A Plan... Finally!

I'm going to attempt to make the long story short.

We are scheduled for a c-section at 9:30 Monday morning. July 20th... a nice even number :)

I went to the doctor today and found out a few things:

1. From feeling my abdomen, she thinks BabyW weighs more in the upper 8 lb. range, probably not bigger than 9 lbs.... so not huge, but still a big baby.
2. My cervix would be favorable for labor... considering I'm dilated 2 cm and 70% effaced except that it is still very high and the big clencher....
3. I have a narrow, heart-shaped pelvis, (rather than a wide oval-shaped one) and this means a vaginal birth, particularly with a larger baby, would be very risky, and maybe impossible.

She feels very sure that this baby would never fit through my pelvis and that it's shape explains why my cervix is still high to begin with. MAYBE if I was having a small baby (6-7 lbs) a vaginal delivery could work, but with 8 lbs and up, it's just not a safe idea. There's always a tiny chance it could work, but the risks far outweigh the possibility and she strongly recommends that I have a scheduled c-section. Even if I did go into labor on my own, it would almost certainly end in an emergency c-section, so it would be much better to just go ahead and schedule one. We thought we could schedule it for this afternoon actually... (which would have been soooo ideal) but we found out that the hospital is slammed busy and Monday morning is the soonest. If I should start having contractions before then, I'll have to have an emergency c-section, and they'll be forced to fit me in, but otherwise, we're set for Monday morning.

So I am praying that I won't start into labor this weekend, and that we'll just be able to proceed with the scheduled c-section first thing Monday. Unless it was some extreme crazy situation where it was very clear the baby was fitting fine into my pelvis and about to come out, we don't intend to even attempt a natural labor... it's just too risky.

It's been a roller-coaster of a few days, but we have so much peace about this plan, and we are thankful that we didn't really have to make the decision, it was practically made for us. And it's so exciting to know we'll really be holding our little boy in just 2 1/2 days! Obviously, I'll have a tougher recovery and there are some downsides & risks to the c-section, but we'll face them as they arise and it's just the road we have to take. We appreciate your prayers, especially for Monday morning, and we'll post pictures when we can! For anyone that's local, we'll be at the hospital at least through Wednesday, so you're welcome to come meet him: we'll be at Sentara Leigh.

Thanks for walking this journey alongside of us. We're almost there!