Of Babies and Births

So, I went to the doctor today... It looks like this baby is not as anxious to come as Maggie was. She's still pretty small--my uterus only measured 34 (centimeters?) and you're supposed to be about the same number of weeks pregnant you are (38). And my body is just not ripening up like it always has before. So we're thinking the due date is probably a little off.

As for inducing, I'm not a big fan of it--I was induced with Nathan and things just did not go very well (of course, he was my first child...). But when I went into labor naturally with Matthew and Maggie they just seemed so much more ready to come and I recovered more quickly, too.

However, Maggie was born 45 minutes after we got to the hospital (no anesthetic because the darn anesthesiologist had gone home for the day and it took him too long to get back). While I'd been in early labor for a couple of hours at home, I was only dilated to a 4 when I walked into the hospital so things really just kind of escalated super fast.

What if I have another fast labor? or an even faster one? And now we live about half an hour from the hospital (in good traffic) and I have to admit that I've been pretty nervous about making it in time. I do not want to deliver a baby in a car. No thank you. Can't imagine. The mess alone... Ugh.

So, my whole pregnancy I've been debating: induce early to prevent such a nightmare (and get the "Princess Treatment" with a pre-pain epidural because natural labor on pitocin?...no thank you) or just let things happen as I've always proclaimed is the best way to go (but I would totally still get an epidural--if I have enough time). Every time I thought about going into labor naturally, I got really stressed out thinking of all the "what ifs". Really stressed out.

And so I decided to go the lower-stress route and schedule an induction.

But not so early. I'm scheduled to deliver on April 2nd (my official due date) right now. But things just don't seem as, I don't know, scary? urgent? as they used to. And honestly this hospital, while brand new and very nice, is so huge that they don't take very well to elective inductions--simply because of the high volume of births (natural and emergency) that they deal with. They'll schedule it...but they tell you it may not happen until later on in the day or maybe the next day. (You actually have to call the night before to find out when you're on the schedule.)

And Brian is a huge fan of all-natural labor. "Isn't going naturally more...natural?" Granola. Actually, I think he likes it because he's not just an awkward bystander. When Maggie was born, I needed him to help me through it. Although he did get walloped pretty good in the delivery room because it was partly his fault I didn't have time for drugs. "Oh, you're in labor? That's nice. I'm just going to work for an hour even though it'll take another hour to drive home..."

So I've got an induction scheduled but I'm not set on it. Although knowing how pregnancies go, I'll probably be very ready by the time April 2nd arrives. Right now, I'm actually relieved that this baby won't be arriving for a few more weeks. I was starting to feel a little panicky about how much I still have left to do to get ready for her. I've never seen a third trimester fly by so fast.

P.S. I gained 3 pounds in the last two weeks. That brings my total to 49 pounds so far. Thank you ice cream. Thank you Easter candy. Thank you Harmon's brownies. So I celebrated by buying a box of hostess chocolate cupcakes and eating half of them. 5 grams of fiber, Mom, per 100 calories! And they even have protein and calcium, too! I'm considering quiting whole grain bread for the next couple of weeks and just go for the hostess cupcakes. Mmmm, chocolate...