Tag Archives: induction

Half Way There!!

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Holy buckets! We made it half way. Andrea is 5 cm dialated and received her epidural about 10 minutes ago. She has been amazing, not a single tear and she looks beautiful! Her contractions are still coming regularly and we have been working together to support her. I can’t even describe how amazing this experience has been thus far. Andrea has been talking about how blessed we are to have so much support from soo many people (even when she was having contractions!). We love you all so much. We are honored to have each of you with us right to the edge of this adventure. There are only a few hours left between now and forever.

Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers.

Ian

40 weeks, 2 days!

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I cannot believe tomorrow night at 8:00pm, less than 24 hours from now, I will be in our birthing suite being induced!  I have so many mixed feelings- I am nervous, anxious, scared, and beyond excited!  I can’t stop thinking about our baby boy and how our life will never again be the same.

My baby bump hasn’t ever really been huge- even 4 days before my due date I had to convince another momma that I was not 4 months pregnant like she was, but instead that I was full term… UNTIL TODAY!! My STOMACH LOOKS LIKE IT IS GOING TO POP!!  I don’t know how it happened, but overnight, I swear Little Grae gained two pounds (Good lord, lets hope not!).

40 weeks, 2 days

Ian and I spent the day doing our last minute “chores” and just enjoying our last Sunday without a baby.  We slept in, making this the first time in weeks, possibly months, that I slept for 8+ hours.  Let me tell you, it was AMAZING.  We then did  a little yard work, raked leaves, finished cleaning our house and made tons of meals that we are going to stick in the freezer so we wont have to worry about cooking for a while.  It feels great to actually have accomplished everything I had on my never ending “To-Do Before Baby” list.  We even bathed our pups!

My Macaroni loves bath time 🙂

After a full day of chores, we decided that we would go to Scalini’s- the well known Atlanta restaurant famous for their eggplant parm that is supposed to put women into labor within 48 hours of eating it.  The eggplant was FANTASTIC, and the waiter told us stories about how women go into labor WHILE eating the meal AT THE RESTAURANT! Ahh! The restaurant has a fun little deal that if you go into labor within those 48 hours, you win a $25 gift certificate, a little baby outfit, and the baby’s picture on the wall full of other “Eggplant Babies.”  Little do they know I’m going to be cheating a bit since I will be getting induced tomorrow, but I’m still hopeful that he will come on his own tonight.  🙂

SCALINIS

Best eggplant ever 🙂

We finished the night with an ice cream outing for dessert. 🙂 I’d say it was a pretty darn good Sunday.  Now, bring on the baby!  🙂

XO


Grae’s DUE DATE

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11-11-11… Grae’s AWESOME due date is two hours from being over and still no significant signs of labor.  We did have our 40 week PRE-OP appointment today since I will be getting induced on Monday!  The midwife performed another internal exam and found that my cervix is 70% effaced, really soft, and almost 2 cm dilated!  She said that my belly is measuring perfectly, but upon feeling him in there she pointed out that he is taking up the entire space, up and down and side to side, and estimated that he is a little over 8 pounds already!  AHhh!  She said my blood pressure is “beautiful” and I have actually lost 5 pounds since last week’s appointment (I have NO idea how that happened), which means that I will have gained 25 pounds during my pregnancy.  She then explained the induction procedure-which I’m not going to lie- sounded a little intimidating.  I’m going to have to build up my courage before Monday… that, or pray that the baby comes on his own this weekend.  If getting induced is the plan, we will go to the Women’s Center at 8:00 pm on Monday night and they will insert Cervidil which will help my cervix thin and soften the rest of the way- they call this “ripening.”  That insert stays in for 12 hours (although sometimes that in itself causes women to go into labor).  The midwife told me that because I have a posterior cervix, this could be a painful procedure (Scary).  After the twelve hours (8:00 am Tuesday), they will start the Pitocin, which will begin my contractions.  This could take anywhere from an hour to twelve or more hours before the baby is ready for birth.  I will have to be in active labor- which means 4 or more cm dilated- before they give me an epidural (More Scary).  Then, when I am having regular, strong contractions it will be time to push (SCARIEST).  Anyway- at some point on Tuesday, we should be holding our precious baby boy that we have waited our whole lives for.  We are getting so excited we can hardly stand it!

Hurry up, Grae Baby!


38 Weeks

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Only 14 days until our baby boy’s due date! I cannot believe how fast this is going (I know I just keep saying that, but JEEZ, it seems like just yesterday I found out we were pregnant!)

The big thing that happened at our appointment today-  “INDUCTION” was pretty much the main idea. Apparently, next Friday (at our 39 week appointment), the midwife will check my cervix again, and if it is “favorable” for labor- which means 3 cm dilated, and more than 50% effaced, she will want to induce me on the following Monday, November 7!  This is a little (ok, a lot) terrifying, because when I was checked two weeks ago I was already 1.5 cm dilated and 50% effaced!!  If, however, my cervix is not favorable, the induction will be scheduled for the following Monday- November 14!

I truly hadn’t even let the word “INDUCE” into my brain up until today.  It really caught me off guard, because all we have heard from the very same midwife throughout our entire pregnancy is that they do not believe in inducing women under 41 weeks.  I have no idea why the tune changed.

I don’t even know how I feel about the idea of being induced.  She said about 35% of women with first time babies need to be induced.  She said that by inducing women, it increases the chance of an emergency C-section from 20-25% to 30-35%.  Technically, the whole idea of giving birth makes me a little woozy at this point in time.  Hopefully, when Grae is ready to come out, I am able to remain somewhat calm and clearheaded.  Even as she was discussing the possibility of inducing me, I started feeling faint and sweaty…WTH am I going to do when its time for this little man to actually come out!?!?!

On a happier note, I hadn’t gained any weight since my last appointment and my blood pressure is perfect.  Baby is also still head-down, and there is a very little chance of him flipping back around at this point (he’s getting too big).

We’ll keep ya posted! 🙂

XO,

Andrea