Waiting for the Birth

On Fri­day, I hit 39 weeks preg­nant and will be check­ing back in to the hos­pi­tal for a sec­ond attempt at induc­ing labor.  The first attempt, last week, was unsuccessful.

I’m still deal­ing with nau­sea from HG, although it has eased up a bit.  If I don’t go any­where and take it easy, I can man­age with two 50mg tablets of dimen­hy­dri­nate, but I still get incred­i­bly motion sick in the car and have to take an addi­tion two if I want to go anywhere.

Because the baby is so big, the doc­tors wanted to induce at 37 weeks.  We ended up wait­ing until last Wednes­day to check in to the hos­pi­tal for the induc­tion.  I knew there was a pos­si­bil­ity that it wouldn’t work, but was hope­ful.  The first day of med­ica­tion gave me fairly light, reg­u­lar con­trac­tions, which built over the sec­ond day to being pretty strong con­trac­tions every 2 min­utes by the sec­ond evening.  When the doc­tors exam­ined me, how­ever, my cervix hadn’t low­ered or effaced at all and as soon as the med­ica­tion ran out, the con­trac­tions would begin to subside.

I came home Fri­day, still hav­ing strong con­trac­tions about every half hour, but they grad­u­ally stopped and there have been noth­ing more than Braxton-Hicks con­trac­tions since.

I felt decent Fri­day morn­ing, but by Fri­day evening I felt the two days of con­trac­tions in every mus­cle in my body (and most painfully in my cervix, which I’m sure was bat­tered and swollen after two days of being pressed upon by the baby’s head).  Even my arms and legs were sore, which I found sur­pris­ing.  I had prob­lems sit­ting and stand­ing and even rolling over in bed, on Sat­ur­day, but by Sun­day I was feel­ing well enough to ven­ture out for a large ice cream sun­dae (although I demanded an ice cream shop that we could park directly in front of — no walk­ing for me!).

I’m back to “nor­mal” now, I sup­pose, and feel ready to give it another go.  The doc­tors all tell me this time should work, that the sec­ond induc­tion is almost always suc­cess­ful when the first fails.  I’m not sure what will hap­pen if it doesn’t work.  The OBG­YNs at the hos­pi­tal say they won’t let the preg­nancy go beyond my due date.  The baby’s head size is off the charts, so I’m a lit­tle ner­vous and hop­ing the birth won’t be too dif­fi­cult and I’ll have a quick recovery.

I hope you’ll keep me in your thoughts on Fri­day and this week­end and that I’ll have some great news to share next week.

You may also be interested in reading:

• Leo's Birth Story (9)
• When it's not just morning sickness: Living with Hyperemesis Gravidarum (17)
• Struggling with Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG): Week 33 Update (2)
• Struggling with Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG): Week 29 Update (3)
• Struggling with Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG): Week 23 Update (14)

Tagged as: Birthing, hyperemesis gravidarum, induction, labor, Pregnancy