u/Cute_Contribution820

I welcomed my 2nd baby boy at 37 weeks, just over 4 years after I lost his big brother at 34 weeks.

After a 37 hour induction baby boy came out screaming. My little IUGR baby: 5lbs 2oz, very tiny but oh so mighty.

We had a few scary moments, ✨someone✨ (not saying any names😅) was doing jump rope with his umbilical cord resulting in some variable decels, but the L&D team monitored him constantly and assured me that if the situation became emergent then they wouldn’t hesitate to act. I pushed ONE time and he was here!

Now, we’re just waiting for him to be able to eat the minimum amount of food so we can take him home!

Nonetheless, I don’t regret a single anxiety med, therapy appointment, OB appointment or MFM appointment, he was more than worth everything that I went thru. My God, hearing that first cry is a feeling I cannot even begin to describe😭

Thank you to each one of you for the advice, the words of encouragement and the numerous prayers, they got me thru the hardest days of my life. I can only hope that each and every parent in this group will be blessed with their sweet rainbow baby🧸🌈

TW: Previous 3rd Trimester Loss + Current Pregnancy

I feel like I make a post every week now😅..but any who.

I just really need to vent. I am currently 35 weeks pregnant with my second baby boy after a 3rd trimester stillbirth in 2022. I honestly thought that after I made it past the point in which I lost his big brother that I would begin to feel more excited for this baby, but I have honestly felt anything but. It’s been so bad that I literally JUST purchased his car seat & have been dragging my foot packing his hospital bag.

Before I get into my thoughts let be preface by mentioning that 1. I am currently in therapy, 2. I am on an antidepressant & 3. I am also under the care of a psychiatrist, separately from my therapist.

Part of this began with a weekly NST that I had in office, I was hooked up to the monitor and had a contraction that resulted in a deceleration of baby’s heartbeat. I instantly panicked because of all the NSTs that I have had this pregnancy at any point, (he had only had a late deceleration one time and that was while I was being monitored after some dehydration, but it resolved thereafter). I had another deceleration during the NST shortly before the provider came in. She took a look at the fetal strip and said that he was having a variable deceleration caused by him simply laying on the cord (he was sleeping during the beginning of monitoring, he woke up towards the end and was reactive enough to pass). She sent me home. My appointment was about an hour away from my house, but on the way I began having painful contractions, so I had my fiance take me to the OBED. I felt like the doctor was pretty dismissive, after conducting a cervical check and watching baby for about an hour and a half, he said he saw “small” decelerations that are consistent with a baby that is SGA (Baby was previously considered IUGR/FGR until my due date was adjusted for my LMP, as they had previously set my due date based on baby’s size at around 9 weeks). I ended up back in the OBED yesterday and the nurse (who was really sweet), said,”I wouldn’t consider those decelerations at all, to me it looks like moderate variability, baby’s fetal strip looks like a big boy!” I was monitored for about 6 hours total with no decelerations seen + baby’s baseline being in the 140s.

Now I have intense anxiety about baby being tangled into his cord or something and I can’t shake it. To top it all off, I had asked the OB that I’ve been seeing (my provider is on leave), if there was anyway to get induced at 37 weeks vs 39 weeks due to maternal anxiety, and she told me that my MFM has to make that determination..I don’t see them for another week and a half. & then I saw something in another subreddit that said that excessive hiccuping from baby is a warning sign & he’s had the hiccups 2-3 times a day for the past few days. To add, it seems like baby boy has changed his sleep wake pattern? While I was actively working he would be awake much more during the day (I have an office job), but over the past week or so, it seems like he’s much more active at night around 10-11. So now I am this complete ball of anxiety and nothing I do can shake it, I used to be able to get 9-10 hours of sleep uninterrupted and now I’m lucky if I can get half of that.

(TW: Previous 34wk loss)

I suffered a 34 week loss 4 years ago & have made it to that point in my current pregnancy. I never had anyone explain to me exactly what caused my previous loss (I read the pathology report) but the general consensus is a mixture of chorioamniotitis and a 3rd percentile placenta (the placenta obviously wasn’t discovered until a pathologist examined it).

My OB and her nurse practitioner have both went on leave, leaving me to be seen by another provider within the practice, whom I’ll see in the next few days. My main concern is that if I had a small placenta + stillbirth last time, could I push for an induction at 37-38 weeks vs. waiting until the 39 week induction that my MFM has insisted on? I’ve done extensive research on the risks vs. benefits of an early-term induction, but I’m not sure how to approach the conversation with a provider. Is it worth pursuing? Looking for any insight from previous loss moms or moms who have had similar issues during pregnancy.