Today we had an appointment with the midwife again, and finally met the last midwife. (We meet with a midwife from a group of midwives, and the available midwife varies. They communicate with each other about the cases, and each time I'm surprised how much each knows from previous appointments.) We heard the heartbeat again, but I forgot the sound recorder (again).
We discussed what to do next, including what the best option would be for intervening with the pregnancy since it's late. We decided to wait a couple of days, until Monday, and then we will go to the hospital to first manually break Kyra's water to induce labor, then start an intravenous drug, pitocin, a synthetic form of oxytocin, the hormone that facilitates birth.
Inducing labor is important because the placenta can begin to lose its effectiveness, resulting less access to necessary nutrients for the baby and increased risk of complications. So, it is very important to help the birthing process along in order to avoid such problems and to help the family feel secure.
An unanticipated side-effect is that the parents can, within a day or so, chose the child's birthday. Obviously this is usually left up to nature. Don't like the 7th of August, 2009 (that is, 07/08/09)? Or perhaps you do? Or perhaps you like Saturday more than Thursday? Then make your choice--it's up to you!
And then perhaps that's the last time you get to make a decision all on your own. A few people have told us that waiting for the baby is an excellent lesson for being parents--nothing will ever be on our own timetable again. Then again, this is a good lesson for life, as readers of this journal can attest, nothing is certain, and everything changes.
I can't wait for my life to change. I want to be a father, and I want to see my son. I hope he arrives soon!
We discussed what to do next, including what the best option would be for intervening with the pregnancy since it's late. We decided to wait a couple of days, until Monday, and then we will go to the hospital to first manually break Kyra's water to induce labor, then start an intravenous drug, pitocin, a synthetic form of oxytocin, the hormone that facilitates birth.
Inducing labor is important because the placenta can begin to lose its effectiveness, resulting less access to necessary nutrients for the baby and increased risk of complications. So, it is very important to help the birthing process along in order to avoid such problems and to help the family feel secure.
An unanticipated side-effect is that the parents can, within a day or so, chose the child's birthday. Obviously this is usually left up to nature. Don't like the 7th of August, 2009 (that is, 07/08/09)? Or perhaps you do? Or perhaps you like Saturday more than Thursday? Then make your choice--it's up to you!
And then perhaps that's the last time you get to make a decision all on your own. A few people have told us that waiting for the baby is an excellent lesson for being parents--nothing will ever be on our own timetable again. Then again, this is a good lesson for life, as readers of this journal can attest, nothing is certain, and everything changes.
I can't wait for my life to change. I want to be a father, and I want to see my son. I hope he arrives soon!
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