Building our Vocabulary

Some of you may already now from my facebook status that the a C-section was mentioned during Wednesdays doctor appointment. I thought it only fair to update you all more about that.

Our busy week began Tuesday with an ultrasound that our primary doc ordered to check on the size of the baby. Jessica's uterus has been measuring consistently a few centimeters larger than average for the last month. On our appointment on Week 37 and 4 days (which was May 28) she was measuring 44 cm (average at that time would be 37 cm.) This prompted the doc to order the growth u/s.

So Wed (the day after the u/s) we go in to see the doctor. Weird vibes were running through that place. We had a card that said we were suppose to see our primary, Dr. Kelly. They said as we checked in, "Dr. Halverson is out giving birth to her baby today so you will be seeing someone else." UH, ok ... well we weren't suppose to be seeing Dr. Halverson. "Hmmm ... " was their response. Followed by a prompt ... "Someone WILL see you shortly."
We ended up seeing Dr. Tucker. GREAT and friendly doc, but she threw us for a loop as she delivered the following news: (take in mind I am paraphrasing ... I don't remember exact wordage)
The baby is measuring big ... somewhere around 8 lbs and 3 oz (+/- 10 oz). I am going to check your cervix today, and I'm also going to try and judge the size of your pelvis. If your pelvis doesn't seem "wide enough" to birth a large baby we are going to have to look into a C-section.

Upon checking she stated that Jessica's pelvis was rather small, and she was afraid that the baby would suffer from Shoulder Dystocia. (For those unaware like we were: after the delivery of the head, the shoulders of the infant cannot pass below the pubic symphysis, or requires significant manipulation to pass below the pubic symphysis.)

We left the room in shock ... having not considered to that point having a planned C. We were scheduled a date, June 17 at 4 pm. We can cancel at any time. (Sounds like a no-contract cell phone plan.)
Heading home Jess was in tears. She's never had major surgery and a planned C-section wasn't how she had envisioned giving birth. We set our minds to doing some research and went about distracting ourselves to try and process our thoughts.
We sat down Wed. evening and talked about a lot. Whether we wanted to fight for a natural birth, how a C-section would affect Jess and the baby ... we developed a list of questions and at the end of everything decided we didn't have enough information to settle on any thought.

Thursday morning we called the doc's office and had them squeeze us in an appointment so that we could shoot off a list of questions to the doc and we begged and recieved that time with our primary, Dr. Kelly.
Thursday afternoon Dr. Kelly spent 45 min with us going over more precise reasons why they are suggesting a planned C, what harm a natural birth and C could prevent to the baby. Dr. Kelly explained that the weight of the baby and the reason for the worry about shoulder dystocia was based on measurements of the baby's head, abdomen and femur. She explained that at this point if she could give birth soon, we would have a higher chance of natural birth success. The three of us agreed that we would continue to try natural at home methods of progressing her labor.
We left with a better understanding of what was being suggested, what the risks were, but still no ultimate decision on our part.


Now, while I write this, Jessica is sleeping on and off, still having contractions. She has said that she feels "weird" and "unsettled" in her abdomen and pelvic area. She took a long walk this evening and has had a lot of contractions.

We are still not 100% on any decision. We don't want to "give in" to the doctor's suggestions, but we don't want to risk our daughter. We have conceeded at this point to focusing on natural labor inducing methods (walking, sitting on an exercise ball ... ) and leaving the C-section date planned.

I can't say at this point what we will end up doing. I just know we are still processing and trying our best to be good parents.
Everyone says "This is just like when you have the kid. Your plans never go how you want." And we understand that, but we are going to fight hard, like anyone with plans does, to try to keep them as close to the original goal as possible.

-- Heather