Come out number eight... your time is up!

Due date today. And nothing. Yet.

I had my consultant's appointment yesterday afternoon, which turned out not to be with the consultant but with the doctor who had booked me in for the induction which wasn't to be. She apologised several times for the miscommunication and subsequent bother to me, and several times I reassured her that it was fine. After all, you aren't going to mess around with someone who is about to give you an internal examination, are you?!

I asked her what the next steps were and she said that she could carry out a sweep. This is the act of separating the membranes which will move the mucous plug blocking the cervix, and releasing prostaglandins. Statistics (pah!) reckon half of women who have this procedure carried out will go into labour 24-48 hours later. Any bets on me being in the 50% of women that doesn't?!.

She then went onto say that their normal policy is that I would be left until 40+12 to go into labour naturally, to which I said I wasn't happy about going that far over, so she suggested 41wks or thereabouts to which I agreed. Once again she said that any induction would be carried out by ARM only (Artificial Rupture of the Membranes - or breaking of the waters), as they could not use prostin gel to ripen the cervix. Therefore it would only be possible if my cervix was favourable to have the ARM carried out otherwise I would be booked in for an elective caesarean. I asked her if that would be decided on examining me on the day and she replied "Oh no, I'll do it now."

I then braced myself for the internal examination and she carried out the sweep. Not the most pleasant experience but something you'll willingly put yourself through at full term pregnancy in the hope that labour will get going. She then gave me the wonderful news that my cervix is soft and low and 2cm dilated, meaning that not only am I deemed suitable for ARM to be carried out, but there's a good chance that I'll go into labour naturally sooner and won't need to be induced. If I don't go into labour before I'll be going on next Wednesday, 3rd June.

So there we have it - the story so far.

OK baby... come out, come out wherever you are!

The end is nigh. Or is it?

After a couple of weeks of twinges I was getting stronger tightenings from about 7pm yesterday evening. A bowl of fresh pineapple later and a little clock watching and yes, the twinges were definitely becoming stronger. By a little after 10pm I told Mike that I'd be off to bed, and that the pains would wake me if they were a sign of labour.

I just couldn't settle which is very unlike me. After a while of restlessness and I nodded off for a while. I'd wake regularly, being very aware of the tightenings around my belly. By half past midnight I had to get up. The pains were reaching down my thighs and I needed to move around.

I went downstairs a while, then decided that actually the pains weren't too bad after all and I'd try to get back to sleep. Less than half an hour later I was back downstairs hanging washing. I then tried lying down on the sofa with a blanket to get a little rest at least. But again the tightenings every fifteen minutes or so were making themselves known. Again I tried going back to bed, only to finally come down wide awake at around 3.30am. The tightenings had been coming regularly every fifteen minutes and while not terribly painful they were certainly uncomfortable and making their presence known. At 5am I woke Mike, who was blissfully unaware of my absence from our bed for much of the night, and told him that I didn't think it was a good idea for him to go into work today.

Although I'd been getting the tightenings for a good few hours they hadn't yet become strong enough or close enough together to warrant even a phone call to the hospital. I went to bed to try to get a little sleep in, again waking with each tightening. I managed to rest for an hour or so, before coming back downstairs. By this time I was shivering and shaking, having to pause to catch my breath. This is the time that I uttered the words "I think something's definitely happening here!". Within the next hour everything stopped!

I was shattered! Why has it all just stopped?! When will it start again?! Has it even done anything at all? It's now almost 4.30pm and I've been getting small twinges again throughout the day, though nothing like the tightenings I'd been getting through the night. The thing is they are tiring to endure daily. I wish they would either get going or stop. One way or another please! I really don't want to be warn out with false labours that by the time real labour comes I'm too tired to deal with it properly. Hopefully it won't take much longer.

Hopefully!

Small boy, big heart

The last few weeks the game to play after lunch is re-enacting the morning's Mass. Or at least it is according to Harry and Eddie who take it in turns to be Priest, and make up the water and wine (with water and a drop of mum or dad's cola), and tearing pieces of bread, and carrying out the communion on the rest of the family. Isn't that what every kid plays?!

This week, not only did we have communion and the bible readings, but we also had two collection bowls passed around which Harry said over and over were for the poor. We thought it was part of the game and some of us put in pennies, while others found it harder to part with their money in case it ended up in Harry and Eddie's money boxes or rolling under a sofa or something.

Soon after the game was over and Harry got down to counting his money. All nine pence of it. And then he came into the living room thrilled with the money he'd collected and announced that during the week he'd be sending it to a charity. To Compassion. For the poor people who had less than us because we were lucky to have what we did. And he showed us a letter he'd been working on to send them with the money he'd collected.

This then sent waves through the family. Brothers and sisters decided that perhaps they did have a few pennies extra they could give and Harry was beckoned here and there to receive 1p's, 2p's, even a couple of 5p's. So far his total is 39 pence.

To look at his face, and to hear him talk about how much it will help the poor children you'd think he was handing over thousands. The amount may not seem much but his gesture and his heart is worth millions over. What an example he is and he doesn't even realise it.

Home again, home again, jiggedy jig...

We headed off to the hospital for the scheduled induction yesterday as requested. I had been getting increasingly anxious as even I didn't know what was going on. All I knew was that I was quite certain I wouldn't be favourable for any induction to take place and didn't want the alternative of a caesarean.

When we arrived we were taking straight into a delivery room and my notes were taken by a midwife. She then came in, introduced herself and asked why I was being induced in the first place. I had to tell her that I really didn't know! She replied that they didn't know either. Communication had broken down immensely and nobody knew what was happening or why, least of all me!

I explained to her that I had seen the consultant a couple of times and my last appointment I had scheduled with her was actually taken by a doctor I was unfamiliar with. I reiterated my wish to be able to go as close to my due date as possible, given that I had been told that due to being a high risk pregnancy I wouldn't be allowed to go overdue, and told her that I had been puzzled as to why an induction had been booked for me so early.

To her credit the midwife was fantastic and said that she would find a consultant and speak with them so that we could have a firm plan of action. Finally!

A short while later she returned to say that my own consultant was within the hospital and she would try to speak with her. She managed to catch her and the consultant was also confused as to why the doctor would have booked me in, the reason they found out was simply because of the last labour ending in an emergency caesarean section. Hmm, we couldn't understand the reasoning behind it either!

The consultant over-ruled the doctor's opinion, stating there was more chance of my being able to avoid any type of c-section if I were allowed to go to my due date at least and give my body the chance of going into labour by itself, which is what I originally wanted anyway. The consultant said that she would see me in clinic the day before my due date, where I would be examined and where an appointment would be made within the next few days for either induction if possible though they would prefer to avoid that given my high risk status in their opinion, or an elective caesarean. Mike and I were left to discuss and agreed that would be the best course of action and I immediately felt like a weight had been lifted and I felt myself relax.

I'm now hoping that I will go into labour naturally before my appointment on the 26th, but do not believe that I will. I'll continue with the borage oil capsules, and fresh pineapple is on offer at the moment (plus it's lovely anyway!), and am open to suggestions of natural induction techniques that don't involve sex. Otherwise I'll be preparing myself for another caesarean, which I'll be hoping to avoid unless there is no other option left.

Induction

A couple of weeks ago I had an appointment scheduled with my consultant. This is the consultant who had agreed all along that a VBAC would be preferable. I didn't get to see the consultant herself but a different doctor (yet again). A doctor I had never seen and who was as unfamiliar with me as I was with her. Not that she wasn't very nice as she was, but still another different face and different opinion.

Now I'm booked in for an attempt at induction on Friday the 15th May. If it doesn't work they want to carry out an elective caesarean.

I was induced with the last four due to SPD but even though I have it again this time it's nowhere near as bad. I said I would prefer any induction to have taken place as near to my due date as possible, but would have gladly been prepared to go a little over my due date. The hospital don't want me to even go to my due date, let alone past it as the last labour ended up with an emergency c-section (due to Paddy's heart rate dipping) so they are worried about rupturing not only due to the scar but also due to having "so many" children already.

So, they want to induce me ONLY if they can break my waters, no prostin gel as that can bring on more intense contractions which they want to avoid. That part is fine. I don't mind being induced but I don't think my body is ready for it and so they won't be able to do the ARM. So then they want to do an elective caesarean which is what I absolutely don't want. Michael and I have agreed that if they can't carry out the ARM I'll try to stand my ground on waiting it out at least another week, then go back for another examination to see if it's any more favourable. I'm just not looking forward to trying to strike a deal with the hospital especially since they've said all along, right up until the last appointment, that they'd prefer me to VBAC. That's the part that's stressing me out.

Following some research into natural induction methods I have been taking some borage oil capsules for the last week in the hope it'll encourage my cervix to soften up nicely enough to enable my waters to be broken. I've also tried the Black Cohosh tincture but it tastes vile and gives me such awful headaches that I just can't tolerate it.

So that's the situation as it stands at the moment and much as I'm trying not to stress over it, I'm not being very successful.



This has also been posted at Lots of Kids and Pregnant Again