Countdown 00:00:00, Still No Thriller

If you are an avid reader of the Thriller News Filler, you might have noticed that we have had a countdown clock at the bottom of the blog. Every day I have faithfully scrolled down to see how many days, hours and minutes it is until the due date with anticipation that today would somehow mean something. On Tuesday when I went to the doctor it was apparent that I would likely not deliver today - but I have still been holding out some hope - especially as I know our favorite midwife is on call today. As the day goes on, however, reality has set in. I am probably not going to meet Thriller today - or even tomorrow - and life must go on.

In my next doctor's appointment on Tuesday I have to do a stress test to make sure that Thriller is still okay. As long as the baby does not show signs of stress we carry on - and can go until 1/31 without facing pitocin. Initially, a pitocin induced labor was one of the things I wanted to avoid the most - as it often leads to so many other interventions and can put the baby under stress. However, in the past weeks we have had 3 birth stories from other Bradley couples - all of which had to induce, all of which were able to still have pain medication free births, all of which were at the same hospital where we will be and so forth. The reality of this being a possibility is slowly setting in and I think we will be okay if that is what we are faced with. I would be most disappointed, however, if I have to have a c-section. The reality there is that doctors, midwives, birth centers, etc don't want to do VBACs and I would never have the opportunity to experience a truly natural birth if we get to that point. So fingers crossed we can avoid a c-section, even if pitocin becomes a reality we have to deal with.

There are many other avenues for drug free induction that we will pursue prior to getting to that point, but I want to wait until next week after the stress test and our next doctors appointment to begin the aggressive options.

Right now Morgan is betting on January 23, his Poppy's birthday. I like it! The 23rd was also my initial due date according to the midwives in California - so ... maybe, just maybe, that is when little Thriller will come out into the open!