Low AF induced birth story

afrochick09

Lo's contently sleeping on my lap, so thought i'd finally sit down and share my birth story. Enjoy.

LO was measuring a little on the small side, so we were sent for two growth u/s to see her progress when I was 37 & 38 weeks. Her growth was slowing down, and AF was dropping so we were scheduled for induction the day I entered 39 weeks. Headed in the night before and was given cervidal to "ripen" things.Early the next morning my water was broken and I was given pitocin. 

I was really hoping to go med free, but ended up opting for an epidural. After contractions had started Mh and I walked the halls a bit to progress my measly 2 cms dilation. When we came back to our room, the nurses put me on bed rest. Apparently when I had a contraction while walking Lo's heart rate dropped each time. Since I was only 2 cms with no way of moving to progress dilation, I started the epidural. The contractions hadn't been horrible yet, but boy did I feel better after the epidural! 

Had some scares with her heart rate, and after awhile I felt like I had a monitor or wire in every part of my body. It was a trial and error of what would help or hurt. I had to keep an oxygen mask on, had a vaginal heart rate monitor on her head, along with constant blood pressure takes. The contractions kept dropping with contractions, so they added a bit of fluid back since my AF had been low as a cushion. Apparently LO didn't like this and her heart rate started going crazy. The nurses started prepping me in case I needed an emergency cesarean, but thankfully LO settled and that wasn't needed. 

11 hours later, and I was finally 9 cm's dilated. Lo's heart rate was still not stable, so the OB had me push a bit to get to 10 cm's. Mh held one leg while a nurse held my other and they had me push every other contraction for an hour. Can I just say that pushing with an epidural is the most frustrating thing ever. I had no idea how to "push harder" when I couldn't feel a single thing I was doing! And hour later, and she was almost out. Her heart rate started dropping pretty severely, so the OB gave me an episiotomy and out she slid. LO measured in at 6 lbs 8.8 ozs. 

mommabmb

Congrats... Happy you and LO are healthy!