35 weeks
36 weeks – full term to some, but not to others. Which means, 4 weeks to go. Or 3, if my OB has anything to do with it. More on that later.
So, I have been having false labor a good bit this week – honestly? It feels crummy. Feels like moderate period pain, for days on end, complemented by some intense backache and the feeling like someone is stabbing my cervix. Luckily it comes and goes, most days, but it did keep me up from 4 am – 5.30 this morning. Boo. Optimistic that this meant my body was at least ‘preparing’ (I knew it wasn’t labor) I bounced into my OB’s office (actually, I crept in due to said pains) to be told I was 0 cm dilated. My disappointment must have shown in my face as my OB said ‘well, a fingertip, maybe a fingertip’. UGH. All this pain for Jack? I consoled myself with some pic ‘n’ mix. I was ~40% effaced though, and encouragingly, my cervix was ‘very soft’. I have been taking a lot of Evening Primrose Oil, so with absolutely no control group, I will chalk it up to that. That’s a Scientist for ya.
And FW is still head down. Good boy. Stay that way, please.
So, America is famous for not elective C-sections and inductions. I had, all along, been determined to avoid either, but then polyhydramnios reared its ugly head (UK peeps: I did call the NHS and they do check for this in the same way, its just pretty rare so you may not have heard of it). Weekly scans show Firework is fine. I am fine. So, I had hoped it wouldn’t change anything. However, when I casually mentioned it to an OB I was ‘visiting’ she said ‘well, there is no way I would let you go past your due date if I were your OB’. Eh, I didn’t like her anyway. (No, seriously, I really did not, she was way too thin and perky and made up and false be-nailed to be a decent OB. Trust me. Wes liked her, but my women’s intuition tells me otherwise). Ms perky-pants gave me no justification so I promptly forgot about it. And her.
So, I asked my high-risk OB, Dr. Dillard. He said “I wouldn’t let you go past your due date… in fact, I wouldn’t let you go past 39 weeks’. I was kind of upset because I quite like Dr. Dillard. He explained that risks go up considerably after 41 weeks, in a J-shaped curve, and “one could argue” the curve is shifted to the left in polyhydramnios so he’d go for it at 39 weeks. I scowled and pouted. I appreciated some sort of logic, but it didn’t seem like very good logic to me. I mean “one might argue” – WHO might argue? And does the shift to the left include those with birth defects / GD / underlying causes of poly? Which I don’t have? Hmmmmm. He did say “look, no one is going to kidnap you and chain you to a pitocin drip… and I am not your OB…”. Which gave me some hope.
Then I saw my usual OB today, Dr. Boswell. Thing is, I like and trust Dr. Boswell immensely. Most importantly, she looks like an OB should look: all scrubs and glasses and scraped back hair. But, she is also immensely knowledgeable, and very reassuring and genuinely doesn’t believe in intervening unless necessary (plus has a whole load of ‘crunchy’ interventions up her sleeve, which many OBs have not heard of). SHE raised the issue of induction. She said ’40 weeks’ but indicated by her ‘things get much more risky after 39’ that 39 was her ideal. Hmmmm. She did, however, offer very good reasoning. She said that the most common cause of ‘idiopathic’ poly was an underlying blood sugar problem. So, she treats poly patients like sub-GD patients. She said that the risk of shoulder displacement, and still birth went up a lot from 39 weeks. She said the words “if it were me, and my baby, I would go then”. UGH. UGH. UGH.
So, yeah, I do like and trust both Dillard and Boswell, and Boswell gave me pretty good reasons. So, I am thinking of agreeing to a 39 week + 2 day induction. Which is exactly 3 weeks from today. No entirely thrilled, so in the meantime, I am back on anything that might encourage labor. Evening primrose oil outside and in (! – sorry TMI) Dates, and lots of squatting (been a bit lax about that – I’ll go back to a full 25 min squat throughout the daily show). I should walk more. I should. I’ll try. Sigh. Any more tips welcome (I have ruled out pineapple).
Onto happier news – Wes did me a little maternity shoot, at bang on 36 weeks. Here is how it went:
36 weeks
36 weeks
And a spooky Halloween one:
36 weeks
Quite a different size from our 29 week one 🙂 :
29 weeks
Anyone think he has dropped?
The Crafty Momma 