'til Tuesday

I'm not even going to pretend that there's much on my mind besides this baby's arrival! Two doctor's appointments this week, but both were unsuccessful in their goal of trying to "sweep the membranes" (separating them from the opening of the uterus) and get this party started. I perused an herbal store and spoke to an herbalist about other options for starting labor, but they're not the safest approaches - some herbs can cause heart accelerations and others dehydration and meconium (when the baby poops before coming out), neither of which I want to risk without trusted guidance. So back to spicy food, walking, swinging, and eating things like basil and pineapple (two of my favorite flavors, and also good for a kickstart, apparently.) And I'm looking into acupuncture if we can afford it.

Although I trust my baby and my body inherently to do what we need to do in our own time, unfortunately I now have a timeline imposed by concerned medical professionals. We won't get the buffer of an extra two weeks after our due date like most people (with regular sized babies) do. We have until Tuesday to go naturally, and after that the risks may just be too high. We've had multiple OBs examine the results of tests and ultrasounds, and all agree that the measurements aren't being thrown off by a long baby, or a bad marker, but that this kid is quite chubby in a very proportional way, and getting bigger every day, making him increasingly more difficult to deliver and also increasing the risk of complications for both him (shoulder and clavicle damage, suffocation, brain damage) and me (severe tearing, hemorrhage, and pelvic damage). Nothing to take lightly, but based nonetheless on a foggy world of estimates and averages and status quo procedures.

I'm hoping to still get to go into labor in this sunny season, and use our amazing doula and all her techniques and tricks, but I'm also looking at the bigger picture (thanks, Gail) in a balanced way, weighing the risks and the rewards with all the advice and research. And if it happens differently than I've hoped, at least it is going to happen by next weekend!