So far this pregnancy is similar to my last pregnancy, which was almost 2 years ago:  I’m 38 weeks pregnant (just about 39 weeks) and I’ve never experienced Braxton Hicks contractions ever, no contractions (with my 1st I didn’t have one contraction until I was in full-on labor), and my cervix is currently sealed up at a zero- sorry if that’s TMI. This worries me because my 1st daughter was 2 weeks late before I kind of broke my own water on accident, causing me to go into labor. I winded up needing a C-section in the end of that whole bloody mess (you can read about that towards the beginning of my blog posts). I’m attempting a VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean) this time around because I’m lucky to have a hospital that does them, and I really really want a successful VBAC. However, their rule is that if I’m more than 1 week late, they’ll have to do a C-section because they will not induce for a VBAC (which I agree with 100%).

At my appointment yesterday, the doctor said that he thinks this baby will be big also (my first was 8.9 oz at 2 weeks late), so that worries me a little since the longer I go, the bigger the baby will get. I know their estimates aren’t reliable since they told me my 1st daughter would be a small 7-pounder, but still. The idea of pushing out a 9+ baby with a C-section uterine scar makes me a little nervous, but I think my body can handle it. I’m going to try to go natural with no meds again since that should make the process faster and safer. I just wish I would get some sign of labor- even if it’s just 1 tiny contraction or dilating to 1 or 2 cms. I already exercise a lot and do the other stuff they say to induce naturally. When I know for sure we’re not getting a snowstorm tomorrow (I’ll need my mom to come here to watch my daughter if I go into labor and she’s an hour away) I think I’ll start with the acupressure points. Wish me luck!

During my entire pregnancy, I never felt any real contractions. I never even felt the Braxton Hicks contractions where you’re supposed to feel a tightening in the abdomen area. People would tell me that I should be happy about it because they can be uncomfortable, but I took it as a sign that my little one was still far from ready to come out. Even when my due date came, the closest thing I had come to feeling a contraction was a very mild cramping feeling. I barely noticed it though. On my due date at the doctor’s office, the doctor said I was 1-2 cm dilated and about 50% effaced. I was at this measurement for the past 2 weeks prior to this. I knew they would start bringing up induction, but since I’m all about doing things the natural way and I’m anti-Pitocin, I was going to do my best to fight it unless the baby’s condition showed otherwise. I also had another reason I wasn’t ready to be induced just yet: I knew that my due date was wrong by at least 2 weeks. Because of my history with the blocked tubes and HSG, I kept records of everything, including when the deed was done, and I knew that the earliest possible date of conception would be at least 2 weeks after my given due date. The due date they told me was impossible because that would have meant that I got pregnant BEFORE the HSG, but I was infertile at the time with two blocked fallopian tubes. Yet, most of the doctors in the practice I went to didn’t want to hear my “excuses.” Only one doctor there truly listened to me and honored my wishes to postpone induction when I was a week overdue.

Once I was a week overdue, I had to get a Non-Stress Test (NST) and ultrasound about every 3 days to make sure the baby wasn’t stressed and to make sure my amniotic fluid levels were good. The baby did excellent during these tests. Even the doctors who wanted me induced ASAP couldn’t say anything negative after seeing the results and said that the baby did actually seem to be doing great in there still. As a patient I really felt vulnerable and upset because I totally felt like my rights were being violated from being pressured by the doctors to get induced. My baby was doing excellent and I knew that my due date was wrong, so I saw no good reason to push nature just yet. Our culture has become so obsessed with rushing delivery just because of convenience, the mother’s comfort, or charts and time tables. I felt like I needed an advocate or something! So I became my own advocate and literally fought with some of the doctors. One woman said she was scheduling me for an induction for when I was 9 days overdue, but at my next appointment I had a different doctor (the one I like), and he had it changed for me, as long as I agreed to keep getting the non-stress tests. He said that I am in control of my pregnancy and that the decision is mine. He suggested that I not go more than 14 days overdue though, and that I agreed with. I said that 14 days would be my limit, unless the NST’s showed that I needed it earlier. I was still feeling great, still going to the gym, and sleeping well. Why rush something when I was obviously doing fine? I then heard about that documentary that Ricki Lake did, “The Business of Being Born,” which was about the same issues I was having! It made me feel relieved that I wasn’t the only one in America feeling this way.