My induction story....

MrsJA · January 2009

After 41 hours (yes 41 hours) of labor I have learned a very important lesson. Don't plan on anything. hahaha. I had such a wonderfully thought out birth plan that I was very much looking forward to and I think nearly every single thing I was hoping for got changed along the way as time dragged on and circumstances happened.

I was 50% effaced 1cm dilated at each internal I had (starting at 38 weeks). Because I was past my due date (due 12/7) and my blood pressure was continually high after 39 weeks they scheduled me for induction.

We got to the hospital at 5:30AM on December 11^th (40w4d) but there were no rooms available yet so we ended up not getting into the room until 7AM. Little did I know I'd be there for freaking ever. They started the first dose of misoprostil (not sure about spelling, but meds to help soften my cervix) at 8AM. I had more doses at 12pm and 4pm. All the while I was having contractions (was being monitored), did a bunch of walking around the floor, etc. The doctor checked me at 5pm and I was still only 1-2cm dilated but now like 75% effaced. So the doctor inserted a foley bulb into my cervix and then expanded it by 30 cc's of fluid. She attached the bottom of the catheter to my inner thigh and the pressure of it would help my cervix to dilate. She said it would come out in a couple of hours or so. But like anything when people give me a timeline my body apparently looks for ways to go past it. For me the foley bulb didn't come out until after 10pm. Then the next on call doctor checked me and to my surprise I was 4-5cm dilated and 90% effaced. So they let me eat (I had been not able to eat all day) and said they would start pitocin the next morning. I was still monitored all night and did continue to have contractions overnight.

Friday morning they started the pitocin about 5:45AM. They continued to increase the dosage every half hour to hour and I could tell that my contractions were increasing in frequency and intensity. I was doing a good job of using my hypnosis to handle them though so I was feeling very confident. About 1pm the next doctor on call (yes the third OB) checked me and said I was still 5cm dilated and 90% effaced. So she broke my water.

OMG ... there is a HUUUUGGGEEEE difference between contractions without water broken and contractions with water broken. My hypnosis was not working AT all. But, I was still determined to stick to my desire for natural delivery. My DH, my doula, and my nurse were fantastic and all very supportive of my efforts. About 5:30pm the nurse checked me because the intensity of my contractions got even
worse and I was in the worst pain of my life. We were all guessing that I must be close and in transition. But then I was devastated to find out that I was just 6cm. At this point I was done. I knew I had no chance. So I begged for something to help with the pain. The nurse suggested I try some stadol first instead of going for the epidural so she put that in at 6pm. I really wish I had not used the stadol because it didn't do anything other than make me exhausted. I could barely keep my eyes open but I could still feel everything.

So against my initial wishes (and totally against my huge fear of needles) I asked for an epidural about 7pm. They started to place it at 7:30pm or so and it took them pretty much until 8:15 to get it placed. They could not find the right place in my spine and had to stick me like 5 times or so. They kept hitting spots in my legs, neck, etc but not the actual correct placement. Finally they got the epidural in place and I was told to expect relief in 10 minutes or so.

Yeah, that so did not happen. My right leg felt heavy but I could still feel everything on the left side of my body. I also could feel everything down there also. They tried waiting as long as they could to place the catheter but I never numbed there so I had to live through feeling that placement as well. Another complication I had was that I had a "hot spot" on my left outer hip so whenever I had a contractions not only would I still feel it on my left side but also felt an intense burning on the outside of my hip. They also tried to do a local anesthesia for me down below but that didn't take either. For some reason my body was rejecting any type of anesthesia that day.

The doctor checked me at 9pm or so and I was fully dilated and was given the go ahead to start to push. But like I said, I still felt everything down there. I pushed for 3 hours and Carson was born at
12:05AM on Saturday 12/13. I have to give a lot of credit to my nurse (the 4th one I had) and doctor (3rd one I had) because they were very patient with me. DH says he knows they were being so patient because pretty much everything that could have gone wrong with our plan did. They never once pressured me to have an episitomy or use vaccuum or forceps. Both the nurse and the doctor helped to apply pressure to my perenium to help me during pushing. I'll admit that that pressure was not comfortable at all, but it did help because I ended up with just a tiny tear that the doctor said she could stitch up if I wanted to but she thought it would heal better on its own (especially considering no
anesthesia would work on me).

They put Carson on my belly and I got to see him right away and it was soooo surreal. Then they took him to clean him and check him while I delivered the placenta. My perfect little boy got Apgar's of 9 both
times! Then they gave him back to me and he got right to breastfeeding (for like 40 minutes).

I did end up with a spinal headache from the epidural which didn?t even work so I spent as much time that first week laying down as possible until it went away.

Now I?m just enjoying this time I have with my little angel before having to go back to work in March.