One last time

Okay, so this might not be the last post, but judging by how seldom I've posted when I haven't been less than a week away from labor, I wouldn't hold your breath until the next one. I'll start from the beginning.
I had my 38 week appointment yesterday. But, according to my doctor, it was my 40 week appointment (remember, they say my due date is May 4 — today). I made the mistake of not asking Joe to be there, because, silly me, I figured it wouldn't be too eventful. First, I had my exam — not dilated at all. Then, I had a non-stress test — everything looked fine. Then, I had an ultrasound (my fourth). Everything looked good on that too. I'm sure you'll all be happy to know that, according to the doc, the Donger will be well-hung when he's born.
However, things started to get tricky from there. My doctor doesn't like to let any pregnancy go over 41 weeks (40 is considered the end, basically, but 37 is considered full-term — it's all very arbitrary), and since he considers me 40 weeks, I'm on my way to being post due. There are a number of complications that can manifest when a baby is post due. The general practice, I think, is to let a pregnancy go to 42 weeks, assuming tests (like NSTs and ultrasounds) show that the baby is doing fine. I suspect that my doctor cuts things short because of the risk of malpractice suits — unfortunately, obstetrics is rampant with them, and many doctors now are practicing defensive medicine, meaning that they interfere with what might normally be considered perfectly natural variations on pregnancy and labor, because they're afraid that if something goes wrong, they'll get sued. The problem with this is that there's a wide range of normal within childbirth, but doctors are narrowing what they're willing to deal with. For instance, up to 50 percent of women go through what's called a natural alignment plateau at some time during their labor, where they're making essentially no progress for a half hour, an hour, maybe a little longer. This is perfectly normal, and the baby is still okay (we learned about this in our Bradley childbirth class, which I wanted to write about, but never found the time). However, when you're in a hospital setting, a lot of doctors will call this "non-progressing labor," or something like that, and shoot you up with pitocin (that link goes to a natural childbirth site, so is probably a bit biased, but it's the best I could do) or break your water or order a c-section. They'd rather do a surgery and get the baby out ASAP than risk that something bad might be causing labor to slow down. I'm not saying that these things aren't necessary sometimes, but I also think it's unfortunate that fear of lawsuits has to cause interventions that aren't always needed (not that there aren't legitimate malpractice suits out there, obviously).
Anyway, my doc says no to going past 41 weeks. So, we sat down and I said, "There is no way my due date is May 4, here's why..." He said, "Okay, I get that, but let's look at the other ultrasounds." I didn't know how the other two ultrasounds had dated the Donger, but he pulled out the little calculator thing, and it turns out that the one in mid-February said my due date was April 26, and the one in early March said April 18. So, May 4 is actually being generous, according to the ultrasounds. I still don't think that's right, so I asked if it was possible that he's just big, and doc said, "Absolutely, he is big, but a month bigger than he should be?" Hard to argue with that, and since he's got the concrete numbers down on paper, given by three different techs at three different hospitals (a very rare opportunity), I didn't have much ammo.
So, we compromised. I've got an appointment for Tuesday the 10th, which would put me at 39 1/2 weeks by my count, 41 by his. If I haven't made any progress (or gone into labor) by then, he's going to admit me directly to the hospital to be induced. They'll have to start out with cervidil (again, a link to a natural birth web site), probably, to soften my cervix. Then, 12 hours later, they'll start the pitocin.
Before I go on, does anyone else see that we didn't really compromise? I mean, I'll be 41 weeks, according to doc, and I'll be induced, just like he would normally do. How did I come away thinking that we compromised? Has my U of C arguing ability completely abandoned me? This is why I should have had Joe there.
Anyway, many women wouldn't mind being induced, would probably be excited. I am too, in a way, especially since by then I'm sure I'll be more than ready to go. But, if you clicked on the Bradley link above, you'll see what kind of class Joe and I took, and you'll probably guess that I was hoping to do this without drugs, and with minimal medical interventions (plus, for those of you who know my issues with needles, you can imagine what the thought of an epidural does to me). The class educated us a lot, and I highly recommend it. I think it's by far the most birth info you'll get from a class, everything from nutrition to exercise, and, of course, labor stuff. Admittedly, it's biased toward non-medical births, but we went into it knowing that, and still came out feeling like we got a well-rounded education.
Anyway, having pitocin doesn't mean that I'll be forced to take an epidural or other pain medication, or that my labor will be harder or the pains worse. (That's a common myth. What actually happens is that you skip the early part of labor, where the contractions are sort of mild and build up, and you jump right in the the hard stuff. You don't get a chance to warm up to them, so a lot of women perceive them as more painful.) What it does mean, though, is that I'll be forced to be at the hospital before my labor really begins, and I'll be hooked to the monitors and IV from the very beginning, not allowed to walk around or shower, and with limited ability to change position. Those are all things that are really important ways to deal with pain, and we were planning on staying home for as long as possible (meaning we'd leave for the hospital shortly before it's time to push — don't worry, we've learned how to recognize signs that would tell us that). This is to avoid hospital policies about mandatory interventions (like an IV "just in case," or constant monitoring or no walking allowed — again, fear of malpractice suits, which the nurse as much as admitted when we asked her about that). With the inducing drugs, they have to monitor the baby more closely, right away (because they've introduced an additional risk factor, the drugs).
So, it won't make it impossible for us to have a "natural" birth (other than the pitocin), but it will make it harder. I do know that there are women who have done it, so I'm trying to keep that in my mind.
In the meantime, we haven't surrendered. We've still got five days to chase the Donger out of his little coccoon, and we're trying everything we've heard of to get him out (well, not everything). Unfortunately, in his effort to stay comfortable, he's settled down in my pelvis and is once again putting pressure on my sacroiliac joint (this time on the other side), except now he weighs about five pounds more than he did, so it's that much more debilitating. So, that makes it really hard to do the primary labor-inducing thing, which is walking. But, I'm gritting my teeth and doing it anyway, because I want him out at this point. I will try to post again before it's a birth announcement, really, I will. Okay, time to go eat some spicy food.