Hard to believe, but here I am at 39w1d — officially full term! I just had what is looking like my last prenatal appointment this morning — one more NST and ultrasound, and then the midwife checked my cervix which is looking like it’s starting to do things (2cm, 60% effaced, medium, soft, and -1, for those who like the stats).
I’ve been talking about the possibility of induction with my providers for the past few weeks — my favorite doctor in the practice is on call next Friday, and L&D had openings, so we went ahead and scheduled an induction for next Friday. I’m a little nervous about induction, but I’m more nervous about going too late and risking the complications that come with that. I feel good about being induced at 40w2d — my dating is extremely precise (was tracking ovulation and had several ultrasounds around 6-8w that all agreed with ovulation) so there’s no chance of accidental prematurity, baby was measuring 76th %ile as of last week (bigger than my first son), and since my first son was born at 40w5d (after labor at 40w4d) and my cervix is already ripening I think the chances of my body not being ready for induction are pretty low. I found some great statistics online, and with a Bishop score of 8 (or more by next week) and a previous vaginal delivery, it looks like my odds of needing a C-section with induction are about 6% or less. Plus it’ll be good to have a date when I know I can stop taking the Lovenox — I just hope I don’t jump into spontaneous labor an hour after my dose sometime in the next week! (I actually skipped it this morning, just in case the cervical exam got things moving — last pregnancy a doctor did a membrane sweep at 40w4d without warning me, and I had my first contractions within an hour after that appointment!)
It’s so hard to believe that by next week we’ll almost certainly be meeting our second son. I mean actually hard to believe — it just doesn’t feel real yet, somehow. We’re as ready as we can be, and now I’m just hoping for no surprises, no emergencies, and maybe even a similar textbook labor and delivery as we had with S. It’s so helpful to have the memory of S’s birth to ground me — I feel much less fearful about going back to the labor and delivery ward of our local hospital than I did last time, when my only association with that place was the awful delivery of our daughter. I now know that things can go well, and I even have an expectation that they might go well, rather than feeling like I’m constantly in emergency mode. Part of me wonders if my more even-keeled emotional state in this pregnancy will affect the baby. Maybe this baby will be more laid-back than his big brother? We can hope! (S was actually a pretty great newborn — he’s mostly just a bit more clingy and anxious than the average toddler, I think. But if I got another like him, I’d be thrilled!) Wish me luck!