Tuesday, November 30, 2010

The decision to induce...

Here is the first of many posts to keep some record of the our sweet baby Violet Ann's arrival.  I'll start with the decision to induce.

After my OB surprised me at 37 weeks, with the option of starting labor one week before my due date, my head began to swim.  There seemed to be so many pros and cons, many of them that were quite personal, and there were so many opinions floating around, mostly against the idea.  I became a little stressed about it, and decided to take the next two Dr. Apts to decide.

There was no clear cut reasons why we made the decision to schedule the induction, but a lot of little factors played a role.  Most probably would assume that my main reasons was either wanting to meet my little girl, or just not wanting to be pregnant any more.  Although I can't deny either of those facts, they were two of the smallest pieces of the puzzle.  The first was very simple: I wanted Dr. Beer to deliver my baby.  Without it scheduled, my odds weren't good.  Also, students were gone that week, and that meant Joel's schedule could be cleared much easier.  Another convincing factor was that any Dr., midwife, or nurse that I talked to agreed that my cervix was incredibly favorable for an induction, that combined with my last delivery,  Dr. Beer felt there weren't any more risks of a C-Section, or even needing Pitocin, if I waited to go into labor or scheduled to induce.  In my situation "being induced" simply meant that my OB would break my water, and then let nature do its thing.  This was also great news to me.  Those are the "good reasons" that I gave myself, and Joel, for wanting to schedule her birthday.  There were also some "other reasons"...

I really wanted a baby on Thanksgiving.  There were many reasons Thanksgiving was going to be a little uncharacteristic this year, (my sisters were at their in-laws, I wouldn't be able to travel either way, etc...) and to help me not be sad about these facts and more, I really wanted to have my baby to distract me.  I also really loved that my OB was honest and told me her reason to induce me was simply that I was a "great candidate" for it, and it meant she got to delivery my baby...and after taking me all the way from A to Z with Benjamin, and getting to be my Dr. the whole time with baby #2, she wanted to deliver her.  I liked that.  And last but not least (I can't believe I'm admitting this...) was the mistake I made in asking for people's opinions.  After being bombarded with "don't induce" advice, the evil Tori came out and made me want to do just that.

So I did.  I'm so glad I did.  Labor "went great"! and I don't regret a thing...but more on the Labor later!

1 comment:

Rachel said...

I wish I had been able to talk to you when you were having a hard time making your decision. I had wanted to but time got away from me. What I wanted to tell you then, was that induction doesn't have to be bad and can be a wonderful thing.

Aside from the fact that I couldn't sleep the night before because I was anxious, everything went smoothly with delivery. God gives us wisdom in our own situations and I seriously get sick of people who think that He doesn't work through doctors, C-sections, inductions, vaccinations and epidurals. Advanced medicine is advanced because He is in it, and it's clear in His word, that He can and does use it for our good. Induction may not always be His plan for us but I believe it totally can be.

When I made the decision to be induced- I got some flack from people I didn't even know. Someone wrote a really long message on my FB wall about how awful it was to induce and how even though I was late, I could easily go another 3 weeks. The funny thing was, I DID NOT ask for people's opinions, this person had never had a baby herself and I hadn't talked to her in 5 years. This frustrated and confused me. Why do people think they can say these things to others?

In retrospect, I am so glad Jer and I made this decision. It was a good one for us and God opened doors and allowed it to happen.

Anyway, so it doesn't really matter anymore now that Violet is here but I wanted to share my thoughts. You have a personal relationship with God and He loves you. When you honestly seek Him, He's not going to let you do something against His will.

OK that was the longest comment ever:)