*Update*

Very briefly as we're having a quiet night together at home.... We're being induced tomorrow. The Non-Stress Test was all good, but when I had the ultrasound, it showed the amniotic fluid was a bit low (moderately low). So, after a consult with the on-call OB, it was left to us whether we wanted to go ahead with induction tomorrow, or wait until Friday.

We chose tomorrow.

For a few reasons.

• He's ready. He's 41 weeks in there!
• We don't want to take a chance that we're doing him any harm at all by leaving him alone in there for 3 more days. Might be only three days, but still.... (with this going on, it's better he comes out than stays in)
• Waiting until Friday to induce would mean constant bed rest for me and also back and forth to the hospital for monitoring (so I guess not constant bed rest!)
• My stress about the above point would, in our opinion, be worse on him.
• It is, simply, time.

Cervix is still not dilated. I think it might have been but when we were in the Assessment area, there was a woman in labour and it friggin' freaked me out so much that my cervix immediately closed!!! :)

The induction will start with a pill called Cervidol. It apparently softens the cervix. It's also on a string, so if things move along too fast, it can be removed. The OB called it, wait for it now.... "soap on a rope". I thought that was hilarious.

Anyway, they'll insert that, watch me for an hour or so, and if nothing, send me home for a while. Then I'll go back 6 hours later for another one. If that one doesn't take I think the oxytocin starts. OR, if I'm finally dilated a bit they'll break the water or do the membrane sweep. I'm not a candidate for oxytocin at this point because the cervix isn't ripe enough for it.

Or something.

Can't remember it all right now, nor the exact order of things, just that it's all starting tomorrow!

As upsetting as it may be that labour is being induced, it also means that my son is that much closer to being safely in my arms. As a friend once said when talking about bringing children into this world, "It doesn't matter HOW they get here... just that they do."

Exactly.

I may post in the morning, or when we come home/IF we come home to wait for the Cervidol to kick in, but who knows how the next day or so will go.

Best bet is to stay tuned via twitter!


One week overdue.

Off to hospital in a few minutes for ultrasound and monitoring... to make sure all is well with him in there. Hopefully my OB will be there and we can chat about the tentative induction on Friday - what the procedures are, what they'll start with (ie: membrane sweep if I'm dilated at all? Prostaglandin gel? Oxytocin?), how it all works.

If all is well with everything today; if placenta looks good, fluid looks good, heart is beating at whatever rate is normal at this point, all that good stuff.... then we'll be sent home with a date and time for induction IF it doesn't start on it's own.

And on my side... if that's the case, I'm meeting up with Dr. Tanya again this week, and I've been chatting with a bodyworker to look into Bowen Therapy and if it can help induce labour naturally. I'm still fighting the good fight to have things happen naturally! (Hmmmm, I used the word "fighting"... perhaps I should change the languaging!)

Having bizarre dreams still. But it's good: they're showing me places I still have to work on before baby comes. For example? Two nights ago I dreamt that a woman wouldn't give me by son back. She was holding him and when I went to get him, she turned away with him in her arms and did not want to give him to me.

Not good. I woke up completely panicked and mad and really upset. And remained that way for a few hours until I got a bit of advice via Twitter.

And then last night I dreamt that I was fighting a female vampire. Woke up thismorning wondering who is sucking the energy out of me. Who's the energetic vampire in my life?

Good news?

I won the battle.

So I know I'm on solid ground with myself.

By the way, I've set up Twitter on my cell phone so I can text in updates along the way. If you want to follow along with the labour and delivery (well, I dare say I won't be texting during delivery!), you can follow me on Twitter, or check this blog often and look on the right sidebar to the Twitter update box.

All for now, time to hit the road!

S.