Inducement to Induction

Childbirth induction is one of those topics that inspires people to put on their judgy-judgy pants, like women opt for it so they can plug it into their Outlook calendar, between “Important Meeting Requiring Suit and Heels” and “Manicure.”

With Charlotte, I never even tinkered with the idea of inducing. Frankly, I didn’t have time. She arrived one week early, on her own terms. Too early, I thought. I still had work to finish, grocery shopping to do, an apartment to clean, baby shower thank you notes to write, and onesies to wash. But we did dodge that blizzard that landed on her due date, so . . . well done, baby girl.

I wasn’t AGAINST induction with Charlotte. It just wasn’t on my radar. Not at all.

Well, this is likely my last post until our induction tomorrow (Tuesday), October 9th. Lorelei has defied all possible odds, stats, medical predictions, and logic. Yesterday, in what I hope was the last in her bag of pre-labor tricks, I had two insane contractions that woke me up from a nap (I told you, I’ve become a napper) and damn near sent me through the roof. I quasi-panicked, thinking, how fast can a baby be born?! And then . . . nothing. Of course.

I don't really care about other people’s views on induction, because camping out for 3 more weeks to wait for baby is not a luxury we have. I have an FMLA law (i.e., limited maternity leave) and a Seattle-based mum-slash-Charlotte-sitter-slash-back-up-helper to factor in, and Mums is scheduled to depart October 15. As a self-confessed control freak, I’m not someone who’s particularly interested in making my life (or Chris’s or Charlotte’s lives) significantly more difficult in the quest for letting things occur “naturally.” I dig results.

Our induction is purely elective, and I CAN’T WAIT.

That said, we’re not starting “cold,” as we would if I were at 42 weeks with zero sign of anything. My body is seriously on the very brink of labor, and the doctor predicts a smooth ride. My body has kicked in “naturally” once before, which earns me an induction point, and like I said, um, Mommy’s body is SO right there. And ready.

I’ve heard bad stories of induction, and I’ve heard fabulous stories. You know, kind of like labor and delivery in general. Of course, it’s so effing trendy to eschew anything medical or “intervening” these days, and if that’s how you roll, yippee for you. Me? I want control and predictability. And an epidural.

Preferably earlier this time.

So far, I’m a huge fan of induction based on the fact that I now have a firm end date, a nice and tidy plan, and the ability to mentally prepare for and visualize going to the hospital early tomorrow morning. I get to CHOOSE which doctor delivers Charlotte (unless I go into labor on today). There are a couple docs in the practice that I’m not crazy about, and I reaaaaaally want the same OB who brought Charlotte safely into this world and whom I’ve been seeing for over three years. Oh, and avoiding a middle-of-the-night labor (most likely, unless things move INCREDIBLY slowly) is a huge plus too.

I’m hopeful the delivery will go smoothly and without drama. I’m not banking on it, but I’m hopeful.

So, unless the labor and delivery unit gets slammed by mommies and babies and we get rescheduled, today (Monday) is our last day as a family of three. I’ve been up since 4:40 a.m., fretting about everything (okay, so that might count as a negative toward induction). Chris is marking the special day by going to work as usual, but he’ll try to toss in a couple hours of vacation time and leave early. Because we were both wide awake, we decided to get up early this morning and have what is likely our last peaceful cup of coffee together. A chill finally worked its way east, so we turned on the fireplace. It was nice.

I’m keeping Charlotte home from school today for some Charlotte-Mommy time. Yesterday, I put her down for her nap, which switched from an aggravating war of negotiation and dilly-dallying to utter sweetness. Part of our ritual is me lying down to face her and then we make goofy faces at each other for a minute or so. I got in my usual position, but instead of facing me, she plugged her thumb in her mouth, turned her back to me, snuggled into me backward, pulled my arm over her and held it there, and fell asleep. Oh, I lingered.

Here we go!