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- Apr 26, 2007
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I'm now in the home-stretch of a high-risk pregnancy, and I'm facing a bit of an unexpected conundrum: if I go past my due date, should I let them induce me, or should I just go straight for a c-section?
A little bit of (depressing, sorry) backstory: I lost my first pregnancy at 5 months, and had to be induced to deliver the deceased fetus. All emotional issues aside, it was a nightmare: I went into shock from the pitocin and spent 5 hours shivering violently, the whole thing lasted 18 hours and then when I got a second dose of pit, I went into labor very quickly and delivered in the room by myself while yelling to a nurse over the intercom that my water had broken and if they could get in there ... no? And then after that had been dealt with, it turned out that my body wasn't ready to deliver the placenta and that I had to have a D&C anyway ... a D&C which they screwed up, which caused me to hemorrhage violently a month and a half later, and take Cytotec for. Good times.
It was a party all around, and as you might guess, I have some psychological issues surrounding it. If possible, I'd prefer not to overlay the memories of one of the worst days of my life over what I'm hoping will be one of the best - but if that's what I need to do for the baby, that's what I need to do. I have no problem putting on my big-girl pants, but I'm sort of wondering which set to get, if that makes sense.
See, eventually (by which I mean "a year and two more miscarriages later, after seeing multiple specialists") I was diagnosed with Protein C deficiency, a blood-clotting disorder that can affect placental function. I've been on blood thinners for the whole pregnancy, and my doc - who is great, and experienced with high-risk patients, and whom I trust - has told me from the get-go that if I go 4 or 5 days past my due date, we'll want to get the kid out so as to not risk placental deterioration.
The thing is, I'm due the week of Thanksgiving, and 4 or 5 days after my due date puts us squarely during the holiday weekend. My doc has expressed concern over the hospital being hectic, and suggested we just schedule me for an induction the day before Thanksgiving, and, as Bartleby the Scrivener put it, I would prefer not to. This is partially because of the aformentioned experiences, and partially because, well ... from what I've read, inductions result in c-sections roughly 40% of the time anyway in first time mothers (and the doc isn't sure if my body was far enough along the first time for it to process this as a first time or second time situation). If I'm going to wind up being cut open and dealing with the good-fun-awesomeness of recovering from major surgery on blood thinners anyway, I'd sort of rather do it without putting myself through 20 or so hours of emotional hell first, y'know?
So. I'm trying to decide if I should go for the induction early, ask him to delay scheduling the induction to within medical constraints but not worrying about the holidays, or go straight to a c-section either before the holiday or after. If any of you have experiences being induced, or recovering from surgery on blood thinners, or just some psychologically reassuring advice to offer, I'd appreciate it. My pragmatic husband is being all we'll-cross-that-bridge-when-we-come-to-it, maybe-you'll-go-into-labor-tomorrow, but me and my anxious personality sort of want to formulate a game plan ....
A little bit of (depressing, sorry) backstory: I lost my first pregnancy at 5 months, and had to be induced to deliver the deceased fetus. All emotional issues aside, it was a nightmare: I went into shock from the pitocin and spent 5 hours shivering violently, the whole thing lasted 18 hours and then when I got a second dose of pit, I went into labor very quickly and delivered in the room by myself while yelling to a nurse over the intercom that my water had broken and if they could get in there ... no? And then after that had been dealt with, it turned out that my body wasn't ready to deliver the placenta and that I had to have a D&C anyway ... a D&C which they screwed up, which caused me to hemorrhage violently a month and a half later, and take Cytotec for. Good times.
It was a party all around, and as you might guess, I have some psychological issues surrounding it. If possible, I'd prefer not to overlay the memories of one of the worst days of my life over what I'm hoping will be one of the best - but if that's what I need to do for the baby, that's what I need to do. I have no problem putting on my big-girl pants, but I'm sort of wondering which set to get, if that makes sense.
See, eventually (by which I mean "a year and two more miscarriages later, after seeing multiple specialists") I was diagnosed with Protein C deficiency, a blood-clotting disorder that can affect placental function. I've been on blood thinners for the whole pregnancy, and my doc - who is great, and experienced with high-risk patients, and whom I trust - has told me from the get-go that if I go 4 or 5 days past my due date, we'll want to get the kid out so as to not risk placental deterioration.
The thing is, I'm due the week of Thanksgiving, and 4 or 5 days after my due date puts us squarely during the holiday weekend. My doc has expressed concern over the hospital being hectic, and suggested we just schedule me for an induction the day before Thanksgiving, and, as Bartleby the Scrivener put it, I would prefer not to. This is partially because of the aformentioned experiences, and partially because, well ... from what I've read, inductions result in c-sections roughly 40% of the time anyway in first time mothers (and the doc isn't sure if my body was far enough along the first time for it to process this as a first time or second time situation). If I'm going to wind up being cut open and dealing with the good-fun-awesomeness of recovering from major surgery on blood thinners anyway, I'd sort of rather do it without putting myself through 20 or so hours of emotional hell first, y'know?
So. I'm trying to decide if I should go for the induction early, ask him to delay scheduling the induction to within medical constraints but not worrying about the holidays, or go straight to a c-section either before the holiday or after. If any of you have experiences being induced, or recovering from surgery on blood thinners, or just some psychologically reassuring advice to offer, I'd appreciate it. My pragmatic husband is being all we'll-cross-that-bridge-when-we-come-to-it, maybe-you'll-go-into-labor-tomorrow, but me and my anxious personality sort of want to formulate a game plan ....