29 weeks and counting

Our boy at 29 weeks

We had an ultrasound this morning to check on the status of our little chickpea’s growth.  Well, he’s not so little anymore.  He’s no longer a chickpea, he’s the whole friggin falafel.  He’s been measuring ahead of schedule the whole time, but today was the first day where I saw that massive cranium and felt my lady parts shudder a little bit.

Don’t get me wrong, I am so so happy that he is growing so well.  And I’m more than excited to hold my chubby little monkey when he’s here.  But I can’t help but be a bit scared of, well, how he’s going to get out of me.   Which brings me to the whole birth plan thing.

We haven’t taken our childbirth classes yet – they start this Thursday.  I am waiting to come up with the actual birth plan until I feel like we are both a bit more educated, and I am hoping the classes will take us in that direction.  I have vague ideas of how I would like things to go, but I am not militant about it and I am not prepared to judge anyone who feels differently, or to be judged by those people.  I do know I would like to avoid a C-section at all costs, if we can.  I like the idea of going completely natural, too.  But nothing is carved in stone, and I don’t doubt that in the midst of labor, I will go with my doctor’s suggestion if he says we need to do X, Y, or Z.

But still, it gave me pause today when he said that we’ll check on the baby’s size at about 38 weeks, and if he is still growing at this same rate then we may want to induce about a week early.  The respectful-of-the-OB’s-authority young lady in me caused me to say a meek “Okay.”  But then I thought about it, and thought, this is the kind of thing I need to ask questions about.  So I spoke up.  I asked him if the induction would really be necessary, and would it be for the baby’s safety, or for some other reason?  And he explained that it certainly isn’t mandatory, but if our baby is looking to be a 9 pounder or larger at full term, then it is a good idea to get him here a bit early to avoid the risk of needing a C section.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, I am not a doctor.  I trust my OB, he’s been doing this for a long time.  And I appreciate that he doesn’t want to give me a C section if it isn’t totally necessary.  So when he said that was the reason for possibly choosing to induce, I felt reassured.  Of course I’d like to let my baby come when he’s ready, but if waiting means increasing the odds of serious surgery taking place, then I think I’m okay with speeding things along if that is what my doctor wants to do.  So long as it won’t hurt my baby, and so long as he is fully developed and it is safe to get him out of there, I will go along with this plan if it is deemed to be a good idea.

I am not asking for advice on whether to induce or not – we aren’t even there yet, and it may turn out not to be needed.  The point is that there are so many decisions that have to be made about the actual birth process and we have barely even touched on them yet.  I am really looking forward to our classes so that I feel like I am in a better position to make these decisions.  They are far from easy, that’s for sure.

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