So we're ready for baby to come, but baby is going to stay put for a little while.
After many exams and much discussion this morning, the L&D doc decided that Sister is an "unstable lie", which basically means she's too damn squirmy to stay in one place very long. Meaning that, if we tried to turn her today, she'd likely flip back around tomorrow. She's still sideways, but since Tuesday, she'd flipped around from having her head on my right side to having her head on my left side. How did she do that?? And the risks of the external version outweigh the benefits of turning her at this point, "particularly with an anterior placenta" and the way she was laying. The little bugger was on her back, with one of her hands and both feet all jammed down in the exit door, which would have made it extremely hard for the doc to get a grip on her. She's small enough and I have enough amniotic fluid that they think there's a good chance they could turn her at the last minute if I go into labor in the next week -- the consensus was that there was no burning need to turn her today. Which means I went without food & water until 1pm for no reason at all, sigh! By the time they were ready for me to make a decision, I was too spaced out to think clearly, so I asked the Mister to decide for us. (He said he knew then that I was really really hungry, since I'm usually the Queen of Control Freaks.)
The current plan is to try to turn her next Friday. If that's successful, the doc recommended binding my belly so she can't flip back, and then inducing immediately. I'm okay with that plan for now. I'm opposed to induction for convenience and have been opposed to the idea that we need to induce just because I'm old and she'll be at 39 weeks, but now that we've added in the flip-flop problem, I'm thinking it's probably our best bet to avoid a c-section (although I know of course that induction can cause its own series of problems). I'm also much more confident that the hospital will let us move as slowly as we need to, unless there's a real emergency. I can't say enough nice things about the L&D staff I've dealt with so far. They say they're a baby-centered hospital, and I really see that in my experiences. No one is rushing me or pushing for medical interventions, and the focus keeps coming back to making sure baby will be as well-baked as she can be, weighing in all the various risk factors.
Plus, my Doc is back next week and will have plenty of time to overrule or tweak the current game plan, and the hospital staff has made it clear that if Doc wants a change, the hospital won't get in her way. It's kind of fun to see the look on their faces when I mention her name. She definitely gets a lot of respect : )
And, there's always the chance I'll go into labor before then. I'm still having mild contractions, and the L&D doc said this morning that I'm 1cm dilated, which made me burst out laughing. My body may be 46, but it somehow knows that it's going to have a baby! How amazing is that?!
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Finally, because this blog can't possibly be all baby all the time, I've got to give a shout-out to Squeaker, who has slept through the night for the past FIVE nights in a row. He's really turned a big noticeable corner in the past few weeks. His behavior during the daytime is markedly improved. He's cheerful and engaging in lots of imaginative play that we didn't see before. He's eating better and appears to be ravenous. I think the sleep-deprivation has been messing with both his developmental and physical growth. He's still borderline hyperactive, but it's much less destructive, and the tantrums are subsiding enough that he's tolerable to be around more often than not. Such a relief for all of us! And just in time ...
oh I missed a lot this past week! just wanted to wish you well as you wait it out day to day, moment by moment.
so glad squeaker is sleeping through the night now! the surgery must have helped. the interrupted sleep is definitely hellish on them too.
don't be surprised if he regresses when the baby comes. ours started sleeping thru the night at 13mo and STOPPED when we came home with a 3wk old at 2-1/4yo. it's taken a few months but it's getting better, though she wakes up earlier now than she ever has. brutal. so you never know!
anyway. enjoy your last few days as a trio! love the nursery, btw.
Posted by: luna | December 24, 2011 at 02:56 PM