right now, or we could do nothing...and NOTHING is exactly what we're going to do. The worry with a big baby is that he won't fit, but countless studies have shown that inducing big babies early actually results in MORE rather than less c-sections. Hence, the doing nothing right now.
A wonderful fact that has been going through my head on repeat is that a woman who is 4 cm. dilated and effaced can go WEEKS and still not see her baby. At the same time, a woman can go from not effaced and 0 cm. dilated to having a baby in her arms in 12 hours. So, we're back to the waiting and guessing game when it comes to normal obstetrics!
The doctor has scheduled to induce me on Wednesday, July 9th if I haven't gone into labor before then. So please pray REALLY hard this week that I go into labor because we want to avoid induction and a c-section as much as possible. That said, we know everything will be fine, no matter how we encourage and welcome Baby D into this world.
So, what are we doing now? Well, "Waiting for Godot" comes to mind (except for the fact that Baby D isn't a veiled metaphor for God). Nick is working from home on his online course at OSU, so it's WONDERFUL to have him here. I can't do much (read, write, quilt, bead, etc...) because of my hands, so I'm melting my brain watching TV...which is ROUGH in the summer! :) My Mom and Dad and sister Katie came up for a surprise visit yesterday, which has been great! The anticipation and excitement is fun, and it's great to be reassured of my normalcy in this pregnancy by people who know what they're talking about!
And, like my Dad says, there is no such thing as Chronic Pregnancy.
8 comments:
You continue to be in our thoughts and prayers. For your sake, I hope things go naturally. I did not like the experience of being induced with Abby as well as when I had the other two "naturally". I understood why we were encouraged to induce her but after experiencing that once, I opted for the "take a risk he'll be born at home" approach for Jake! It all turned out just fine just as it will for you! We love you all!
If it makes you feel any better, our birth class teacher reiterated to us that size doesn't really mean anything. it's more about the size of the baby's head if you happen to have a small pelvic outlet.
praying for labor for you. i can imagine how you must feel. heck, i'm almost ready and we've still got 4 1/2 weeks to go!
-becky
I had an no dilation or effacement with Vera, the induction was scheduled 5 days after the due date and she arrived an hour before the induction appointment. So...don't be discouraged.
Vera was nearly 9 pounds and I would consider her an easy labor.
I am sticking with my July 3rd guess.
Beth and Nick, I truly admire your patience! Last week, the teen girls' bible study I am helping with talked about patience.
We decided that our biblical definition of patience would be this: "Patience is waiting... on people [i.e. the baby], time, and God. Patience involves an element of trust. Don't give up or burn out. Stay faithful. Bear with one another; don't get irritated. In the end, God will reward you for your patience." What a great reward your baby will be for you two!
oh yeah, my OB said if you're late something you can do to try to start labor yourself is accupuncture. ? worth a shot I guess.
I think you should definitely write an absurdist pregnancy play.
Praying that Baby D decides to get moving soon!
...i've also heard that if you make up a really encouraging, original cheer, you know, something like, "baby, baby, baby, baby..." and then cheer it repeatedly and loudly, particularly in public places, the baby will be very encouraged to come out. i know, you are awed by my original cheer, but you do have to come up with your own. the baby will know if you stole it from someone and who wants to come out only to be faced with a thief. and the good thing about coming up with a cheer is that it doesn't have to be written down, so you only have to use your brain and not cause your hands anymore pain!
hope that gave you a good laugh. actually, laughter is what encouraged ezra into this world, so maybe you should rent all of your favourite comedies, eat lots of pizza and ice cream, laugh, eat, and repeat. seemed to work for us.
we love you guys and continue to keep you in our prayers, particularly against induction and c-section!
Hey, Nick and Beth. Just checked out your blog to see if there was any big news...anticipation sucks sometimes. We're still waiting on ours too, so we can relate. When I read, "I just want to meet him (and in our case him and her)" I thought, "Ah, yes, I know that feeling."
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