My very fast labor and delivery birth story.

Jerseygirl16 · January 2010

I was scheduled for an induction at 8am on Tuesday January 12th with my third child. I would be 39 weeks on this day and that was the soonest they will do inductions at my practice now. With my previous two children I was induced during the 38th week and in both cases it was due to size (DD 1 was 9 pounds 1 ounce at delivery and required forceps causing a 4th degree tear and DD 2 was 8 pounds 11 ounces and a much easier delivery). They officially were doing the induction this time due to previous 4th degree tear but I also requested it because we had moved to a new state and my IL's who were staying with DD's during delivery live about 2-3 hours away.

So, on Monday we ran some last minute errands in the morning and went out for lunch before IL's got into town. They were coming the night before so that they could settle into the hotel right across from our apartment complex and be ready to arrive at 7am the next morning to help with the girls and so we could leave by 7:30.

While grocery shopping in the morning I felt super achy and a lot of pressure but no contractions or anything. By lunch the feeling had passed and I was feeling ok. We took the IL's and our DD's out for a nice dinner and put the girls to bed around 8pm as usual. My IL's left to go back to their hotel around 9pm and DH and I went up to bed around 10pm. I couldn't sleep knowing DS was coming in the morning and we decided to have one last sexy time around 11pm. After that we went to sleep with the alarm set for 6:30am.

At 1:30am I woke from deep sleep with sharp pains in my lower back and thighs. I thought they were gas pains and that I needed to have a bowel movement. I tried to go but couldn't and went back to bed. 10 minutes later the pain was back and this time I could go to the bathroom and emptied my bowel. I went back to bed again. Immediately another round of pain came and it was really bad. It passed but was back again in two minutes. This went on every 2-3 minutes a couple times when DH woke to find me biting a pillow and crying out in pain. He asked if I was ok and I said I don't know I think so. I couldn't imagine it was labor since I thought it would feel more like a painful BH and not in my back and thighs like it was. I told him I thought it was just gas and that I needed to have another bowel movement. I went into the bathroom and was able to have another and also noticed that I was now bleeding some. At this point I realized we should get to the hospital right away. The pain was still coming every 2-3 minutes and getting worse each time. DH called his parents around 2pm or so and they arrived by around 2:20.

We rushed to the hospital about 10 minutes away and I was still feeling the pain every 2-3 minutes and it was pretty intense. When we pulled up I jumped out and ran to the front desk letting them know I thought I was in labor.

They got me right back to the room and called the MW on duty from my practice. He arrived about 15 long and painful minutes later and told me I was at least 7cm and ready to stay and have this baby. I immediately asked for an epidural but was told I had to have an IV put in place and then a full bag of fluid before they could put it in. I was in so much pain that I was really crying out from each contraction and they were still coming very close together.

Finally I was able to get the epidural around 4:40am. Because my last epidural with DD2 crashed my blood pressure he did a low dose to start and gave me a shot of lydicain through it for some fast relief. The lydican felt great and immediately relaxed me. At that point I could still feel slight pain on the left side with each contraction but it was completely tolerable. He said it would be about 20 minutes when the epidural kicked in and I should be fine.

They then broke my water around 4:50 and pretty soon after I felt tremendous pressure and pain all over. The lydicain had worn off but the epidural didn't kick in yet. No time though because the contractions were super strong and the pressure was horrible. I started screaming that I had to push. The doctor checked me and said I was ready and they got my legs up and told me to go ahead. Because I didn't have any pain relief it was very intense and painful. I didn't handle it very well and was screaming (probably scaring other patients to death) and telling DH that I couldn't do it (not sure what choice I thought i had.. lol). Thankfully, he was out with only 5 minutes of pushing. It is true what they say about how having someone focus you does help because DH told me to look in his eyes and that I could do it. Also, pushing through the pain really helped. Soon he was out and I was able to reach down and pull him onto my chest.

He's perfect and worth every single second of pain. We spent the next hours bonding and gushing over our new baby boy... Aidan James. He weighed 9 pounds and 1.2 ounces and was 21 inches long. He's been a great baby and we are so in love. His big sisters are fascinated by him and have been a big help. My 3 1/2 year old considers herself his second mommy and just moons over him all day. Seeing them all together is the best feeling in the world.

I would have preferred him to have waited until his 8am induction appointment so I could have had pain relief in place but I am so thankful he at least waited until the IL's were in town. As fast as he came there is no way they would have made it in time and we would have wound up with the girls at the hospital and I would have been alone through the delivery because DH would have had to be with them in the waiting room. So, in the end it worked out and we are a complete family at last.