Birth Story Part 1 - Weeks 40 and 41, The Waiting Game

As my due date approached, Nick and I were getting more and more anxious for things to pick up and get started.  When we went in for my 40 week appointment, my midwife Louise was reassuring saying that most babies come between 38-42 weeks and that there should be nothing to worry about.  At that point, we began having non-stress tests done at the maternity ward every couple of days.  Baby girl did great and my blood pressure and other vitals were good.  She just wasn’t ready.  At my 41 week appointment, Louise offered to check my cervix and see how far along I was.  She hadn’t done this before and I was glad.  At 41 weeks, I was still completely closed; no dilation at all.  This was a little discouraging for me, since we had been waiting for what felt like forever.  Additionally, the baby was right on my cervix, which caused the cervix to be really high up.  Needless to say, this was a VERY painful internal exam.  I had also been walking a lot and doing other things that are supposed to get your cervix ready.  No such luck.  At this point, my Mom and Dad were both up here waiting for the birth.  We spent a lot of time together, walking and eating spicy food and hanging out trying to keep me calm.  Nick wound up taking a couple of days off to be with us, too.

Shopping with Mom and Dad during my 41st week!

The non-stress tests after the 41 week mark were a little different.  Baby girl would get sleepy every time that we went.  We would have to wait there and try having me lay down differently to see if her heart rate would get up.  On Saturday May 5^th, my midwife was at the hospital when I was having my NST done, and offered to check me again.  Cervix was still totally closed at 41 weeks 5 days.  Also, this exam was even more painful than the time before.  At this point, we were planning for an induction to happen on Monday morning.  When we met with the midwife, she said that we could actually come in on Sunday night to begin induction.  This way, I would likely be in labor during the day instead of the middle of the night.  Nick and I agreed right away and planned to head to the hospital on Sunday night.

One of many non-stress tests

Trying another position to get baby girl to move!

Now, since I had been planning for natural childbirth, the thought of induction scared the crap out of me.  From everything that we had read, and the childbirth classes we took, we knew what some of the effects of the induction drugs were.  I was very nervous that something wouldn’t work, or that it would make labor too difficult for my body to handle.  Contractions that are induced with pitocin are known to be stronger, quicker, and more irregular.  I just put my faith in my body and my midwife and hoped for the best.  There was no way for me to know what was going to happen, so I had to just go with it and see where it took me.