Unsure of what to do...

[lilmisscaviar]

Long story short my midwife is concerned about my baby's size. I was measuring 39 weeks at my previous appointment by belly so she ordered a growth scan. I know growth scans are to be taken with a grain of salt as they can be off by as much as a pound either way, however the tech that did the scan was the same one which did my last son's ultrasound and it was nearly spot on. She measured him at 34 weeks to weigh 7lbs 1oz and he came the next week weighing 7lbs 10.5oz so although bigger babies are typical for me due to genetics (I was 9lbs at birth and DH was over 10lbs) I usually birthed them well before my due date.

They wanted me to get to at least 37 weeks to be considered "full term" which I will be this weekend, however now the pressure is really on because baby was measuring at 8lbs 10oz yesterday with the same tech that I had with my previous son and so I'm freaking out. She even told me that because he was so large she couldn't fit his whole abdomen on the screen so he might actually be a little larger than that Apparently he has been consistently gaining at least 12oz a week!

I wouldn't be concerned if he came this week, or maybe even next week, but my midwife checked me for dilation and I'm only 1cm and baby is still very high. I also have noticed that I haven't had as many BH this time, nor have I lost much mucus. Whats more is that my midwife said that if he doesn't arrive before 38 weeks she will hand me over to the doctors for possible induction or c-section because of his size. My first was 9lbs and I had a hard time birthing her due to mild shoulder dystocia. I'm wondering though if it just wasn't because she was my first and not due to her size at all since I was able to get my others - all 8lbs except my son born at 35 weeks - out without problems.

In all my previous pregnancies it has never come down to this so I'm not sure what to do. Obviously I need to take it one day at a time but it's hard not to think about it. I only have a little more than a week before I have to make a major decision. I really want to birth vaginally but I don't want to go through possibly days of induction when it could just end up in hours of exhaustive pushing resulting in a forceps birth. On the other hand (I know a lot of you have been through them and probably think me a pansy but...) c-sections scare the crap out of me plus the recovery time would be longer which is hard when you have five young children to care for.

So I'm just looking for input - and apologize ahead of time for the book - of what you would do in my situation?

 

[drudai]

I think in terms of advice, you should always listen to your midwife. At least, if you trust your midwife, that is. They do want you to have a safe and healthy delivery. Elective/planned c-sections generally go better than emergency cs because you know what you're going into, in terms of what time you'll go to hosp. and baby is coming out vs induction/natural labor that can take up to days. Elective you'd be able to arrange plans for assistance for the approx week of initial recovery. Also, according to same ladies, you recover quicker from the elective.

I'm also terrified of all that comes with c-sections. The whole reason I went natural with DS is because I was TERRIFIED of a needle in my back for an epidural, and that's the first thing they do for cs...lol.

I'm sure you know you'll do anything for your children. Might be one of those things you'll need to mentally take a deep breath and put fears on back burner.

I know neither are what you want, and neither would be what I want either. But it's temporary, My friend had an e-c/s when her induction didn't work/baby refused to drop, and she says all she felt was pressure of them removing baby from her ribs, lol. She says she is no longer afraid if she needs one again.