Now here is where it all gets interesting, doesn’t it – at least in terms of the hospital model. I knew we were going to discuss plans today and schedule some testing and such. My appointment was at 2:45. It was a midwife I’d never seen before. She was very nice, but didn’t feel as warm and chatty as all the ones I know. She said the normal plan at 41 weeks is to go for a NST the same day, a NST and BPP (bio-physical profile ultrasound) half a week later, and then an induction at 42 weeks. I’m totally fine with the NST and BPP, but I am really not thrilled with walking in for an induction at 42 weeks just as a matter of course. I asked if I had to. Short answer: no, but highly recommended and she’s going to make the appointment anyways. I ended up also making an appointment with the midwives for next wednesday, and she scheduled an induction for thursday. I’m not saying I would absolutely refuse it, I just want to see how the testing goes and talk to one of the midwives first and decide then, not now.<\/p>\n
Then the NST. *sigh* Well I had a bunch of NSTs when pregnant with Kate, but those were early morning pre-scheduled appointments. This was not. I really don’t know what was up with the whole thing, but I had to fill out paperwork and answer a million questions that they usually ask on hospital admittance (when did you last eat, what meds are you on, do you have any of the following diseases, and on and on). I was also asked to change into a hospital gown, which had me perplexed. (A later nurse seemed surprised to see me in a gown for a NST and said the nurse who took me in worked nights, where everyone does<\/i> actually get into a gown, so that explained that.) I waited and then got hooked up to the belly monitors. It was supposed to be for 30 minutes, but over an hour later….<\/p>\n
Then it took a while to wait for a midwife to come look at the strip. I liked this midwife a lot more than the one I had for my appointment, she actually chatted with me, acknowledged my prior loss and my desire to avoid an induction and epidural and such. She asked if I wanted my cervix checked (since at the appointment it hadn’t been brought up) and I said yes. I am approximately 1cm and 50% effaced – a definite change from last week. She looked at the heartrate strip and said it was almost perfect, all the things she wanted to see were there and normally she would just release me, but just because of my history and her wanting to be extra cautious with me she was going to send for an ultrasound to check my fluid levels. Just to be extra sure.<\/p>\n
That meant more waiting. But finally someone came to do the ultrasound (on a very fuzzy machine) and we saw that there is indeed a lot of fluid around baby Ember. Her heart was beautiful, her position is great, and… she was sound asleep. (I could have told them that – she was active for the NST and then after me laying down for several hours she zonked out in there.) It took quite a while to get her awake enough to do some practice breathing. But finally she did rouse and she scored perfectly and I got to go home.<\/p>\n
Well, after getting changed and waiting to sign papers before leaving. I finally left at 6:30. That’s nearly 4 hours for a quick appointment, NST, and ultrasound. I was quite hungry.<\/p>\n
What I learned is that triage is not the place where people move quickly (unless there is an emergency, I assume, but I was certainly not an emergency). This makes me quite nervous for when I’m in labor. It’s also not really a nice comfortable place. You’re in a pod with other people in labor (or other complications), with a shared bathroom. When I contract I have to pee. How am I going to sit on monitors and run to the bathroom every contraction? With the back of my gown open, of course. I really hope I can get in and out quickly when I’m in labor. Laboring at home sounds like a much nicer plan. (Homebirth is sounding like a better and better option. And no, it’s not on the table for us.)<\/p>\n
In any case it was a learning experience and I know what to expect a little better. They were all very nice, though. But there was such a feeling of due process there. That’s what wigged me out. I was written on the board, I was hooked up to machines, I was asked all the same questions as everyone else. It is not a place for humming and meditating and moving freely about the room, not at all. (My first labor, in a hospital L&D room, was very different. Well, it was very different for many reasons, but privacy and quiet was a pretty big one!)<\/p>\n
In any case the end result is that Ember herself is doing fabulously in there and hopefully, hopefully<\/i>, will be coming very soon. I would very much like it to be before Monday and another triage experience, but most certainly before next Wednesday and Thursday when I’m going to have to deal with some tough decisions. (Though, like a commenter said, at this point it would probably take very little to push me into labor, so by 42 weeks it probably wouldn’t be a horrible experience – no guarantees, though.) I just really want to go into labor, that’s all. Nice healthy, normal labor, on her own time, in her own way.<\/p>\n
Edit: Also wanted to add that the midwife I saw in triage checked baby’s size and position (by feel). Baby’s head is super low and appears to be in good position – I believe she is LOT, for those of you who know what that means. Everyone around me says I’m still carrying high and need to drop, but she’s down. Because of how low her head is the midwife said she couldn’t get a great feel for her size, but she thinks around 7 lbs (like Kate was).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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