Having a baby

It's so funny to me that in my day to day life I don't put much though into the days beyond my immediate future. Sure I may have things on the calendar for a month or two down the road but they don't even pop up on my radar until a week or so before the event. I like to plan certain aspects (when to pay what bills, etc.) but for the most part I like to go with the flow.

However, my mind is consumed with August. In a much different way than with my other two pregnancies though. Right now I am about 14 and half weeks along which boggles my mind. Time seems to be flying by at warp speed. Each week I tick off on the calendar I think to myself, "Holy crap, how is this going by so quickly?!" Not that I am complaining; it is just SO different from my other two "when will this end" sort of pregnancies.

So back to explaining my not of the ordinart pre-occupation with August. With Em I went into labor at 39 weeks and 3 days; an unexpected blessing as I was so done at that point. Becuase my little lady was built like an NFL quarterback with shoulders much larger than her head (shoulder distotia) and the shape we were both in post delivery (Em with a broken collar bone thanks to my hips and my hips having both been dislocated to get her out) my Dr. felt the need to induce Eli. Emma was a total anomally. Statistcially shoulder distotia is generally only a problem in babies over 10 pounds, she was a chunky 8lbs 4oz. My Dr. was concerned that if I went full term or over with E the chances of repeat distotia would be pretty good. So at 38 weeks we met our little Man, all 8lbs and perfectly proportioned shoulders of him.

This time around I am so torn; I know myself and most likely by August 17th I will be so ready to be done. My experience with induction was wonderful. My body really likes the whole contractions, laboring, having a baby thing. Add a little pitocin and the Dr. better have a baseball mit to catch that baby! On the other hand there is this odd little part of me that (God only knows why) wants to wait it out and see what my body does on it's own. There is something so exciting about feeling that first contradtion spontaneously and thinking "this is it!"

I plan on talking to my Dr. at our next. appt. At this point he has already said that he is comfortable inducing again at 38 weeks. I haven't really given anything else much though simply because how scarey Em's delivery was. Granted Eli slipped out like a little pickle (really, Em probably blew things so wide open I could deliver a baby elephant at this point), but what if? Is my personal desire to see if I can do it really worth putting myself and baby at (potential) risk? It ain't no joke; cerebral palsy and death are very real complications of shoulder distotia.

I don't know. Ideally we will schedule an induction for 38 weeks and I will manage to walk and ummm...do enough other labor inducing things to bring baby naturally right before my induction! Perfect right? Sigh...

I guess it really comes down to what the doc says. Obviously I don't have petite babies so chances are this one will keep up the growth curve.

Who knows! Good thing I have...6? 5 months? See, I don't even have any idea how much longer I have to figure this out. 3rd pregnancies are so weird.