pregnancy

Warning:
This post is rated “P” for Pregnancy. I will be discussing my pregnancy.

I am 34 weeks pregnant. I go to the hospital every single week because I have been labeled a “high risk” pregnancy. Although, I have much to be grateful for, that “high risk” label manages to suck much of the joy out of this experience.

34 weeks is a good place to be. I’m close and even if I were to deliver now, the baby would probably be fine. Like I said, a good place to be.

Going to the doctor stresses me out. All I can hear is “cautious optimism”. Blech! Even when the news is good, it is delivered in a way that makes it feel like something else to worry about.

Recently, my doctor started talking about wanting to schedule an induction. I do not want to be induced, unless it is absolutely necessary. I was induced with my first pregnancy and it sucked. I went in on a Saturday night to get induced and did not have the baby until Monday morning. That is a very long time to be in labor. It was hard on my body, hard on my emotional and mental state, hard on my husband.

Of course, I will do what is best for the health of my baby, but right now I am not convinced that an induction is necessary. When the doctor first brought up the subject of induction, he suggested it be done at 37 weeks. I said I would think about it. On my last visit he brought it up again and I said I wanted to wait and see if I would go into labor naturally. He said he would be comfortable waiting until 39 weeks.

I asked for the pros and cons and he said the pro of waiting until 39 weeks is that the baby’s lungs will be stronger, but after that he doesn’t think there is any benefit in continuing the pregnancy. My baby has some kind of issue with her right kidney that will need to be looked at after she is born, but the thing is that even if there is an issue that requires surgery, it’s not something that will be done right after birth so what is the point of inducing a week before I’m due?

Why am I sharing this with you? Because when I am at the doctor’s I feel like a deer in headlights. It is informational overload and I freeze. I can’t really absorb what is being said. I’m not a push-over and I can speak up, but in this case I feel myself  freeze a bit. After I leave and try to explain to my husband why the doctor wants to induce, I can’t come up with a really good reason because I don’t think I’ve been given a really good reason.

I can totally understand not wanting to keep the baby in past my due date, but why can’t we just schedule the induction for when I’m due, not before?

This might all seem trivial and unimportant, but I would really like to give my body a chance to do what it is supposed to do. I would really like to have that experience. I didn’t get it during my first pregnancy and this is most likely the last pregnancy I am going to have.

So that’s what’s going on in my pregnant corner of the world. Wish me luck.

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