Doctor-hopping during Eli's pregnancy (prior up to 42 weeks)

I am not really sure how far to go back. I could go back 12 months before I was even pregnant and say that I started the search for an OB who would support my decision to labor and try vaginally birth my baby. I never did find an OB locally. I did write up a letter and mailed it off to a doctor, who never called or wrote me back.


When I was 10 weeks pregnant, I really wanted an ultrasound to accurately date the pregnancy. My midwife in the past, Sandy Lewis, called one in for me as a favor, even though she couldn't take me as a patient. Allen Hospital did that u/s for me and proved to be very accurate matching the dates I had.

I heard about a doctor named Dr. David Schwartz (from a homebirth midwife Brenda Burke) who I did go see (hospital in Waukon) for an appointment when I was 18 weeks along sometime I think in October. This was the appointment to interview him to see if he would help me. He did not give me a clear answer, nor did he even call me back. This was the appointment where he could not find baby's heart beat on the doppler, so he sent me to ultrasound to see if everything was OK. Baby was fine, just flip flopping around so much he couldn't pin point one location to hear a heart beat. This was the ultrasound where I found out baby was a boy. We were all very excited, knowing this would make the score even in our family with 2 boys and 2 girls. Super happy for Calvin to have a brother and confirm in our minds that this was our last child.

About a week after that appointment I called Dr. Schwart'z office to check if he had thought more about me and if he could give me an answer or not. A nurse from his office called back and told me that the hospital in Waukon (Veterans Memorial Hospital) all of a sudden had a new VBAC ban so they could not help me.

I then started scheduling appointment with Allen Hospital so I could get prenatal care. They did bloodwork, testing, etc, and performed a 21 week ultrasound. Baby boy continued to show perfect health.

Allen Hospital called (and also wrote a letter documenting the call) a while later and advised not attemtping VBAC and said they would be happy to continue my prenatal care if I consented to a cesarean delivery. The desire of my heart was to at least labor to see if things progressed. This would communicate to me louder than the words of a doctor that vaginal delivery was not an option. My body needed to talk. So I told them no thank you, I will not consent. So then I went with out prenatal care for a few weeks.

Dave suggested we pursue contacting Iowa City again. I was immediately resistant simply because of my terrible experience there two years ago, but he said it can't hurt to ask. He did some calls for me since I get too emotional on phone calls to make any sense. He explained my situation to a nurse on the phone in IA City and she scheduled us a consultation appointment with Dr. Jane Engeldinger. My first appointment with Dr. E was interesting. She heard us out, looked at our records, and listened. She then said she did not recommend me trying labor with my history of cesareans, but she also recognized that she can not legally deny me prenatal care so continued to care for me and did routine testing, etc. My second appointment with her, I made it clear that I was going to wait for labor to begin on its own, and she said "Well, at least promise me that you will be coming right to the hospital at the sign of your first contraction." because she wanted baby on the monitor immediately. Safety first, I agree. So sure, I'll come in early. We thought we were set, ready with a plan, and realized it would be "a warzone" going against medical advice but decided to forge that path anyway.

A couple weeks pass, and Dr. Jane Engeldinger calls me up with the U of I's legal department on the phone who officially records the phone call. She advised me not to go forward with a trial of labor, and said after collaborating with all the other OBs on staff, they all 100% agreed not to support me efforts.  And gave me the number to her secretary who can fax my records elsewhere.  Where?  OK. Sooo...now what. I'm still not OK scheduling a cesarean delivery because I will always wonder what happened if I labored and gave it a shot. After all, with Vanessa, I dilated to 10 cm. I could do it again.

So then the search for a supportive OB expanded out of state. My dad suggested a few OBs in Iowa but after sending my records to them they all said no. I started searching for old email messages that others (in the ICAN network) had sent to me regarding finding a care provider in the midwest, and came up with two names. Dr. Brian Finley in Bellevue, NE (a 4 hr drive) or another doctor in St. Louis (can't remember his name, but a 6 hr drive). I had initially refused to drive this far, thinking I could push my way through someone somewhat local, becoming increasingly annoyed and frustrated by my lack of options. But I had to make a call to Dr. Finley's office after reading so many ladies' reviews and experiences with him being so positive and helpful. So I called, left a message, and waited for a call back. He called back a couple days later, and we had an honest conversation. He reviewed me records, told me he didn't think I had a very good chance given my history, but he also said he would see me and help me however he could. I never thought I'd hear those words come out of a doctor's mouth. The first thing I always hear are the risks associated with laboring after having been cut three times (uterine rupture risk being about 1.5%, compared with a 0.9% risk after having only 1 cesarean). And the second thing I hear are the risks associated with carrying a baby past 42 weeks (stillbirth risk goes up by a considerable measure, meconium aspiration, placenta depreciation, low amniotic fluid). And the third thing I always hear are the risks associated with vaginally delivering a baby who is large for gestational age (shoulder distocia for baby, pelvic problems for me after delivery). He did not start with all the risks. He knew I was desparate for help, knew I did have a small chance, decided he would help in any way he could because he knew and has seen the struggle of many women who wanted vaginal births but couldn't for whatever reason. He knows it is real. He did mention the risks which he said he just had to say for practical reasons. So I scheduled an appointment to go see him the first week of May.

My dad drove me there, and we were impressed by the Bellevue Medical Center. Very nice, very new, great staff. No judgment, no warzone, it was peaceful. Dr. Finley in person said what he did on the phone. My dad had a lot of questions for him. He provided a plan to get through prodromal labor in the event that happened again (prescribed me sleeping pills to sleep through moderate contractions at night). He said he was willing to go to 42 weeks. So we had a plan, I told him we were going to go for it.

40 weeks came, then 41, then 42. A few mild contractions, but nothing big the last week. I am "used to" going overdue, but everybody else in the world seemed to think something was wrong.  I stopped going to Bethany on Sundays the last couple weeks because I could not bear for someone else to ask me why I hadn't had the baby yet.  I don't have much mental energy to talk openly about it with those who are only casually interested because its "too much story" to explain for them to "get it".  And the comments about the belly looking so huge were really getting old.  I know people really mean well but sometimes I can't even handle regular positive conversation when I'm so far into the pregnancy. 

Baby felt big. Dr. Finley called me at some point in the 40th week and said another option to try get labor moving was to insert a foley bulb in my cervix and fill it with water to "blow it up" and help dilate my cervix. A drug-free way to try start labor was a great idea. We scheduled the insertion of the foley bulb for Monday afternoon, May 28. We had child care worked out with my mom and dad for Monday through Thursday, thinking labor would just pick up and I'd have the baby for sure with in 4 days of starting this process.

God had different plans however. I'm going to post this much as part 1 and continue part 2. I'm sitting in the oh-so-comfy hospital bed and my rear is going numb and I have to stand up and walk for awhile.