Friday, July 10, 2009

inducted

for those of you who may not have been around for summer’s birth, there’s something you should know: i can’t feel contractions.

yup, you read it right. i guess it’s my body’s recompense for the hellish first four months of pregnancy.

and while such ignorance has its many, many advantages, it also has one decided disadvantage: timing. with summer, i was in happy oblivion, but this time, i feel like a ticking time bomb.

to add some perspective, even after my water broke, and i was nine centimeters dilated, they had to hook me up to a machine to tell how far apart, how long, and how strong my contractions were. i was no help. eventually, yes, i did feel something (um, excruciating pain), but that was only an hour or so before it was time to push. not the best situation when you live 45 minutes from the hospital.

anyhoo, i’ve been sort of crossing my fingers that everything is going to just work out (as in, i don’t deliver in the car), but today when i went to the doctor for a “labor check” (again, because i can’t actually tell when i’m in labor), they recommended me for an…an…induction!

dun, dun, dun, DUN!

the doctor, for her part, thought she was handing me a golden ticket. she didn’t quite understand why i looked so confused and nervous. why wasn’t i jumping at the chance? but even given my apprehension, we went ahead and scheduled the induction, and she reminded me that if i decided to cancel, i better call as soon as possible because there was a line of women who wanted my spot (like i was at an elvis concert or something).

most likely, i’m going to go through with it because i can see the concern in allowing me to wander at will and wait until the last minute. additionally, given what they told me today, i’m already nearing active labor (having passed latent labor), so very little intervention would be necessary.

but be it known that a little piece of my “principles” was sawed off and floated down the river today.

2 comments:

betsey said...

Good luck! With however it turns out. I'm sure it will be a wonderful and perfect day, not matter what...you are bringing home a new baby! HOORAY!

(p.s., I know that personal anecdotes aren't really helpful, but I had an induction and it was wonderful. here's hoping that everything works out just perfectly (no matter what happens)...GOOD LUCK!!!)

Jodi said...

Good luck with the induction. It is not bad to not feel contractions. :)