Today is my due date and it looks like the odds of me going past due are pretty good.
3 weeks ago was the last time I had a dilation check. It was uncomfortable and I’ve chosen to not do it each time. I’m happy I made that choice. At least I was living in blissful ignorance. Three weeks ago the verdict was that my cervix was “dimpling” – kind of prep for dilation but nothing real.
And in 3 weeks, not a damn thing has changed.
I’m not dilated at all.
On Monday I have to go in for a stress test and then on Tuesday I have a follow-up appointment. (The baby will probably pass the stress test, but I would fail one.)
I was given an option to think about, a balloon induction. Basically what happens (with my own interpretation) is they try to shove a catheter through the cervix and inflate a balloon to put pressure on the cervix. Then they leave the catheter tube hanging outside, taped to your leg and you’re sent home. As the pressure from the balloon makes your cervix soften and dilate, it will just drop out once you reach around 4 cm dilated.
When it was being described to me, it sounded sucky. Then when I Googled it (Googling is always a good bad adventuresome idea) and found stories of women talking about how much pain this caused when they were 1 or 2 cm dilated and doctors being unsuccessful at getting the tube in, the thought of them trying to do it when I am 0 cm dilated sounds miserable.
If I want to do this, it can be done at my Tuesday appointment. But even then it’s not guaranteed to be successful, especially since my cervix seems especially “inhospitable” to that procedure right now. And something would have to be done to make my cervix “hospitable” or “favorable” to induction for a drug-based induction to happen anyway. (Giving me pitocin now would just make me start contracting more and more, but then the baby and I could end up exhausted without an open cervix still.)
My mom had my brother and me via c-section, because her cervix wouldn’t dilate. My midwife says that we can’t guarantee that is a hereditary thing and she doesn’t know the full details of what my mom went through “way back in the 70’s when things were done differently.” I can understand that, but still I can’t help but wonder.
If I make it all the way to 41 weeks then we’ll have to consider other measures, since my placenta will be getting “old” by then. And while a c-section is longer recovery time (8 vs. 6 weeks), part of me is starting to think that if I have a scheduled c-section, at least I wouldn’t have hours of pushing to wear me out and there wouldn’t be any tearing possibilities. Maybe it would be easier in the long run…
I cried today because I’m SICK of being pregnant. I felt like a fool for tearing up in the doctor’s office, but I couldn’t help it. The tears just came… I don’t know what to think.
Jill Will Run 
Tears are understandable! I feel for you. I think you are smart to consider the C-section. By now, you should have some dilation, correct? Of course, the Dr may be way off in the Due Date. Seen it happen. You know your body best. We are here for you….
Not off on the due date… at least according to every internet calculator out there as well… I know my date of conception. That’s why I was so sure it would be right around on time, because there was no guessing about that or figuring from date of last cycle…
Thanks for the encouragement.
Gestation is approximate – it isn’t an exact science. Hang in there! 😦
Ours was a full week late. The Doctor, who was a surgeon wanted to induce on the due date. We declined the procedure and waiting until nature took its course. Once you start messing with natural processes, then certain outcomes have higher risks.
Be patient and peaceful in these remaining days. Trust me, it all goes from 0 to crazy really quick.
Thanks… I definitely don’t want to start introducing all kinds of crazy methods, so I’m pretty certain I’ll (im)patiently wait.
There’s still hope. I was three weeks late. My mom was sick of being pregnant, too — but I decided I wanted to enter the world during a snowstorm. So… could most certainly be worse!
You could take the method a co-worker’s sister did: Jump on a trampoline a bit. She went into labor a day later! 😉 Not that I’m suggesting this, but it’s certainly an interesting approach.
Sending you much strength, Jill. I know you can do this, no matter how / when the baby is born!
To do: Find a trampoline.
Thanks for the encouragement. I tried the wandering around Target for a long time approach. I just ended up dizzy, queasy and swollen! 🙂
Here’s a transcript of me with my OB
Her: How are you doing?
Me: Fine….[breaks into uncontrollable crying]
Point being, as awesome and magical as birth is, the whole process is pretty darn miserable, and you’re not alone in feeling this way. I just tried to remind myself that, no matter how it goes down, everything would be over soon. I know it doesn’t feel soon when you’re 40+ weeks… It helped. A little.
Thanks Jessie! I’ll keep trying to remind myself that it has to be over soon!
You get a free pass to be as bitchy and whiny as you want today. I felt the exact same way when my due date came and went and for the 6 days that followed until i was medically induced by choice. We used cytotec to thin out and help dilate the cervix before starting pitocin. Using drugs wasn’t what I’d planned, but neither was going a week past my due date. I issue I could say things to make you feel better, but i know not much will. Sending you a virtual delicious beer and a hug instead.
Thanks for the pass… I need it! And thanks for the info on how you were induced. I forgot that you went past due. (Amazing the things that slip the minds of others yet can seem so prominent to you, huh?) I’m with you on not wanting the drugs, but I also don’t want to drag this out forever! (And since I’m working right until I go into labor, I’d like to start my maternity leave so people at work leave me alone!
I did the balloon, it was painless but freaked me out when it fell out. Somehow I missed that part and didn’t know it would do that. I also was “helped” along with pitocin. That’s a tricky thing because it can cause labor to then proceed too quickly causing everyone distress. While you don’t have a whole lot of choice in the matter sometimes, I’d avoid c-section if the baby isn’t in distress. Having had both vaginal & csection, the recovery from vaginal was a million times easier. But like I said, you might not have a choice and I certainly understand just wanting the baby out by any means necessary! Good luck. Hang in there.
Thanks Falana! Were you at all dilated when they did the balloon thing? That was my main fear, that I wouldn’t be and they would be trying to force the tube through something that’s not open at all!
I think I was 1cm dilated but I had been that way since 36 weeks and my Dr was surprised that I had no change as I got closer to my due date. We also did the balloon as a last ditch effort to induce labor instead if a full-fledged scheduled induction. It did cause me to dilate to 4cm but still no labor. So I went in for a scheduled induction. Mainly because my Mom was in town for a limited time and I wanted the baby while she was here and I did not want to go more than a few days past my due date at all. Thus the scheduled induction that went well until the very end and then turned into an emergency csection. Could I have avoided the csection if I had gone into labor naturally? Who knows. Baby came out healthy and that’s the bottom line(so I’ve learned to tell myself)
Thanks for the info. My mom will actually be in town next weekend for meetings. I was hoping to have already had a baby by then, but who knows… maybe she’ll get to hang out with me for induction or something. I guess I need to try being patient and see what happens.
I agree with Megan, you get a free pass to be as whiny as you want today! It will all be over in a week or so, however it happens. Hang in there!
And FWIW, people I know who’ve had both vaginal and C-section deliveries say that the vaginal recovery is sooooo much easier. C-sections are WONDERFUL and life-saving when you need them, but definitely harder on your body. Just something to factor in to your decision.
BUT in the end, the baby will be out and healthy and that’s the main thing!
Thanks, I have to keep reminding myself that even though it’s frustrating it really can’t be too much longer. Now if the baby think it needs to share a birthday the Kevin we have a problem, that’s not until October!
i won’t lie, every time i see you pop up in my reeder i immediately click over to see if there’s baby news! 🙂 thinking of you and hoping everything goes smoothly whenever it goes (and with whatever things you wanted to utilize during the birth vs things you don’t)!!
Thanks Lindsay! At least the baby announcement has to be soon… I can’t go too much longer, at least in the grand scheme of things!
I’ve never heard of the balloon method. I never did anything to ”ripen” my cervix before delivering. Both times I went into labor I was a 1 two days earlier at my checkup. Your body knows what to do, if the baby is fine during the stress test I would wait on the balloon thing and just get induced next week. I was a 2 before both inductions. I also cried at all 4 checkups when I was 40 weeks. Perfectly normal and I would say, expected. I do have a ”Delivery Pie” recipe in the family cookbook…worked like a charm with Nathan. 🙂 Good luck, we’re praying for a safe delivery for you and the baby.
LOL! Kevin made the delivery pie last night! 🙂
I had all three of mine C-section because my cervix stayed inhospitable. My first was born emergency C-Section but after that – when I got to the due date and my baby was still riding high and my cervix was hard as a rock, I would just get a C-section. My baby is now 17 and I’m glad to have all three of them healthy normal teenagers and now it doesn’t really matter. A healthy live baby is awesome! Sometimes we forget how many women died in childbirth as early as the 30’s and 40’s.
Good luck!!
My friends said they had Cerivdale (sp?). Of course they said she had cramping all night long. They had both their kids C Section due to heartbeats dropping on the first baby. Second one they felt to just have a c section again. You are the topic of our coversation tonight. We love your blog stories about being prego. I am not help because I had no problems. We are thinking of you guys!
[…] and I didn’t really want to use drugs if I could avoid it… so I’m going with the creepy balloon induction on Thursday. However, I feel a little better about that plan now that my cervix is somewhat open. […]