Due Date Comes And Goes

40 weeks 1 day

So, babies are born on average at 41 weeks and 1 day.  Though things are definitely moving in the direction of labor, this little Lily pad is happy in her warm bed in my belly.  This picture of me yesterday really shows that she's moved down a lot, and there have been times these past two days where I feel like she could just fall out.  If I was only so lucky.

The contractions are getting more regular, but nothing to really indicate that labor has started.  It could still be another week before she arrives.  In talking on the phone with my midwife, I'll start another round of herbal tinctures, homeopaths, and include the castor oil over this weekend, if she doesn't poke her head out before that.  I made an appointment for a biophysical profile in the case that she runs over 41 weeks.  That on top that, the midwives will do a stress test to see if her heart rate drops during contractions.

Cortney talks more about natural induction on her blog, which prompted Elizabeth Gilhuly to ask " If no problem, why mess with nature?"  That is a great question, and the answer is complicated.

In my opinion, there is a huge problem with our medical system, and it is smeared all over birth, too.  It's obvious to the natural-minded folks that 99% of our medical system doesn't understand birth, babies, or health.  There is a lot in the labor process that it feels like most hospitals choose to ignore in order to make it easier on the hospital.  There is just a lot of concnern in the medical system surrounding babies who aren't born by 42 weeks between the possibility of the placenta failing, loss of amniotic fluid, or the baby having a bowel movement in the womb and breathing in fecal matter.  Sure, they can't tell you for sure when your baby is ready to be born, but they can tell you when she's been in there too long.  Hmmmm...

I am wondering if the midwives are required by Virginia law or by their certifying body to transfer care to a hospital after 42 weeks, or if that's just the birth center's policy.  Apparently, we do have more questions to ask at our next visit. When you have pregnant brain, it's hard to think of some of these questions.  Of course, the hospital can't make you do anything you don't want to do, but I'm highly suggestible, and I don't want to risk conventional medicine touching Lily if she's just a healthy pea fresh from the pod.

Yes, the due date is an estimation.  Healthy babies come naturally before and after the due date all of the time.  They base the due date on your menstrual cycle, which put my original due date as October 2nd.  However, my first ultrasound showed that her size put her at 6 weeks, instead of 8 weeks, so they adjusted my due date to October 16th.  The first ultrasound is supposed to be the most accurate, especially when she's so small.  My second ultrasound two weeks later put her due date on October 12th, but I stuck with the latest due date, because that also gave us the biggest window of time before I could no longer have her at the birth center or with our midwives.

I was not at all on board Monday morning when my midwife started talking about herbal tinctures and homeopathics, but then I realized that I had been resistant to a lot of natural supplemental suggestions they had given me, only to kick myself in the butt later.  I have to do a write up about the group B strep test, which I effectively only started freaking out about two weeks before when my midwife said that a positive outcome on the test put baby at risk to get sick and made it more likely to end up at the hospital.  I realized that if I just brushed off this new suggestion again, I could put myself in a position freaking out a week later when they start talking about the hospital again. 

Babies do know when to be born.  But, there are other reasons why she could not be coming right now that stem from me.  Even though I feel generally relaxed, I could be too stressed out.  I could be working when I should be relaxing.  I could be harboring fear that is creating adrenaline and preventing labor from starting.  She could be ready to come out, but it could be my body that is not ready because of whatever choices I've made.  So, some techniques to help my body release that anxiety could be just what is needed.  

So, for me, there are major risks to waiting longer to start some natural induction techniques.  If she's ready to come out, she'll come out.  If she's not ready to come out, nothing that I can do will make her come out.