Thursday, January 20, 2011

We Have a Possible Birthdate

I was talking to my doctor today about my pending birth. Because of my previous c-section, the size of this baby, my blood pressure, and possible gestation diabetes she does not want me going past my due date. So we talked about induction. I wasn't sure that was an option with the c-section. She explained the concerns about inducing. Basically the concern is with pitocin that it makes the contractions strong which could cause stress on the scar on my uterus which could then cause a rupture. However, we need the contractions to be strong anyways for my body to do what it's supposed to do so it really shouldn't be any added stress on my uterus.

So after discussing everything what it boils down to is a vbac has about a 1% chance of causing a rupture. They don't give me too much leeway before they'd go in and do a c-section though. So I would be monitored closely and if there is any drop in the baby's heart rate they would do a c-section. That's to prevent the worst case scenario of the rupture though. We have to wait until 39 weeks to schedule the induction because before that I'd have to have an amnio.

Now because I have been contracting so far right along and because in my previous pregnancy breaking my water has progressed things pretty quickly for me we are going to start out with that as the plan. So I will go in at 7 a.m. on February 3rd. Get my two bags of IV antibiotics that I need to have because of the Strep B infection that I am carrying. As long as I have two doses of antibiotic before my water breaks then the baby will not have to spend time in the nursery getting tested and monitored for Strep B and keeping her out of the nursery as much as possible is a huge goal of mine. So once I get that the doctor will break my water and then so long as everything progresses nicely we should have a baby a few hours later. And if not then she will add a little pitocin to make my contractions stronger. But either way baby should be born no later than February 3rd. So that's just 2 weeks away. And if you don't have a calendar handy that is a Thursday and all of my children have been born on a Thursday.

I am ready to have her at any point now. The car seat has been purchased and is installed in the car. We have a take home outfit for her. I got a baby wrap to carry her in and the diaper bag I wanted. So we're pretty much all set. Well, except for a name. We still have not decided on that. Hard to believe though there's only 2 weeks left of this, maybe less. I will definitely be happy when it's over and we have a healthy, happy, baby in our arms. I'm very hopeful that my vbac is a successful one too. I'm glad to have a plan, but am also prepared for the unexpected. After all I have been contracting stronger and more frequently lately so it really could be anytime now.

1 comments:

The Elwood Family said...

If you don't go into labor on your own, I wouldn't opt for induction with a previous cesarean. The risk of uterine rupture with a previous c-section may be under 1% but that is going into labor on your own.
Pitocin creates unnaturally strong contractions that stress out the scar more, and increase the 0.6% risk of rupture, as well as other complications.