Baby Update

Today I had my follow-up appointments for our deterred induction. I have had the same ultrasound tech with each ultrasound, and today was no different. While talking to her today, I asked if she was the only one, she said there were four, but that she had requested to have me today so she could see how big the baby had gotten. She did her measurements of baby's functioning, scoring how the baby is holding up in the womb, she scored the baby at 8 out of 8 and then moved on to measure the baby for estimated size. She was quiet while measuring and then said that baby was big! I asked her what she was measuring and she said approximately 11 lbs 2 oz (plus or minus 1.5 pounds), she also mentioned that baby wasn't very cooperative and was difficult to get an correct measurement, she continued to measure wanting to assure that she was measuring as accurate as possible, she said her measurements kept going up, to the point of almost 12 pounds. She went out to get a coworker to measure as well, the two of them measured for quite sometime, debating at what measurement was the best one to use. When they finished they determined that baby was roughly 11 pounds 8 ounces, plus or minus a pound and a half. They forewarned me that after 11 pounds the physician will offer a c-section. After we had our measurements the tech looked around for gender, and again verified that her "best guess" remains the same. (now we anxiously await meeting this baby and finding out if she's right!)

I then headed out to the clinic for the appointment with Dr. Taylor. He walked into the room, put his hand on my shoulder and said, "We need to have a chat." He had a PA student following him, so he caught her up with everything we had found out at the ultrasound, as well as my history with big babies. He informed me he would have to offer me a c-section. I turned him down and told him I would like to deliver normally if possible. He told me the choice was up to me and that he would need to run the decision by the MD oncall since he would be out of town on vacation by that time. We decided to let me try to labor with induction and then pursue c-section only if necessary. He talked to the doctor oncall this weekend and returned to inform me the doctor was fine with that, but if anything should sway from the normal they would need to do a stat c-section. Doctor Taylor talked with me for quite some time about shoulder dystocia and the concerns that are involved with it, such as a fractured clavicle, stretched nerves or torn brachial plexis, he said the main concern would be the torn brachial plexis because that is a long term injury where the baby would have limited to no movement in the affected arm. He said the chances of this occurring are slim (he said he had one in his career and statistically its approximately 1 in 1,000), however its something to not look past and think we're clear from. He said he trusted his partner to bring me through this, but wished he could be there for me, especially since he has a knack for large babies and bringing them through shoulder dystocia. As I walked out of the room with him, he introduced me to his partner who will be delivering. The doctor shook my hand and said, "you're going to do just fine." Most likely he was just saying what fit the situation at the time, however it was what I needed to hear at that time. I left the clinic sure that this was the right decision for us.