June 20, 2013
Well the controversy surrounding this subject needed further delving into... especially since I hadn't discussed the subject much or even thought it was an option unless I reached 41.5 weeks (which was when my doctor feels that I should be induced for medical reasons) until today when he brought up the possibility at my visit. I thought having him deliver the baby was the highest priority and then I got home...
The reasons not to be induced were reviewed in our labor class and also listed in my pregnancy books, but in my mind I reasoned if she's not here by July 5th I would be okay with certain methods of induction. For example, there are non-medicinal induction methods... unlike what everyone initially thinks of with induction http://www.webmd.com/baby/guide/inducing-labor. For example, stripping the membrane or breaking the water if the cervix is ripened. I really don't have any issue with those methods, and thought either of these two options would be fine. I even considered a distant but possible third option of a prostaglandin gel being applied to the cervix to ripen it. The final option which I wasn't a fan of (and don't want to do) was triggering contractions using a drug called Pictocin (which is essentially manufactured Oxytocin, which naturally triggers contractions).
Either way the whole topic has "triggered" if you will, a debate at the Wick residence. I suppose it seems counter-intuitive that I want to be unmedicated for pain, but am open to the idea of some forms of induction. Especially when everything you read only states induction should only be done if medically necessary not for convenience. To some degree I can see how the reasoning for being induced on the 5th would be out of convenience, but I also see that I have been with the same doctor for every visit for the last 9 months and I am very comfortable with him at this point. Even if I were able to deliver in water at the Davis hospital magically being fully-covered by my insurance, my main reason for not wanting to do so was because I really trusted and felt most comfortable with my doctor. Hence, if he wasn't going to be delivering me it would be a bigger let down than not following my birth plan to an exact "T."
Still I am not the only person to consider in this decision, hence, why talking to your partner then changes everything. He has less qualms about having a different doctor deliver me and just waiting for it to happen (up to 41.5 weeks) than me having my doctor and being induced on July 5th (although we can agree that stripping the membrane would be relatively okay). Let's put it this way, I hope it doesn't come to July 5th and she makes her appearance before that. For one, I would rather NOT be induced at all, but under the circumstances I have a different opinion than Gus does. Still, I wouldn't go through with an induction if he couldn't support that decision, so it would be better if we didn't have to get to the point where we REALLY have to have this conversation again... Because then it wouldn't be a "pretend" scenario it would be, the evening of July 4th we are making the final decision of waiting it out or having some form of non-medicated induction being performed the following day.
So, since I am asking... What are some of your thoughts on the big "I" word... Induction?
My sister's first husband adamantly refused to allow her to be induced because that is what they had talked about beforehand. He had to turn away the doctors and nurses who were preparing to induce anyway for her sake after a prolonged and extremely intense and unproductive labor. Later they had to perform a Caesarian to save the baby. At least that's the story I heard. Be flexible, be sensible to the moment, I think you'll be OK either way.
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