Week 5 - Hospital/Birth Updates

Autumn is on her way!!!

We are at 39 weeks this week. Andre has arrived from El Paso and will be here for the next 14 days. Even though induction is not part of my preferences for natural/gentle/unmedicated birth, the hospital team is worried about letting Autumn go too far past her due date. I have appreciated their flexibility to let me go past 39 weeks - their usual preference to induce - but they are starting to put more pressure on us to have her induced.

Some reasons for induction:
- They have diagnosed Autumn with Intrauterine Growth Restriction (IUGR) because of her small size - less than 5% on the ultrasounds. She has consistently been small from about 20 weeks and symmetrically small so it most likely is not because of a deficiency of nutrients. More likely she is just small. 
- Risk of infant stress/risk to her life rises after 40 weeks.
- Andre will be guaranteed to be here if we induce... and also present for her surgery.

Reasons I hesitate:
- I want her to be able to grow as much as she can before she's born... the bigger she is, the bigger the valve can be in the surgery.
- She's moving well and passing all of her Biophysical tests.
- Most induction methods can snowball into more and more interventions and I really believe in the idea of doing this as naturally and gently as possible.

With all the reasons to induce and reasons I hesitate, we have decided to go forward with our induction appointment on Tuesday. Until then, I am doing everything I can to naturally induce - from walking briskly to eating spicy food to Acupuncture and Induction Massage. With Lisa's help and lots of reading, we've got a few things in place to help get ready for the induction or hopefully induce me into labor before the 6th. 

If I do need to go to the hospital for induction, the plan is to use the least invasive/medicated method possible. We are still looking into the cost/benefit of the preferred methods of our OB... Cervidil vs Foley Catheter. I'm practicing relaxing through this process and being open to the changes in what my picture for her birth would be. In the end, I want to make sure that I've done everything I can to make sure she comes into the world healthily so she can be strong and resilient for her first few weeks. 

At the moment we are enjoying our last few days before we meet Autumn. It's a little unreal to think that we will be meeting her within the next week.