VBAC update and blogging for blogging’s sake – 23 weeks 5 days

This whole Facebook Free February thing is making me want to blog more. I obviously spent a crap load of time scrolling through that thing, clicking on articles, and now I have no ‘passing the time’ activity. I have been holding back so as not to flood you with posts that you feel boringly obliged to read but I can’t hold back anymore. I need to do something!! So you get a post.

I had a great visit with the OB on Thursday. At my clinic you see a midwife at every appointment and after she has weighed you, checked your blood pressure and asked you how you are feeling you go in to see the OB. There you have a chat and have your scan.

I discussed my VBAC questions with both of them and it was interesting to see the variation in their responses. I think it is mostly because the midwife is just toeing the party line, telling you what the rules are, whereas the OB can say well that’s the rule but here’s what I do.

Here’s what I found out:

• The reason the hospital says I can’t water birth is due to monitoring. Apparently there are signals in both my heart rate and the baby’s that signal a rupture before it occurs. That means I will need to be monitored for the whole birth.
• They don’t expect a major issue as my scar is neat and low and will be over 4.5 years old by the time I have this baby so has had optimal healing time.
• The hospital does have some wireless monitors and when I say some I mean definitely 1, maybe 2, so it is a first come first served basis. If I get a wireless monitor it means I can still labour in water and move around the room easily.
• If I don’t get a wireless monitor I don’t have to stay on the bed. I will still be able to be off the bed, use the birthing ball, lean against the bed yada yada. I just won’t have as wide a range and obviously then any water is out of the question (lucky I’m not attached to the water idea).
• All this monitoring also means I shouldn’t labour at home for too long. The midwife suggests that when I get about 8 mins apart I should go in to the hospital but sooner if I feel any searing burning pain in the abdomen.  I will clarify this further with the OB when we get closer and know more.
• I get a 34 week appointment with Labour & Delivery at the hospital and I get to discuss this all with them and make a big fat note on my file that I am hoping for a wireless monitor.
• And finally (my favourite thing in all this) my OB basically said that if I’m safely labouring in water when he comes in and everything looks fine he will just let me squeeze her out in the water. Provided it all looks good he likes to play a bit loosely with that rule. Apparently the water seems to take the edge of the crowning sting so he likes to allow the mum that opportunity if he can. I love my OB! He always seems so flexible about things.
• I made a few noises about freaking out about my perineum and tearing and he was pretty blase about it. I’m not sure he is up there on the controlled crowning thing but instead he expects a tear but says he can fix that no problem. That is probably the only downside of the convo but I will see how I go talking with the midwifes at my L&D check-in appointment. I might have more luck with them.

As far as baby goes she is doing really well. She has doubled in weight since my last appointment 4 weeks ago (as she should have) and is now 600+g. This bodes well for viability – I think when I wrote my post on this the other day I read that baby needs to be a min of 400g to have a chance at being viable so yay! We are there and then some. Based on her current weight the OB is estimating about a 3.6kg baby which is pretty much the same as what Monkey was (3.75kg / 8lb3oz).

Oh and also she is head down now! Good girl! Of course she can still flip but hey, it’s a good sign.

I have put on 3kgs since my last appointment exactly 4 weeks ago which freaked me out a little but I knew it was probably going to be up there due to slack eating and relative inactivity. I am on a mission to maintain that over the next 4 weeks as much as I can rather than keep going up and up and up. We’ll see how that goes. I’m struggling a lot with food lately as it is. Last night after dinner I was so full and finding it hard to even get a deep breath. I ended up going onto the floor on all fours with my belly hanging below just to create some space in there. I do seem to have a really firm tummy during pregnancy. My friend touched it and commented the other day and people used to comment all the time when I was pregnant with Monkey. I must have good elasticity in my skin or something? Not sure but it comes off feeling super firm like a basketball sometimes, especially when the poor thing is full.

Anyway, that’s about it for this one. Eeerrrr quite a long post given I was blogging for blogging’s sake. Have a great weekend!