33 weeks and TMI

We're finally in the "calm down and wait" stage. No longer am I going in for weekly ultrasounds to ensure that my cervix isn't shortening further, and my doctor's taking a relaxed approach to my visits, treating me as if I were a normal pregnancy at this point. Reason for all of this is that if GIII were to be born today, he's have an extremely high chance of making it unscathed. With that being said, if I go into the hospital, they're not stopping labour on me this time.

Now, this is where it gets interesting. GIII is give or take 4 lbs 3 oz according to my last ultrasound. Mind you, that's give or take nearly 7 oz, so I'm going to guess closer to 4.5. Still, that's all within norms. However, they're telling me that GIII's small (between 10th and 50th percentile)! And they're telling me that G Jr was small when he was born! He was 7 lbs 1 oz at 39 weeks 1 day. Sure, a far cry from the 8 to 10 pounders common nowadays, but by no means small. And no one would dare say he's a small kid now, given the fact that he's a 40+ pound, solid and sturdy 3 year old. He's been confused with kids 1 to 2 years older than him.

Because of that, and the fact that my OB still doesn't want to bet money on me making it to my scheduled C-section, he's trying to talk me into trying VBAC. If there is anything that has made my being a patient of his more of a pain in the backside than anything, its the fact that I'm extremely well informed. I know what VBAC is, the risks associated with it, the percentages of sucessess and failures, the requirements for a good candidate, etc. And you know what? I won't kid anyone and say that I don't want to try going "normally". Just the prospect of not having to put up with 6 weeks of recovery from an abdominal wound would be worth it. But given the discussion I had with my OB back in Sudbury at my checkup after G Jr was born, I'm leary of the idea.

My labour was, in a word, scary. The nurses were spooked by it, saying it mimicked an induction gone horribly wrong. In active labour, when there is supposed to be breaks in between contractions and only 1 peak in your "textbook" example, I had contraction on contraction on contraction, and they had to adjust the monitor to actually read how high it was rating. That, coupled with the fact that G Jr still remained high in my pelvis (barely to say engaged) and that when they had to perform the C-section, the doctor noted that the muscle that they cut into was thinner than he would have liked, my OB suggested that I not try giving birth vaginally at term. We never did discuss preterm delivery (cause it was never speculated that I was going to have the trouble I did), but he did specifially say "term". I believe this to mean a 5 to 7+ pounder. Preterm, well... We know I can do that. And my current OB keeps reminding me that I have delivered vaginally in the past. And I keep reminding him that Menerva Jr was a mere 1 lb 14 oz. I don't think that counts as a true vaginal delivery. Not to sound crude, but I could have sneezed and delivered her at that size.

And lets face it, with my luck, I'd be one of those women who would rupture or require a histroectmy (spelling?). I'm not trying to focus on that, but it's hard not to have those fleeting thoughts when GIII decides he's going to stretch out and I feel the twang against the old scar. No one can tell me exactly why I can feel that or why it feels like my pelvic bone is vibrating when he's sitting against the scarline (I keep being told that I shouldn't feel anything in the area of my scar). But it's hard to ignore it at times, and Gunther has given me a few of the weirdest looks when he sees me nearly jump out of my chair when one of those sensations hits.

Mind you, I still have a number of weeks to go. And GIII hasn't tried any other escapes (although a small part of me still wishes he would so I could stop all of this worrying). So if I can make it to Sept 10, or otherwise talk my OB into seeing things my way, it should be good.