Not my Birth Plan!

Over the last months Andrew and I have been preparing for a natural birth. Not that I am against pain meds or anything, I just want to labor as long as possible before agreeing to any interventions or pain management. We have taken classes, and I have been preparing by staying very active throughout the pregnancy, creating a basic plan, learning breathing techniques, etc... At the same time, I have attempted to keep an open mind since I realize birth is different for everyone and there are many variables that can  change things. Because the pregnancy has been so normal and on track it never occurred to me that some version of my "plan" could end up not a reality.

Last week (37 week appt.) the doctor told me that I had not begun dilating at all and that the baby was still really high. I didn't know this before, but apparently high babies are not at all ready to be born and forcing the issue almost always results in a c-section. She was also concerned with how large I appeared. Great...now even my Dr. is telling me I am HUGE! She said to be sure she wanted to get an ultrasound at the 38 week appointment (yesterday) to make sure Julianne wasn't getting too big.
So I went to the Dr. yesterday and they did the ultrasound. First, I am amazed at what a big girl we have! I mean the last time I saw her she was a mere 20 weeks. Now all her parts do not fit on the monitor and she has beautiful chubby cheeks! Oh to kiss those cheeks I cannot wait! They predicted her to be 7.3 lbs but apparently this could be off by a pound either way. Obviously this is not a gigantic baby (unless she is really 8 lbs...hope not!) and fluids looked good, placenta good etc...

Bad news is I have not progressed at all (like NONE) and the baby is still really high and not engaged in my pelvis. This was very disappointing since I have spent a lot of the week walking and bouncing on an exercise ball to try to move things along. Seriously...nothing is different? I was shocked.

Next week if things are the same my doctor wants to discuss setting up an induction sometime during the 40th week. By this time if I have still not progressed, she feels the baby will be quite large and dragging it out longer would have no benefit. The problem is she said if things are still the same, I am going to need a lot of intervention and drugs to get labor/dilation going (not exactly natural). She also said inductions when babies are high more often end up in c-sections. This is not good news. I really wanted to go into labor and avoid as many interventions as possible. I also was hoping to avoid major surgery and recovery from major surgery.

So we wait....and see if this girl decides to descend on her own. Praying that this is what happens over the next week. I guess my ultimate prayer is that I could surrender all of this to the Lord and trust that his birth plan is best. Also, given we will likely have some options to consider, that we would feel confident with what to do. At some point I don't think I care how she gets here. After seeing those cheeks I just want to hold her and look at her and kiss her all over.

Nathalie