We went in for a regular check-up, two weeks before Benjamin was supposed to be born. Our regular doctor didn’t do sonograms: “I went to the classes and everything, but I can’t make head nor tails of what I’m looking at with those things. I just use the nurses at St Jose’s — they know what they’re doing, and I go with what they tell me.” So we were already at the hospital. This time, there was a problem. There was no amniotic fluid: none.

“Did you feel your water break?” the nurse asked. Emily hadn’t, but there was no amniotic fluid. “The baby doesn’t appear to be in any distress…” but she couldn’t figure out how the fluid had gone away. I asked if they needed to schedule something else because of this, and the lady said, “Well, you’re not going home today — you’re going upstairs.”

Emiliy waitingAs promised, we were whisked upstairs to the delivery floor, and Emily was hooked up to a heart monitor, I-V tubes and sonogram machine. Our doctor was away at a conference, so a backup doctor was paged and we waited for the results. When they finally came in, we learned that the baby was not in any distress at all, but that because there wasn’t any fluid, this could make for a complicated delivery. We had gone through several weeks of LeMas natural birth breathing classes, and Emily didn’t want any anesthesia. Well, now we had a choice to make:

Option 1: they would make a small incision and pump in some saline fluid, which would provide some measure of protection before they induced labor. Then they would carefully monitor the baby during the induced labor and would determine if the child was in trouble. If he was, then they’d give emily a shot of something to counteract the induced labor, knock her unconscious and wheel her in back for an emergency c-section.

Option 2: monitor the baby throughout the day and plan for a c-section later on in the afternoon.

We opted for what was behind door number 2. It seemed infinitely more managable and predictable, with fewer contingencies and counter-plans.