Baby Update

Why is it that you prepare for 9 months+ for a baby...and you wait and you wait in that last month for labor to begin...but when the doctor actually TELLS you when labor is going to start...you feel like you are not ready!? AHHHHH! I went to my 38 week appointment yesterday and the doctor told me he would like to induce me on Saturday!! Due to this antibody that is in my blood, he feels there is no benefit to waiting until 40 weeks, and the risk of the antibody crossing the placenta only increases as time goes on. I was a little worried, at first, when he started talking about inducing...wondering if there was something he was concerned about, but not telling me. He put my fears at rest though and told me that he was still reassured that everything looks good. He then said that SELFISHLY he wants to be there for the delivery and that he is on-call all weekend so he wants me there first thing Saturday morning (like 7am, first thing!!).

For those not familiar with what I am talking about with the whole antibody thing...I found out mid-way through my pregnancy that the Antibody Screening that they do as part of the normal prenatal blood work came back positive. They had a hard time determining what the antibody was, but after sending the blood work away to the Red Cross, they determined that it is something called anti-lutheran b. At some point during my delivery with Ryan, his blood mixed with mine and basically my immune system took over and said "Hey--this doesn't belong here" so it created an antibody to fight it off. Yay to my immune system for working correctly! I guess Ryan and James both have the lutheran b antigen in their blood (which is "normal" for them and their blood make-up). The antibody has no real affect on me (other than if I were to need a blood transfusion, it would mean I would need to draw from a rare pool of blood donors with the same antibody). The only time it is an issue is during pregnancy. The greatest risk is to the baby, and in some cases could cause severe anemia in the baby. They have done several tests on the baby to see how her blood flow is and to try and determine whether or not there is cause for concern. My doctor told me that he is reassured that everything looks good and that she has been growing as she should be. But--to be safe--or selfish--he wants to induce at 39 weeks (normally they would induce at 37 weeks if they thought there was a problem). So--there it is--my long explanation. I can honestly say that I don't enjoy being a medical mystery!! As far as I know, mine is the only case of this that my doctor has ever dealt with!!

At any rate, I am going to be induced on Saturday. Please pray for us, for a safe and uncomplicated delivery of Baby Girl Carlson! Oh, and if you could throw in there for my labor not to last 21 hours...ya, that would be great, too! :)