If I could envision my perfect labor experience it would occur at about 39 to 40 weeks, consist of a non rushed trip to the hospital after I knew that with out a doubt I was in labor, followed by about 10 hours of labor and pushing and then finally my healthy little boy being put in my arms.
Notice that part of that experience that this all occurs around 39 to 40 weeks. I have recently reached the point that without a doubt I am ready for this little guy to decide to find the exit and make his way into the world! I have become so uncomfortable now that after the smallest bit of activity such as making dinner, it will result in extreme lower back pain for the rest of the day. Therefore yesterday I started thinking a LOT about what my doctor told us on Monday at our appointment. She said that if we wanted to discuss at our next appointment the possibility of inducing at 39 weeks we could talk about it. That got me thinking about the pros and cons of this decision. Here is the list that I was about to come up with so far.
PROS:
- We could guarantee that we know when we are heading in to the hospital and make sure that we have everything ready to go at that time.
- We could also guarantee that our doctor will be available and will be the one that ultimately delivers the baby.
- And now the thought that makes this decision the most difficult and the one in the back of my mind screaming to be heard- If we decide to induce early, we don't have to worry about him not coming before 41 weeks. If he didn't end up coming out on his own before then we would have to induce any way. Plus during those 2 additional weeks he has only gotten bigger and may make it more difficult to have vaginally because of his size and then I might need a C-Section.
CONS:
- We can't guarantee that we will be able to have our doctor be the one that delivers him.
- I feel as though I am doing something wrong by having a medical intervention to have this baby before it might be necessary.
- I will not have the opportunity to go into labor on my own. I haven't seen a ton of medical evidence that says that this is a good or a bad thing but it is still something I can't help but be concerned about.
So that's where you all come in to play...what would you decide? Would you take your opportunity and induce or would you just wait for him to arrive on his own and then if and only if it was necessary to induce to go ahead and do that then?
