Meet Leif, born last night. Here he is with his mom (that’s me!) and big brother.
Induction was quick and easy (A+ would do again!). Took a while to get started, but once they broke my water, he was out 3 hours later after about 10 minutes of pushing. He’s a whole pound heavier than S was (8lb, 2.5oz), but seems to be very healthy so far.
We feel so lucky and happy to welcome this new little life to our family.
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!
The Pregnant Physicist 