D Day

Today I had my 37 week appointment with my midwife. As we were walking back to the office, the nurse looks at me and says, "Girl, are you feeling all right?" And I was like, "Um, do I look that bad 'cause I thought I looked ok when I left the house?" Turns out, again, I was severely dehydrated. My keytones were +4 and that is the highest they can be.

The midwife came in and asked me about my diet and my liquid intake. I told her I had chugged down close to 30 oz. of water just before my appointment and had done the same right before bed the night before. I had a very balanced dinner, a banana right before bed and breakfast this morning. I did tell her I had noticed some things that were a little unusual and she agreed that all didn't seem just right. She pondered the findings while she measured the baby.

The baby is now measuring 46 cm. In one week's time, the baby is 3 cm bigger! She is supposed to be growing 1 cm per week. And, I lost 2 pounds in that same week. We then discussed the ultrasound findings. I didn't try to persuade her one way or the other. When she asked how I felt, I did share with her my concerns: 1) I hemorrhaged with Addie and lost a lot of blood and was pretty close to needing additional medical support, but ended up being ok 2) I also prolapsed after having Addie (yes, that is TMI, but it does factor into my worry this time around) and 3) I have had some terrible round ligament pains that feel like running cramps except they go up from my groin clear to my ribs on both sides and really do impact my ability to be a mom when they are hurting - and that is most days now. If the baby is growing so fast each week, how am I going to keep up with my kids since the pain gets worse as the baby gets bigger and hangs more and more on my muscles and ligaments? Delivering a large baby will not help with the blood loss or the prolapse either.

She factored the weight loss, deyhdration, baby growth, previous history and my current physical state and decided it was worth asking the doctor about what to do. She did warn that they usually don't induce due to baby size because if your body isn't ready, induction doesn't usually work and the patient ends up c-section. (Been there, done that, thank you very much Lexi.) But, she was concerned enough to go ask anyways. She came back about 30 seconds later.

"Get that baby out!" was my doctor's response when she told him. So, we scheduled induction for the 14th. She did warn me that a big baby combined with induction may result in a c-section. They are more common when you mix those two things than when mom goes on her own. I knew all of this and told her I wouldn't hold her responsible. She also brought up the idea that I might have gestational diabetes. Even though I passed the 7 month test with flying colors and haven't had the typical weight gain seen with gestational diabetes, she's wondering if it developed after the test was done. With my difficulties staying hydrated and the baby growing so fast, it could be a possibility. One of the risks with that is that the baby may be really big, but have under-developed lungs. And don't I know about that, too? Both girls stayed in the hospital with lungs problems - even Addie who was full term.
 
She then told me I couldn't go home until I had my hydration issues under control. What?!? I'd kind of forgotten about that with the good news about kicking this kid out. She told me I'd need to go over to L&D and get on an IV and they would have to keep checking the numbers until I was all better. Of course, I had the car with the car seats and Lexi was at preschool that gets out in 35 minutes and I'm in Albuquerque which is 25 minutes away from preschool but that really didn't matter since her car seat was with me so even if someone did show up, they couldn't even get her home. I called Allen who met me at the hospital and he sped off to pick up the child while I went over for my torture session. Thank goodness after one bag of saline, some juice, a light snack and some reading, my numbers were all better and they sent me on my way.

So, the 14th it is. I'm really, really hoping we'll make it to a VBAC, but I am realistic about what we're doing. I've never had a set date to try and have a baby and I kind of like knowing I have the next few days to sleep as much as possible prepare for the big day.

I guess this means we better pick a name, huh?

p.s. Allen leaves on the 19th for California, too. Isn't that AWESOME! Thank goodness Nana is here to help.