At 11:00 I had my first non-stress test for this "overdue" baby. It felt surreal to be standing by myself in labor and delivery waiting for an available nurse. I was taken to triage and then waited for half an hour before the nurse came in. She measured my fluid and said it was on the low side (7.43). They like it to be above 8. Then I got hooked up to the monitors and baby was moving enough that it was a bit hard to keep the heartbeat. Then I waited and waited. They monitored me over an hour. I was starting to get antsy. Finally the nurse connected with my midwife and I spoke to Patty on the phone. As I suspected things don't look ideal. The fluid is low, a section of the cord showed possible signs of compression due to low fluid, and baby's heartbeat kept having little dips another possible indication of cord compression. That along with two prior cesareans and being a week late means they want to deliver this baby. Now. The midwife is willing to let me go until tomorrow or Sunday at the latest. She said I could get a second opinion, but the doctor would probably want me to go straight to the operating room.
So here I am at home. Davin went back to work for the last couple hours of the day to wrap things up for being out the next couple weeks. I'm waiting until family is off of work to make the calls for childcare and visitors tomorrow. The plan is to have a repeat cesarean at 10:30 tomorrow morning.
I'm still wrapping my mind and emotions around it. I've put a lot of work into trying to have a successful VBAC, but things are not in my favor. However, I don't want to put baby in any risk just so I can experience the empowerment of a vaginal birth. But surgery has risks, too, and I'm not looking forward to being cut open again. On the other hand it's nice to keep things intact "down there" and I've always healed nicely from a cesarean.
Tomorrow is Dad's birthday. A grandchild for your birthday is a nice gift!
The next post will have baby pictures.
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