So, my ob appointment is coming up in a few days and I have every intention of *trying* to schedule my induction for 39 weeks. The reasons being:

  • The MFM group I saw in my pregnancies with Tru and Levi did not think it was wise for me to ever go past 39 weeks due to being on blood thinner and my placental/fluid/fetal distress history with Tru. Plus, induction gives us control over when I stop the blood thinner. My current regular ob group doesn’t seem to have that opinion but to be honest, I’ll always rather er on the side of caution when it comes to my babies and I definitely trust the advise of the MFM group above the happy-go-lucky group I see now. Which to be fair, I still do really like them in other aspects.
  • As if we need more reason than that, at my current ob group if I go past 40 weeks, they will not allow induction because of my previous c section. I can’t see any scenario in which I’m comfortable going not just past 39 weeks, but also past 40 weeks. Therefore they advise me to schedule a c section for 40 weeks. No thank you! I’d rather induce at 39 weeks and hopefully have a good experience than have a definite major surgery while I have 3 small children at home to take care of, on my own, 1 week after the baby comes. Getting help at home is not an option and DH can only be here just so much as he has to work.
  • I live 1.5 hours from the hospital I plan to deliver at and 30 minutes from the closest hospital with an ob department. As much as I want to experience natural labor without induction meds, do I really want to drive 30 minutes or 1.5 hours while in active labor?
  • And last but not least, while I hate inductions being scheduled for convenience sake, I really don’t have babysitters available on the spot. My sister is supposed to drive 7 hours to our home to watch my boys during the birth. Obviously she will need time off work scheduled in advance. In case I go into labor earlier, there are a few people I could call, however they are not guaranteed to be available and to be quite frank, I really don’t trust them to do a good job watching my kids, based on previous experiences with their babysitting skills.

So, obviously it makes sense to schedule an induction. Unfortunately, even though my primary ob dr said she was absolutely on board with induction when she saw me at my first prenatal appointment, she’s since backpedaled (exactly like she did when I was pregnant with Zane) and is now telling me they aren’t comfortable scheduling induction on a vbac (despite my 2 previous, easy and successful vbac inductions) and that I’ll have to find a dr in their practice who is willing to do it. Which obviously isn’t her and she didn’t give me any clue who would do it. (The ob who delivered Zane is no longer working maternity care.) The ob I am scheduled to see this week is the one who agreed with my concerns last time. I’m hoping that I don’t have to put up an argument this time and that she will be easy to work with again but thanks to how much these drs waffle on everything, I’m very nervous.

I like this ob group but I do hate how I have to fight for everything and how they don’t seem comfortable managing my care with the blood thinner and vbac etc. If they don’t feel comfortable with my situation then they really should have been upfront with me and told me that in the beginning because I’ve run into the same problems with both pregnancies they’ve seen me during. While they claim they are “vbac friendly”, it’s apparent that they are much more comfortable with me just being an easy case and planning a scheduled c section.

If I was to have a checkup a day or 2 before my scheduled induction date and find that I was getting close to labor and that my body was beginning to move in that direction, I’d definitely be willing to wait a few days to let nature take its course, provided I had childcare options and whatnot. But since they refuse to induce if I do make it to 40 weeks, I don’t see that I have a choice. I feel like there are so many little rules just being made up as we go, almost in an effort to thwart my wishes and make me just take the “easy route” and schedule a c section. It makes me mad to not have any real say-so in any of this. I’m fought when I try to plan an induction within their window of time before the magical c section cutoff. I’m fought because of a previous c section 3 kids ago. I’m fought because they go from “perfectly comfortable” inducing labor when I go in for my first appointment (WITH BOTH PREGNANCIES) to being “very uncomfortable” with inducing a vbac when I ask about when we can set the date later on in the pregnancy. And then during labor I’m fought because pitocin isn’t safe, but then they refuse to turn it down once my labor is clearly established (I mean, I was 10 freaking cm last time with bulging bag of waters and they still wouldn’t turn off the pitocin and let my body control the birth contractions.🙄)

Obviously I’m no fan of being induced and having everything planned out in advance but it’s what makes sense in my specific case and it’s also what has worked well for my 2 previous vbacs. Why are we even still having this conversation?? 😥