[Missed Part I? Click here!]
I woke up Tuesday morning refreshed from deep sleep. The
emotional end to the previous day felt like a distant dream now that the sun
was up. Yet, I was still a little nervous about the non-stress test ahead of
me. I followed my midwife's advice to eat or drink something with a good amount of
caffeine or sugar, as monitoring the baby while he or she moved was the main
purpose of the test. I enjoyed a large iced coffee in the car on the way to the
clinic for our 10:00 appointment.
41 weeks and 6 days pregnant, the day of our non-stress test |
We didn’t have to wait long to be seen. The nurse led us
back to a small examination room where she hooked me up to a fetal monitor. We
immediately saw several bouncing lines start scrolling across a computer
screen. Pointing, the nurse explained that a particular line recorded the
baby’s heartbeat. She handed me a small wand with a button on the end. When I
felt the baby move, I was supposed to punch the button. The frequency of the
baby’s heartbeat was supposed to increase immediately following movement.
And then the nurse left, saying she’d check up on us in
about five minutes. Jon kept Jadon occupied with snacks and an app on his
phone. I waited for the baby to move, but felt nothing. Five minutes passed.
The nurse returned, took one look at the screen, and said,
“Baby must be sleeping, huh?”
“Yeah, looks like it,” I replied.
Then the nurse offered to get me a glass of apple juice, as
that usually gives a sugary burst of energy to the baby. I accepted the offer.
When she returned with the cup of juice, I asked how long
this test usually takes. “Well, it takes as long as it takes for your baby to
move,” she answered.
I downed the juice. “And what if the baby doesn’t happen to
move?”
“Then we may have to send you over to the hospital for some
closer monitoring.”
Great. Exactly what I was afraid of. More tests. I knew that
my baby was fine, and that he or she had been moving plenty that morning
already. However, if the baby wasn’t moving during this test, I was out of
luck. I literally couldn’t make this
baby move, and I couldn’t leave until he or she did.
Thankfully, just minutes after drinking the juice, I felt a
nice hard kick. I immediately pressed the button, joyfully telling Jon that the
baby moved. I saw relief fall over his face. The heartbeat line on the screen
steadily climbed, and then gently fell back to the normal frequency. Then the
baby moved again. And again. And again! The heartbeat peaked after each
movement, and always returned to that healthy, steady rhythm.
When the nurse reentered, she looked at the screen, smiled,
and remarked that the juice seemed to be working. Since there was plenty of
data to see, she left again, this time to get Dr. W.
“Wow, your baby’s a rock star!” remarked Dr. W as he glanced
at the screen. “But, I thought I wasn’t supposed to be seeing you folks again!
I guess your baby’s pretty comfortable in there, huh, Alison?”
I laughed, glad that he seemed to be laid back about going
later than we expected. He explained to us that the non-stress test looked
excellent, but he also wanted to get a quick look at the baby on the ultrasound
screen to make sure the fluid levels were appropriate, and that the placenta
looked healthy. Even though we prefer having only one ultrasound performed at
twenty weeks, we agreed that a quick ultrasound was wise and would give us
peace of mind as we continued to wait.
Our entire crew shuffled to another examination room with
the ultrasound equipment. It took less than five minutes for Dr. W to see what
he was looking for.
“Okay, let’s see…well, baby is head down…now I'm looking for a fluid pocket…fluid
pocket…here’s one…but the cord is present in the shot, so I’m not allowed to do
a reading on that one…another fluid pocket…it's a nice size, excellent size…okay, now
for the placenta…it’s still nice and high, away from the cervix and your scar
tissue…wow, it’s really in excellent shape, only slight traces of calcification near
the edges, which is wonderful at the 42 week mark…well, that’s all I need to
see…everything looks great!”
As I cleaned the goop off my belly, Dr. W reasoned with us
about the days ahead. He explained that there was no reason to induce simply
because I had reached the 42-week mark, especially when the baby and I were
both in such good health. However, he continued to say that the probability of
unexplained stillbirth rises exponentially between 42 and 43 weeks, and that he
really wasn’t comfortable letting the pregnancy continue past the weekend. He
proposed that we come in for an induction on Thursday, only two days away, and
one day past 42 weeks.
At this, my husband piped up. “Doesn’t it make more sense to
come in for another non-stress test on Thursday, and then consider an induction
on Friday, especially if the non-stress test isn’t as favorable as the one we
had today?”
Dr. W paused, but agreed to scheduling an induction for
Friday. I had a lot of questions about what would be allowed if I was to labor
in the hospital. I found out that I would be allowed to walk the halls and move
around the room during my contractions, and that I would not have to push
laying down on a bed. However, I would have to have a wireless fetal monitor on
me at all times, and an IV saline lock in my arm in case they needed to
administer fluids or medications. He saw in my face that I didn’t like the idea
of continuous monitoring, or the IV. Then he said, “I know how much you want to
have a home birth, Alison, but how important would you say it is for you to
have a vaginal birth?”
“Having a VBAC this time around is probably my top priority,
even if it has to be done in a hospital.”
“I am committed to giving you a VBAC, Alison,” Dr. W said
earnestly. “This means that I won’t be giving you any kind of timeline if you
are laboring in the hospital. If you arrive on Friday morning, I know that you
may be here all day Friday, and Saturday, and maybe even Sunday. As long as you
and the baby continue to look healthy, I want you to have as much time as you
need to have the VBAC.”
So, we scheduled the hospital induction for Friday morning
at 7:30 am. My heart was heavy, but I was grateful at the same time. I knew
that not every doctor would be as gracious as Dr. W in allowing the pregnancy
to continue at all! Furthermore, doctors are notorious for putting time
constraints on labor, especially if a woman’s water has already broken. Yet, as
generous as his “no time limits” offer was, I knew that chemically inducing my
labor complicated my hopes for a VBAC. Pitocin-generated contractions are a lot
harder on the uterus, and scar tissue, than contractions stimulated by the
body’s own natural oxytocin. Continuous monitoring could show “distress” or
other issues that were actually caused by the induction itself.
The more I
thought about a hospital birth, the more resolved I became to have this baby
before Friday morning.
On the drive home, I texted Pam (my midwife) and Alison (my
doula) to share the good results of the non-stress test, and the ultrasound. I
also told them that we had scheduled an induction, but that I would be taking
some more castor oil when I got home. This baby needed to come out.
Stay tuned for the final Part III, coming soon!
Advanced unborn baby monitors even have the ability to sound an alarm if the infant stops breathing.
ReplyDeleteMedical Equipments | Unborn Baby Monitor | Office Hysteroscope