Too much information

We made a really important decision this week. Or rather I should say we didn't make one.

For the past three weeks I've been 2 cm dilated. This was all good news until my due date came and went. Now I feel like a ticking clock. I'm also a somewhat impatient person by nature so walking around feeling like I should be doing this really HUGE life-changing thing without being able to actually DO anything about it has been beyond weird.

I have been incredibly blessed to have enjoyed a healthy, happy pregnancy. All along I've been blissfully out of control - just letting my body doing its thing naturally. On Wednesday we had our first opportunity to take things into our own hands.

During my exam the doctor told me that I am now 4 cm dilated. He gave us the option to break my water to hopefully get things going (too much information?). At first it seemed a simple decision but on reflection, talking to my doula, family and a few trusted friends, I realized there was no reason for us to do anything. I'm not miserable. It's perfectly normal to be late (my mom had her three babies 8-10 days after her due date). And most importantly, the baby is still healthy.

Medical advances have given us resplendent information (after an exam on Thursday I know the approximate weight of the Babe, the circumference of his head, how he reacts to my contractions...), but it's almost too much information. For me, being able to affect the way you bring your child into the world was overwhelming - akin to playing God. (I suspect I'm overanalyzing this a bit, but hey, I'm hormonal.) Plus we felt inducing labor would force us to forgo our desire to have a natural childbirth.

It is now officialy one week past my due date and I'm antsy. But we're happy we've decided to wait it out.