Decision time, go time.

So today I saw the midwife. I already knew I wanted to be checked and for her to sweep my membranes. Aye yay yay! The membrane sweeping was painful, but thankfully in reality only lasted about 30 seconds. I didn't think you could reach that far up!!!! She also placed some Evening Primrose Oil directly on my cervix. I've been taking it orally daily and once weekly vaginally for a few weeks now. Along with oral red raspberry leaf.

We had a little discussion. Saturday at midnight I'll pass 42 weeks. Because midwives only care for low risk patients, I'd have to be turned over to her doctor at that point. I really don't want that. She told me the risks of going past 42 weeks, so I could make an informed decision. I also do have the option of continuing past 42 weeks as long as I'm consenting to the risks.

She said we'd talk after the BPP. I scored 10 of 10. They estimate her weight to be 8 pounds 3 ounces. The only mildly concerning thing is that my amniotic fluid index  was 7.25. This is not horrible but not great. It's also normal for it to decline the further along you are. It's just that usually as it gets very low the baby is born! But Sophie is stubborn. Midwife said so :)

We discussed wanting to deliver before we have to switch to a doctor. Her suggestion was to place a 25mcg dose of Cytotec on my cervix. She has had great success for it starting labor. She has had no adverse reactions.
I already knew I didn't want this. There's a lot of controversy about it's use. I confronted her about how it's black label for pregnant women. She stated that unfortunately no one wants to spend the money for a double blind clinical trial on it's use in pregnant women. That even Tylenol is technically black label for pregnant women. I can see her point there. There is a serious lack of testing for prescription drugs for pregnant women. But she basically sang the praises of Cytotec.
I asked about an alternative, Cervidil, which she said she would do if I wanted but she has had no success in her practice using it.

I asked about acupuncture or castor oil. She said I was welcome to try both but the results in her experience are iffy at best. And I could only try castor oil once because of the risk of it causing the baby to emit meconium (poop in the womb). And that she herself tried it with no results and horrible side effects. It's kinda 50/50.
I am waiting to talk to our doula about acupuncture. She has the name of someone who specializes in it for labor induction.

We decided to sleep on it and will let her know tomorrow if we are going to do Cytotec. I have John doing his own independent research so we both are aware of the risks vs. benefits. I won't post a link here on it because I want you to form your own opinion too.

Also- Pitocin is a last resort for her. She also said that I'm not progressed enough that it would be effective. My Bishop score is too low and it would likely be ineffective. Not to mention that I still want to avoid narcotics or epidural and Pit makes that a lot harder, because the contractions are more intense. It can also give the baby fetal distress. I didn't ask her what my Bishop score was, BTW.

In the end, we just have to consider and pray about it. We'll make sure to go in fully informed. There is no elimination of risk entirely unfortunately, and in the end we have to be comfortable with our decision.

In the meantime, we'll be trying some other natural methods to see if we can't convince her to come on her own.

Oh, and I lost another pound this week. Just because. No reason. They are ok with that and I'm actually quite happy about it! :)