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Week 30
~ OB Appointment
I had my thirty-week OB appointment last Friday. I am still going to the same OB I started this pregnancy with until I find a new one down here. I dropped another seven pounds in the last three weeks for a total loss of twenty-six pounds. I really honestly am not trying to lose weight, but this pregnancy thing is the best diet I've ever been on. Twenty-six pounds in thirty weeks just amazes me. I am a little worried, but the baby does seem healthy so I guess my body is just doing what it needs to do.
I got to see the little one again. After all this large baby talk it was quite a surprise when the OB said he wanted to wheel in the ultrasound machine because I was measuring small! I was only a little small. My fundal height was twenty-nine centimeters at thirty weeks, but he likes the high tech approach and wanted to take a peek. The baby is actually measuring thirty-one weeks four days. So ten days large. The error at this point is fourteen days so it's within normal range. I just find it so humorous that after all this big baby talk the OB was actually worried that the baby might be small! He doesn't think the size is significant at this point, and guesses that I'll have a larger baby again because I just grow large babies. I didn't even bring up the Glucophage because we talked some about my sugars and he said they were completely under control and that I was doing a great job!
I was just amazed at his change in attitude today. I'm not sure if he was saying things he thought I wanted to hear because he knows I'm leaving him (I have told him he's just too far away, but I've been seeing him until I could find someone else) or if he is genuine. He wanted to make sure I still wanted a vbac after reading the consent form I got last appointment. Of course I said yes. He then said that if I do stay with him, he would like to hope for spontaneous labor by 40 weeks and if not schedule the section. I asked why not wait longer, what were the risks? He replied that most doctors wouldn't let a woman with gestational diabetes go over 38. But since I'm controlling it so well, he would be comfortable doing an ultrasound at 40 weeks, and if the baby is a manageable size, nine pounds or less (because now he is saying I'm a big girl and he thinks I can handle a larger baby), then he thinks it's fine to wait until 41 weeks and then schedule a section. He does not induce vbacs as to him it makes no sense to add the extra trauma of pitocin when you are at greater risk to rupture. He isn't a big fan of prostaglandins and say they have the same risks. And since I have one failed induction already he doesn't think I'm a good candidate for another. I think my jaw dropped! I mean this still isn't a good outlook, but it is very different than what he has been spouting in the past! He stated that he really wanted to work with me and knows we haven't always gotten along, but he's trying. I'm still looking for a new provider, but this was quite a change in attitude! The thing that strikes me as funny is why if he is so worried about the risk of rupture in a vbac is he not more proactive in preventing first time cesareans? If the initial cesarean rate went down, there would be fewer mothers to worry about in "risky" vbacs!
Some bad news I got today is that the baby is still breech and posterior. S/he is in the exact same position that s/he was at my twenty-week ultrasound. I'm trying not to worry too much as I realize that there is still time for the baby to move, but worry is pressing on me. I have been religiously doing my pelvic tilts and knee-chest position and that has kept the baby out of my pelvis, and now I find out that the baby is breech despite all of this! Yet another little twist has been added to this experience that is completely out of my control. I just want a chance; a bona fide chance to birth this baby vaginally and I feel like everything is stacking up against me!
I did get some good news today. There is a homebirth midwife in the area who I had ruled out before because she didn't accept HMOs and my husband isn't comfortable with a homebirth. But today cold calling OB's that are on the HMO I reached the office of her back up! The midwife also works out of that office and if you go through the OB office she accepts the HMO! My doula has had one birth with her that ended up in a transfer and c-section, but she said her back up is very supportive of the midwifery model of care and let the midwife make all the calls even in the hospital. The back up has a horrid bedside manner, but I don't mind that too much, especially since I know upfront. The only problem was that the earliest interview they could get me in for is July 24! I'm 30 weeks today and due August 23! My doula gave me the midwife's home number and told me to call her (also her private practice number) to see if I could work something out. I just left a message and her husband said she should be home in a few hours. Oh please let this work!
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