31 days

Assuming there are no emergencies, the doctors plan to deliver the baby at 34 weeks. If you know me, I don't like to do things just because I'm told to. I'm not a follower. I have to understand and agree it's a good thing to do. Being a scientist trains you to not just look at a box - but to look in the box, around the box, at the structure of the box, & at the environment the box is in. Nothing is as simple as it appears. That carries over into my medical care as well. Because of this I've been spending time researching and praying that this is the right decision. It is true that evidence shows that risks on the outside outweigh risks on the inside after 34 weeks. But that is based on the general population, and I am an individual within that population. If I can remain infection free for 2 months, why not two more weeks? In addition, I'm not questioning what we know, but what we don't know. We have been delivering babies and keeping them alive earlier and earlier in the last 20 years. We don't know some long term affects on behavior and learning, etc just because they haven't been studied yet. God designed a beautiful system & I believe that the longer this baby stays inside, the better it is for him. But there are risks we do know of after 34 weeks. Outward signs of an infection would take a while to appear, and by then the baby could already be sick. And if he's inside, the doctors can't monitor and treat him as he needs. And that could result in a C-section and longer NICU stay. So they argue that a healthy baby earlier is better than a sick baby later. I have thought and thought about this and resolved that there is no way for me to protect my baby from that possibility, but I am still uneasy. I have been prayerful for God to guide me in this decision and give me peace that he is the one who will protect my baby.

I spoke to the doctors yesterday about scheduling a date for the induction and they spoke to my OB here, Dr. Crouse. Dr. Crouse delivered my other two babies and I completely trust her judgement - she is one of the best. She told them "we need to go ahead and deliver that baby at 34 weeks, that's what we're going to do". Though I didn't get to speak to her myself, when the resident told her I wanted to carry the baby a little longer, I could just see her closing her eyes, shaking her head, and chuckling "of course she does" to herself - because she knows me! She told him, "tell Andrea I said we need to do it". When the resident delivered that message to me, I felt a sense of peace and confidence and I said "okay, let's do it". It almost felt like God was giving me the peace I needed through her decision. I've always said if I was in the middle of a delivery and she needed to make a call, I would completely trust her to do it. So now, I'm sticking to it. Our induction is scheduled for March 30th. So please continue to pray that this little one will grow strong enough to be ready to meet the world by the end of this month. Anatomically, the baby will be completely developed, but some things may still be immature. The most likely problems we will face are trouble breathing, sleep apnea, jaundice, trouble sucking & eating, trouble maintaining body temperature or blood sugar, & risk of infection. So we can pray specifically for these things to mature quickly so that our stay in NICU can be brief. Thanks so much for all the prayers, I can't tell you how much we appreciate you all.