So, I had a doctor’s appointment today. It was a pretty good visit. Dan went with me since this was the (potentially) last one and he kept me laughing while we were waiting on Michelle the PA to come in.
I was just over a centimeter dilated at the appointment and about 40% effaced. When Michelle said “Oh, good, a centimeter!” I almost flipped out! (Um, hello, I’ve been “about a centimeter” for three weeks now!) Then she started feeling around and said “Oh, I can stretch you to two, no three, centimeters.” AHHHHHHHH!!!! Then she says “He’s REALLY low. I’m scratching the top of his head right now.”
Um, weird, but whatever works.
Michelle stripped my membranes (youch!) today and said I’m “favorable” and then said she wanted to go and talk to the doctor. So she did. And then she came back and said “How about starting pitocin in the morning?”
Hold the phone. WHAT???
I almost started crying because the suddenness of that kind of scared me.
She was explaining to me that my cervix was favorable so it was highly likely that starting pitocin tomorrow would be a good move. Except I really want to go through this without an epidural and everything I’ve ever seen/heard/read about pitocin with no epidural is that it’s the equivalent of having your eyeballs ripped out through your nostrils while being lit on fire. (OK, so maybe that’s an exaggeration…maybe…).
It seemed like she really wanted to induce me tomorrow, and part of me thinks it’s because she doesn’t want me to deliver with the doctor who’s on-call this weekend. She kept talking about how big he is and what happens to the placenta the longer the pregnancy continues, etc. I asked her if Dan and I could talk it over. So we did.
They went ahead and wrote the induction orders for tomorrow, but Dan and I decided to wait and see what my body does on its own since I’m making progress. The doctor was totally fine with that and we’re hopeful that I’ll go into labor on my own. If not, I have an appointment for Monday afternoon and we’ll definitely be inducing me then.
Dan and I still went to Provino’s for eggplant parmesan and then we powerwalked around the mall for about an hour. You should see how big my feet are now since I had to powerwalk in flip-flops. Fun times.
Either way, I’ve decided to go ahead and start my maternity leave tomorrow. I’ve got a few things I need to do around the house so I’m going to take advantage of the potential to get those things done (I’ll take “nesting” for $2000, Alex!). It feels good to know that I don’t have to get dressed up tomorrow unless I want to.
Also, it feels really good to know that one way or another, I’ll be holding this baby in my arms by sometime next Tuesday.