Yesterday we had another of our, now weekly, doctor checkups at AWS. This time we saw Dr. Dang. She is very pleasant, very smart, and very sensitive to our need to ask questions. We've seen ALL 5 doctors and 2 nurse practitioners now and we've found that each one has a distinctly different style and approach towards Obstetrics.
We had another Ultrasound at this visit and our son is measuring in the 70th percentile for overall size. For my petite (5' even) wife this news is a little unsettling in regards to a vaginal birth. This visit really made us consider "how natural of an approach" we want to take for our delivery. Or more specifically, "do we INDUCE early for a vaginal delivery" or "do we try to CARRY TO TERM and schedule a c-section deliver".
After the ultrasound and during our checkup, Dr. Dang expressed a desire to induce Lauren next week as she is measuring, via tape measure, around 41 weeks. Her concern is that as we approach term, Lauren's option to deliver vaginally will become less viable.
This means that we would need to get an amniocentesis first to determine if we could induce. It would be at least another week (bringing us to week 37) just to find out if induction was going to be possible. That's a lot of testing, results, and appointments just to find out IF it’s an option for us, considering that every day that passes we are less likely to deliver vaginally regardless. So all these efforts could be pointless by the time the results come in.
Lauren and I had already discussed our preference for c-section delivery, if needed, and we told the doctor. She did not disagree with our rationale but did reinforce that at this time we have options so we decided to think it over and talk about it over lunch.
One of Lauren's biggest fears during labor is to try vaginal birth for 12 hours only to end in a c-section. Our friends and family who have delivered babies assured us, anecdotally, that this is the worst scenario possible as it is tiring, traumatic physically and mentally, and still carries the recovery from, though minor, a surgical procedure.
We are going to carry as far as we can and take our chances at delivery knowing that we will likely need to schedule a c-section. This decision was really hard for Lauren. The daily toll on her body from carrying a large baby (and extra amniotic fluid to boot) is grueling. I love her so much. She is taking the high road for our child and it assures me that she is going to be a great mother.
Either way we will have a baby within the next 3 weeks.
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