Dexter's unplanned induction and eventual c-section (SUPER long)

HBaylies

I'll start off by saying that Dexter is my first child and I thought I had prepared myself well with reading a ton of books, talking to friends with kids, taking birthing class, and always asking a ton of questions at all my appointments with my OB and MW.  Nothing turned out the way I had expected it to be and be forewarned that for me personally, the whole experience was downright scary, intense, and emotionally draining.

I went to my regular 39w6d appointment with my MW.  I had just seen her a couple days before to be checked for decreased fetal movement, which turned out fine.  I had already been having some pretty serious swelling, but my MW noticed that in just the past two days, she thought it had increased, particularly in my face.  We also noticed that I gained 4lbs in those 2 days.  My BP was also up again.  It wasn't anything very dangerous, but it had increased every time for the past few visits.  There were some traces of protein in my urine.  My MW and OB had also predicted that he was going to be on the larger side, maybe about 8.5lbs.  All that being said she looked at me and said we should really get this labor show on the road. She said I should head across the street to the hospital and she would call the OB on call and talk to them about inducing me, but that she anticipated it would be no issue for them and that today would likely be the day.

I called the hubby at work and told him to leave work, not to hurry, but to go home, get the bag, eat some lunch, take the dogs outside for a while, and meet me at the hospital.  At this point I was still calm and excited.

At the hospital they had me skip the triage and go right into a room because they had already decided before I got there that I would be induced.  I got comfy, they served me some lunch, and within an hour my hubby was there and my MW, who was on call that day, came in to start the induction with a tiny pill insert in the cervix.  I can't remember what the name of it was.  At that point I was 2cm and 70% effaced.  For two hours I had to stay in bed lying on my side to keep the pill in place while it dissolved.  After that they told me I could get up, use the bathroom, walk, whatever.  So I went for a walk in the halls and took a shower. 

They were considering giving me cervidil overnight to speed along the process, but then contractions started up around dinner time and within 2 hours I went from -3 station to 0 station.  So they let me eat dinner since it was still so early in the process, put the IV in my hand, offered me some Motrin and told me to relax and try to get some rest.  I was fine for a few hours, and then I started to feel the contractions.  For me, these initial contractions felt like some serious UTI pains.  I told the nurse and she said sometimes that happens.  Well I had never heard of that.  So I asked for something stronger for the pain and they asked if I wanted the epi now.  I thought I was still too far away for that and didn't want to slow down the process, so I said not yet.  The drug they did give me in the IV drip made me almost instantly loopy, but initially took away all the pain.  I remember my husband looking at me like I was a crazy woman because I couldn't stop laughing for no apparent reason.  Then I just fell right to sleep.

At about 2am the OB came in to check me.  She suggested she break my water and said it looked very close and she should be able to easily get to it.  I said ok.  Well, turns out it wasn't as close as she thought and it wasn't that easy.  It was minutes worth of horrible pain as she tried to get it.  She finally did and I went back to sleep.  At about 3am I woke up in pain and crying because the typical belly tightening contractions had arrived, which I was also unprepared for because I had never had so much as a BH my entire pregnancy.  

I asked for the epi and the woman arrived within like 10 minutes.  I warned them though my tears that I am seriously afraid of needles and to warn me when it was coming, but I didn't want to see it.  The whole not moving this didn't work for me because the initial injections of the numbing agent made me flinch.  I had to get poked 4 times and just cried and cried.  Then I had no idea that I would still be able to feel them doing the epi.  It was like someone sticking a pencil, eraser side first, between my bones and moving it all around.  I completely broke down and could not stop sobbing.  I don't know what was going on with me that everything made me such an emotional mess, but I was just falling apart.  They finished the epi, gave me something to help me sleep and I went back to sleep again.

The nurses came to check on me at about 5am and apparently I had lost my mucus plug and was having my bloody show in my sleep.  I thought I had already lost my mucus plug, but apparently not.  I could literally feel everything sliding and dripping out.  They had to come back in about every 15 minutes to change the mats under me and wipe me clean again (which meant the end of my rest).  I don't consider myself a hugely modest person, but this made me very uncomfortable, especially when each nurse that came in had to throw in a "wow!" every time they saw how heavy it all was.

At about 8am I was 7-8cm and the OB guessed we would be pushing around 11am.  I was starving, nervous, scared, uncomfortable and pretty sure that my husband was ready to head for the hills.  He hadn't been saying much through the whole process.  I think I was scaring him by being such a mess of emotions.  I chomped on ice and watched Saturday morning cartoons to get my mind off it all. 

At about 11:30am the OB said I was 100% effaced and 10cm dilated aside from a lip of the cervix that was still there.  We waited another hour.  The lip was still there.  Then the painful UTI feeling contractions came back.  The anest. came and tried adjusting the epi meds to take that pain away, but it never went away.  I was just stuck with it.  Then I get the news that I will probably have to just push with the lip there anyways and first I should try pushing while the OB holds the lip back.  Now that was also painful and proved ineffective.  So they just had me push with it there. 

I did some pushing with the nurses with contractions.  They told me I didn't have to wait for a contraction if I felt the need to push at another time.  The contractions themselves weren't painful, but that UTI feeling was still there.  I was surprised that they left my husband and me to work on pushing on our own most of the time.  Luckily, he was ok with holding my leg and counting for me.  They had me do all my pushing on my side, which helped with the pain I was feeling.  Once in a while I just started crying all over again and would get tremors.  They said it was all just hormonal and completely normal.  I kept telling them through tears when they would come back in that he wasn?t going to fit, he was too big, or my pelvis was too small.  At first they kept telling me I had plenty of room, but after a while they stopped saying that and said nothing. 

After an hour and a half of pushing the OB came in and said she thinks there may not be enough room.  He hadn't moved from 0 station and she advised a c-section for failure to progress.  I agreed immediately and then just started crying again realizing what was going to go on.  I could hardly collect myself to listen to the risks and sign the consent form though sobs. 

I think they had already prepped the room for surgery because they were ready for me in 10 minutes.  As they wheeled me down the hall I was scared out of my mind.  Everyone was incredible nice, explained everything, tried to comfort me, but still, I was cried and cried.  They put me on the table and somehow whatever positioning it was made my arthritis in my back start the hurt so much.  I was blinded by the pain and almost totally forgot I was about to have surgery.  They have me a wedge under my back and that helped.  Then I got tremors again so badly that I thought I was going to crack a tooth from the teeth chattering.  Then suddenly the room was filled with people and I started crying again.  

They started checking to see if I could feel their pokes in my abdomen and I could, but they assured me I would feel no pain, but plenty of movement, pulling and tugging.  Finally they let my husband is and started right away.  I felt the incision and started yelling that I could feel it.  They asked if the area was hurting after they finished cutting, and it didn't, so they continued.  Suddenly I felt sick and spent the next 10 minutes with my head turned throwing up in my hair and a bucket next to my head.  I kept asking if they were done, if they could see him in there yet, and after about 15 minutes I heard a cry, and then saw them walk him over to the warmer next to me.  He had a crazy cone head, but was just perfect.  And he was only 7lbs, 14oz.  The problem was my pelvis, not his size.

I was still kind of dazed over the whole thing when they had my husband go with them to take him to the nursery, while I stayed to be closed up.  The icing on the cake was when I heard staples.  I didn't know I would be getting staples.  Staples suck.

I spent one hour total in the room for the c-section then went to recovery.  I got my hubby back like 10 minutes later and our boy about 15 minutes after that.  By the time we got transferred into a room over in maternity, it was about 7pm.  It felt like forever since it all began the day before at about 11am.  What a process and what unexpected twists and turns we had.

The good news is that everything worked out just fine medically for both myself and Dexter.  They had my up and walking the day after and the pain from the incision wasn't as bad as I had anticipated.  The most uncomfortable thing for me after was probably the catheter, which I only had to have for one day.  The nurses were fantastic with keeping up with my pain meds schedule so nothing wore off. 

Sooo, I would definitely say that my personal experience was unpleasant and borderline traumatic with all the emotional breakdowns I have through the whole thing.  I'm still super quick to cry about anything and everything now, many times a day, but I know that will pass.  I'm just so happy for the 5 days we had in the hospital with the amazing staff and also so comfortable now being home for these few days.

PHEW!  Done!

 

--halo--

This is my first venture into the Birth Stories forum, and this is the first story I read.  I'm glad that everything ended up okay and that you have a healthy baby boy.. but your story is horrifying!!   I think I need to read some more stories to de-sensitize myself!

HBaylies

--halo--:

This is my first venture into the Birth Stories forum, and this is the first story I read.  I'm glad that everything ended up okay and that you have a healthy baby boy.. but your story is horrifying!!   I think I need to read some more stories to de-sensitize myself!

I was always addicted to reading birth stories, and never came across one like mine, which is why I thought it was important to post.  Surprises like what I had are never fun, so I figure throwing out possibilities of what could happen could help people see that even if it sucks, it can work out in the end.  I still feel horrified about it myself and much rather like all the other easy birth stories! 

julyjennifer

Congratulations on your son!

Sorry to hear you had such a difficult experience.  Once things have settled down for you I would encourage you to talk to someone about your feelings around your birth.  In my city (Mpls/St. Paul) there is a pair of therapists who hold a "healing birth trauma" workshop a few times a year--maybe you can find something like that, just to help you work through your feelings. Birthing is such an important experience--even when you and your baby end up healthy (which is great), it can still have a big impact on your personhood if things were difficult for you during the birth.