The Delivery Dilemma

We made each of our weekly visits to the doctor's office during the last few weeks of my pregnancy with our fingers crossed, hoping for good news. Each week, we were told that nothing had changed. I wasn't dilating at all. We made our last visit on January 10th. I was 40 weeks and 1 day pregnant and was scheduled for an ultrasound. My doctor wanted to check and make sure everything looked good with the baby before scheduling an induction for later that week.


During the ultrasound we were told that our baby was likely going to weigh 9 pounds and 9 ounces. We were shocked! That's a big baby! After the ultrasound we went for a non-stress test. We sat in a tiny room for 30 minutes, just me and Josh. I was hooked up to some monitors and I had to push a button every time I felt the baby move. We sat there and talked and laughed about the possibility of having such a big baby. I was nervous about delivering already but now it was just amplified! We texted and told our families. We wondered what Dr. Ingram was going to say.


After the non-stress test we saw the doctor. She told us that she was positive, judging by the size and shape of my belly that this baby was not going to be that large, but she also added that she had been wrong before. She gave us the option. We could either try to have a regular delivery or go ahead and schedule a c-section. If we chose a regular delivery the plan was going to be to come in on Thursday night and they would give me some medicine that would prepare me to be induced the next morning. Then they would induce Friday morning. However, because I hadn't dilated at all, there was a chance that I could labor for hours and still not be able to push out such a large baby. This actually happened to my mom when my older sister was born. She labored for a very long time and ended up being too small to have such a large baby. She had to have an emergency c-section anyway and had been through many hours of torturous pain for nothing. I guess thats the literal meaning of the phrase "laboring in vein." I was really scared the same thing would happen to me.


The worst part was that she told us that we had to decide right then. The longer we waited to make the decision, the longer we would have to wait to have our baby. Josh held my hand as I told her I wanted to have a c-section. As soon as she left the room I fell to pieces. I was terrified of having surgery. I had been into the operating room. It was really bright, cold, and scary. Josh hugged me and reassured me that everything was going to be fine.


Later that day, after we had made it home and just sat down to have lunch, my phone rang. It was the scheduling office calling to tell me when my c-section was going to be...when we were going to become parents. He told us that he had scheduled my surgery for 1:00 the next afternoon. We were so excited that we couldn't even finish our lunch. We started calling our families to let them know. Tomorrow was the big day.


That night we packed and got everything ready. We couldn't wrap our minds around the fact that this time tomorrow our baby would be here. After all these months, it was finally time. The day I had waited my whole life for. The day that would change my life forever. We were so ready.


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This day to us was just another doctor's visit. It was both exciting and scary. Exciting because we found out that our baby boy was going to come into the world the next day. Scary because we found out that he was going to get here via gaping hole in mommy's belly.


We were just getting ready for what was to come. We thought we were making the decision about the delivery based on what would be the least painful and dangerous route for me. Little did we know that God was there the whole time. And that I didn't really make that decision about the c-section. God did.