I've been annoyed with my gynaecologist for a whole month. Today I finally went to see him again, and he just completely bamboozled me by telling me everything I wanted to hear. Bastard. That's a bit like the other night when I was convinced Babes didn't care about me when I was really sad and I came downstairs to find he'd baked me a chocolate cake, iced it, decorated it with my name and put a bloody candle on top. Lit. The cheek! You just can't trust a man to be a bastard any more these days.
So - last month my doctor had annoyed me by patronising me completely. I had asked him to give me a provisional date for an induction. I didn't even definitely want him to induce, just give me a "maybe on that day." And he wouldn't. And it pissed me off. Because this is my body, and I just wanted to have an end date in mind, you know. There is no way this baby is coming on its own. I just don't believe in it. I was talking to my mother the other day and she said that in the last seventy (!) years, no baby on that side of the family has come out without being induced. I didn't even know they did inductions seventy years ago, but apparently they did. So I don't even want to believe it's going to happen to me. My previous two were induced, and this one most likely will be.
I used to have a doctor who would basically let you pick your delivery date, as long as it wasn't more than three weeks early. I don't need that kind of extreme. I would just prefer not to wait a full two weeks after my due date. That's too long if there's going to be an induction. These babies of mine are not small, and they do like to get stuck. If they're going to be induced anyway, I'd rather it was a little sooner rather than at the full 42 weeks.
Today I was ready to do battle for my rights. I just wanted a provisional date. My due date is on Wednesday, and I needed to know how long he was going to make me wait after that. I was all pumped up and ready to go. Then the doctor came in and saw that this baby is still sitting way too high (I knew that), so there is no way he can induce yet. But, BUT, but!... he's willing to see me on Wednesday and check again, and as soon as baby has descended enough for his liking, he's willing to give him a little push to come out. He's definitely big enough and still growing, so as long as he's in a good position he doesn't have a problem with it.
That's all I wanted to hear. A clear and rational argument about what can and can't happen to my body and this baby's. At least he treated me like an adult this time. I'd happily wait a full two weeks if it's safer for the baby - as long as I have had it explained to me properly and it doesn't feel like he's just saying no out of principle.
I asked him if there was anything I could do to help this baby come down a bit - walking or something. All he could come up with was that I could have sex three times a day. I don't think he's ever been a nine-months-pregnant woman. I would even consider daily, at a push. But three times a day? Ha!
So - happy happy. And now we wait until Wednesday morning. He said I could bring my suitcase, and if everything is the way he wants it I can go in and have the baby then. If not, he will send me home for a while but keep monitoring me.
Happy happy!
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THREE TIMES A DAY?!?
ReplyDeleteYEAH RIGHT.
I'm pleased you're pleased. And honey, I like gettin' it good as much as the next girl (actually my husband says I'm more like a man and what does that say about him!?!) but I've never felt less sexy in my life than at 9+ months pregnant. WE tried to unscrew ours but the little jokers just wouldn't come out. Hard to get them in me, harder to get them out of me.
ReplyDeleteGood news. Although you really don't want to be induced when the baby's not quite ready. It all goes a bit pear-shaped when you do that.
ReplyDeleteWell, all you need is the semen on the cervix, for prostraglandin. So.. ways and means. Orgasms good too... ways and means...
ReplyDeleteWalk a lot, get the bloody excercise ball, eat huge amounts of pineapple.
And that's all I got, because you won't listen to me about the really effective stuff. Sigh* :)
@Steph - EXACTLY!
ReplyDelete@All This Trouble - Unscrew. That's very funny.
@Expat Mum - Absolutely. Which is why I was actually happy to hear him say no today.
@Jo - Fair enough. But we may as well do the fun thing that leads to those things, right?
I have a problem with pineapple - had too much once, and vomited rather a lot. I still don't like it fresh. (Tinned is okay now.)
And you just sigh away, but I'm NOT finding an acupuncturist right now. :-) Freaks me OUT!
I'm so happy that you're happy! I hope, though, that this baby breaks the spell and he'll be born without being induced.
ReplyDeleteI would have been suspiciuos that my huisband had phoned in advance and paid the man to say that! Good luck and enjoy! Try eating the pineapple while you do it!
ReplyDeleteRasberry tea capsules - I had them with second and saved myself induction but that maybe because I'm stubborn and refused induction after nightmare with Bel!!
ReplyDeleteSex is not really an issue though and when my midwife suggested it with Bel I did tell her where to stuff it.
Keep going hunny you know it'll be worth it.
BNMx
Acupuncture - try acupuncture - it is a miracle worker!! honestly it is. every single person i know who has had it has had 2-3 hour speedy natural labours and births (including myself, with my second - first birth horrendous, so turned to acu)
ReplyDeleteGood luck with it all, exciting times!
It freaks me out too, but not as much as the alternative :)
ReplyDeleteI hate the needles, yeah. But it worked so well I just gritted my teeth and complained about it :)
I think you have to eat a hell of a lot of pineapple, so that one clearly isn't worth it. Though, my midwife did say 'one vomit is worth ten contractions'. That stuck in my mind, somehow :)
PS Raspberry Leaf tea, not just raspberry - but I don't know if it will help this late? It conditions and ones the womb for better contractions.
ReplyDelete@Angie Muresan - Me, too!
ReplyDelete@fiona - I know! Last time I was having a girl, and after the first echo the doctor said he was "almost sure" he was a girl. The next time he was completely sure, but said he'd been paid off by Babes the first time so I wouldn't go crazy buying dresses yet. He likes to joke, that one.
@BNM - What? I can't just have french fries and coke and hope for the best?
@Elsie Button - Welcome! And still - ewww! And I don't like new people/doctors which is why I've been looking for a new dentist for years - I'm NOT getting a new person in now. But thanks for the good wishes. :-)
@Jo - Yeah, so - see above.
Raspberry leaf tea. Well, I suppose I could see if I can get some of that.
3 times a day? Wow!
ReplyDeleteGet Babes to rustle you up a spicy curry and have lots of pineapple.
Good luck with everything, hope you don't have to wait too long. x
Mine didn't want to come out no matter what I did. Not even labour would budge him.
ReplyDeleteI think he was making himself starfish shaped and clinging on to the sides of the uterus.
Men are so unreasonable, they wind you up, leave you long enough to stew and create a whole dialogue with gestures and tone to underline the salient points, let you work yourself up for the confrontation and then go and do something nice so you are left with all that indignation and adrenaline swirling around with nowhere to go.
With any luck an overdose of unflushed indignation and adrenaline will do the trick and get things moving.
It would in a just and fair world.
Looking forward to tiny baby pics and a birth story.
If you're afraid of needles, you could do acupressure on the same points, there's a document online, by debra betts, that explains it quite well?
ReplyDeleteWhat worked for me,
about a week before, to make the baby move down, was
- lots of walking, or rather, waddling
- 'deep squats' (hold on to something, e.g. a door handle, for support!)
rig
- some of my yoga exercises to losen the hips
and the evening before I had her:
- thai green curry (can you get mae ploy curry paste? it comes in little tubs)
- a small glass of red wine
- a warm bath with 3 drops of clary sage oil (you mix them with a little milk first)
- trying out the acupressure points for the first time (hands and ankles)
- telling myself that I was ready for this baby to come, and visualising holding my baby (part of my relaxation CD)
- going to bed, all relaxed, after the bath.
(first contractions started around half four or five, upon arrival at the hospital at half 7 I was at 9cm and our little one arrived around half 8)
I had a show some time during the last week before she arrived, not sure if you got to that stage with your other ones?
@Very Bored in Catalunya - Mmm. Curry with pineapple. I'm definitely asking for that.
ReplyDelete@Sarah - :-) And now he's being nice again, so that's not even going to happen.
@Irmhild - Now there's something I can work with! Thank you! All not too scary, out-there things. I'm going to do the walking and squats tomorrow, and maybe even the bath and pressure points.
And no, I never got to that point. Ah well. If I still feel like this on Wednesday, I'll even tell him not to induce, because I can feel baby's not ready to come out yet. The last two times, they felt ready. This one doesn't yet.
It is highly irritating to plan an indignant response only to get your way.
ReplyDeleteWednesday!
And, oh yeah, three times a day?!? At ten months pregnant, which is really what you are? Definitely, that is a man's point of view.
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness. I remember what it was like to be in your shoes like it was yesterday. Well not so much shoes because my ankles were the size of watermelon and couldn't fit in shoes...but you get the idea.
ReplyDeleteYou know better than me since this is your 3rd, but you can't trust your emotions or anything when you are this pregnant. I remember having the same discussion with my doctor and they won't induce (unless there's a medical reason) until 10 days after the due date. I was about ready to induce myself.
As far as 3 times a day...all I can think is that maybe your husband paid him to say this? I wouldn't let my husband touch me for 3 months before I was due. After all, he was the reason I was in this position in the first place.
Question....what the hell does pineapple do??? I have never heard of that. I drank Raspberry leaf tea with my first and bled like a stuck pig, I also used a form of acupuncture without the needles but I was an exceptionally lucky girl my labours were all good.(and I am really tiny) my last baby was born in a big spa bath (not going of course)hehe
ReplyDeleteSandi xx
I hope it all goes well, I never got to your stage with either of mine so cant offer any pearls of wisdom I'm afraid, but while jailed on the labour ward for 3 months with my 2nd saw many coming in and fighting for induction so your gynae sounds quite reasonable compared to some. one of the women on the ward swore curries got all of her out and was eating 2 a day, not sure if it worked or if it was the fact it was the 5th baby that started the labour without induction. 1 lady also was bouncing up and down on a ball and claimed that helped the baby move down, good luck
ReplyDelete@ superlittlemen, yes, the ball, I sat and bounced on the ball, too, except for when I was leaning over it to encourage baby to twist around into the right position, because I was dreading back labour.
ReplyDelete@ sandiart, there is an enzyme in fresh unripe pineapples that in really high doses can cause contractions, however, you would have to eat huge amounts of unripe pineapples, probably more than you could stomach! And I don't even think you can get unripe pineapples in Europe...
Thanks mwa, have a great relaxing day.
ReplyDeleteSandi xx
Girl- follow your instincts and make your doctor go there with you.
ReplyDeleteYou'd consider daily? Wow! Supermum drew the line at annually whilst she was pregnant...
ReplyDeleteAh what a sweetheart your husband is!
ReplyDeleteBut not enough of a sweetheart for 3 times a day - what was that doctor thinking? thank god he didn't make any offers he couldn't take back.
hmm, did i say that?
in any case i was more with supermum during my pregnancies.
M2M