Birth Stories

Cora's Birth Story - Induced at 39 Weeks (Long, Happy Story!)

Beginning at week 28, I started measuring a bit big. At first, it was just a centimeter or two. DH was 18.5 inches long and 9lb 15oz when he was born, so my doctor told me we were "at risk" (if you can call it a risk" for a bigger baby. She also talked with me about c-sections. I told her that I felt very strongly about wanting a vaginal delivery, and she had no problem with that, but she wanted me to at least mentally prepare for the possibility, which was fine. At about 34 weeks, my blood pressure started to creep up, but within the normal ranges still. By 36, it was above normal. After my 37 week appointment, my doctor put me on bed rest due to high blood pressure and having gained 5 pounds in one week. I went back the following day for an ultrasound (because I was measuring 3cm ahead) to see if they could figure out why my belly was so big and for another blood pressure check. Both were 100% normal. I'd even lost my 5 lbs! More blood pressure drama, fast forward to 3/7/13 (38weeks, 4 days), my doctor decided she wanted to induce me on 03/12/13 - 39 weeks, 1 day. I went in on 3/11/13 to see if I would need cervical ripening. I was only 1.5cm dilated (as I had been since 36 weeks), not effaced at all, so they sent me to L&D that night to start things off! I got to the hospital at 5pm, and they started me on Cervadil at 7:30pm. 12 hours later, nothing happened. Closer to 2cm now, a little effaced, but they wanted to do one more dose of Cervadil before starting Pitocin. So I spent all of 3/12/13 bouncing on a ball, hoping the Cervadil would start things on it's own! No dice. At 7:30pm that night, my doctor came to check me and gave us a few options. Go home and come back in the morning, start Pitocin now, or wait until morning and get some rest in the hospital. We stayed in the hospital and got some rest. The next morning (3/13/13), we talked to my doctor again because we were nervous that we were forcing baby out early. My blood pressure had been PERFECT the whole time we were in the hospital. She said it was okay, and we were going to try Cytotech instead. So at about 8:30 they put that in. She came back around 9:45 and checked me. I was about 2.5cm, but nearly fully effaced now, so she broke my water. Around 11:30am they started Pitocin. By 1:30pm contractions started to get more painful, and although I think I could have gone longer, I didn't want to wear myself out because I fully expected to be in labor for a long time, so I opted for the epidural. That was done by 2:30, and it was amazing! I felt pressure, but no pain at all. I was able to rest and nap all afternoon. They came to flip me over and check me at 4pm, and I was 6cm! We called my MIL (she was going to be in the room when I delivered) to let her know, and she headed over. At 6pm I was 9cm, and then 6:45, 10cm and ready to go! Except baby was still at 0 station, so they had me wait to push. The pressure was unbelievable, it was very hard to wait. But I waited and waited like they told me to for TWO HOURS. At 8:45pm I told them I wasn't waiting anymore, and they said "Ok!" so we started pushing! After an hour of that, the doctor came in (now a different one, mine had been on-call the day before, so she apologized she couldn't be there) and again, advised me that "sounds like there is a big baby in there, you might want to think about a c-section" because even thought I was pushing well, every time I stopped, she would go right back where she started. I told him no, I can do it, so he said okay keep pushing. Once he left, I asked the nurse if she could see LO's head. She said she could, and asked if I wanted a mirror. My whole pregnancy I said I didn't, but at that moment it felt right, so I said "YES!" and OH did that help! Only 5 pushes after getting my mirror, baby Cora was ready to come out! Now they had to have me stop pushing because the doctor couldn't get to the room fast enough. After what seemed like an eternity, I finally was able to deliver Cora vaginally at 10:15pm on March 13, 2013 (20 minutes after my entire family gave up and went home to go to bed, haha). She was 7lb 12oz, 20 inches long. She really suprised everyone, because they were expecting a 9 or 10 pounder! I developed a fever during labor, so they took her to NICU for antibiotics (routine procedure for my fever), which was really difficult. I had a couple small tears, only one of them required stitches (just 2), so I was very lucky! I recovered quickly, although it did take me a while to not feel wobbly when I walked, but it wasn't too bad. (TMI alert...) I made sure I was really brave about my first BM after birth, and it wasn't nearly as bad as I expected either! I thought for sure my hemmorhoids would have been awful after all of that pushing, but they weren't! I'm glad I sucked it up and went for it. My SIL was too afraid to go, and didn't for nearly a week. THAT Would have been awful! We were discharged from the hospital exactly 36 hours after Cora was born, and we were lucky enough that they discharged Cora a few hours later. Normally they like to keep them 48 hours, but she was perfect so they let her go! I ended up exclusively pumping, and lost 30 lbs by 10 days post partum (I had gained about 45 total). By my 6 week check-up, I was at my pre-pregnancy weight. Now (3.5 months later) I'm actually down almost 10 pounds, which is exciting. Overall -- I am SO HAPPY about my birth experience. It was much easier than I expected. I had so many fears and worries going into it, but the hospital staff were great! My main concern about doing the epidural was that I wouldn't feel any urges or anything at all, but I felt everything I wanted to, and nothing I didn't. The waiting around for cervical ripening sucked, but once things got going, it was very fast. Pushing was not at all what I thought it would be, and time was so weird. Even though I was pushing for a good 90 minutes, when I think back on it (and even during), it felt like 15. HOWEVER ... What I will do differently next time, is really try to avoid induction. I do feel like I missed out on "the experience" of going into labor. I didn't take my bed rest as seriously as I should have, so I feel like that is partly why I was induced. Also, I will never let my doctors take my baby's potential size into the equation again. I think her "big" size was part of the decision to induce also. My advice for any pregnant moms reading this ... Trust your doctors and midwives, but also trust your gut. My induction went well, but I am so glad that I didn't listen to the on-call doctor when he suggested a c-section. I had only been pushing for an hour, and I knew deep down in my gut that I could do it, and I did!
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