To Be or Not To Be (induced)

For those of you who have been pregnant or had someone close to you who was, you know the question that a lot women grapple with at the tail end of a long 40 weeks is - intervene or not? We bounce on birthing balls, drink herbal teas, eat raw pineapple and spicy food and then we close our eyes and make a wish that the labor Gods will show favor upon us and bless us with a broken bag of water and some wicked cramping (what is wrong with us?). With the modern-day medicinalization of pregnancy, we sweat bullets as the due date approaches or even comes and goes, growing more and more impatient as time marches on. Catastrophic thinking clouds our judgement as images from discovery health shows dance in our heads. Somewhere between the foreboding voice-overs and somber music, we insert ourselves. What if that happens to me? What if my baby gets stuck? What if I end up needing a crash c-section? We forget that our fate is not at all governed by ratings, and the more likely outcome is, as a general rule, much less dramatic.

That said, what if you say no, we don't want to intervene, and as a result of that decision, you are faced with a complication that could have been prevented. Your conscience becomes heavy with the burden that your action to take no action ended with an otherwise unecessary c-section or, worse, a negative outcome for your little one. That is where we found ourselves today. Billy and I went to see our sweet OB again and after she noted that not a DARN thing had changed regarding my cervix (although she did note that Billy's haircut had changed), she pulled out the dreaded induction paperwork. She said that, without hesitation, this is the most responsible decision, since we are 39 weeks and all along we have suspected this little guy is a bit big and is likely sunny-side-up. She said she wouldn't feel comfortable waiting another week, giving him more time to grow but not becoming any more mature than he already is.

So, there it was, what do we say? Yes? give us synthetic hormones to trick my body into going into labor - ready or not, birth canal, here babe comes. Or do we say no! Give the little guy another week (or two or three) to pack on the pounds, grow a bigger head only to get lodged under a my pubic bone and end up in a c-section anyway.

For now, we are going to trust the good doctor, that is after all the path of least resistance. So, March 25th it is! We will be induced that morning. So send your thoughts and prayers our way for a safe and painless (ha) delivery of our little one and we will keep all of you posted. As an added bonus since we are taking Dr. Hampton's advice, we can sleep under a warm comfy blanket of shared blame, if there is a c-section in our future.