Induction at 1 Week Late Birth Story
Oct2bride2be
member
Wonderful (and FAST!) Induction Story:
After being a week past his due date, my induction date arrived. I was REALLY nervous about the induction, hoping it wouldn't lead to a c-section along the way. Because I had started dilating, but wasn't effacing, my doctor wanted to start the day by inserting a prostaglandin gel into my cervix to see if that would help. We went in to the hospital at 8am Monday, August 6th to get the first gel insert. The doctor examined me and I was till only 2cm dilated and really thick--same as I was at my appt the previous Wednesday. I had been having a lot of contractions since that previous Wednesday, so I was disappointed we didn't have much more progress going into the induction.
She inserted the gel, monitored me for a while, and sent us on our way home with instructions to return at 12:15pm for a second gel insertion. Around 11:00am, I started having much more consisten contractions, but they still weren't very painful. I hoped they gave me some progress as we headed back for the 2nd gel insertion. When we got back to the hospital, the doctor monitored me with an NST for a while, and noticed the contractions were coming every 2-5 minutes. She examined me and I was now 3cm dilated but still only 50% effaced. She decided since the contractions were coming more regularly now, and because we were planning to start the Pitocin at 5pm, she didn't want to overstimulate things with another gel insertion. She told us just to come back at 5pm and we would start the Pitocin then as planned.
We went back to L&D at 5pm on Aug 6th to start the Pitocin. i figured we were in for a LONG night since we weren't even starting the Pitocin until so late in the day. We settled in thinking we would be there a while--WRONG!
We got in and got settled, and they started the Pitocin at 5:45pm. They kept turning the dosage up every 15 minutes at first to get things going. It wasn't long before the contractions were getting pretty uncomfortable. The doctor came in to check me at 6:45pm and I was between 4-5 cm and still only 50% effaced. She decided at that point to break my water. Contractions were getting painful at this point, but still manageable. I labored for a while longer trying to hold off on the Epidural as long as possible as I was really afraid of any chance of slowing labor down by getting it. After she broke my water, though, between that and the Pitocin, the contractions were coming right on top of each other, and were becoming unbearable. By 7:15pm, I was begging for the Epidural! Fortunately, the anesthesiologist was right down the hall, so I only had to wait a couple minutes for him to get to my room. The epidural was in place by 7:40pm, and it was HEAVENLY!!! I got my picture taken with the anesthesiologist as I was so happy that he saved me from the pain! Labor became MUCH more enjoyable at this point.
At 8pm, the nurse checked me and found I was now 6cm dilated and fully effaced--YEAH! My cervix finally got it's act together and thinned! Unfortunately it was also at this point, that Nathan's heart rate started to get a little wacky. It started to decelerate randomly, with no rhyme or reason to it. Then it would go right back to normal again. The doctor decided they would infuse fluid back inside me to cushion the umbilical cord as he was probably just sitting strangely at some points on the cord. She went to start the insertion and when she checked me, found I was fully dilated and ready to push--IT WAS ONLY 8:40pm! I went from 6cm to 10cm in only 40 minutes!
Since his heart rate seemed to stabilize for the time being, the doctor decided to let me labor down for a while on my own, but by 8:55, his heart rate was dipping again, so they got me ready to push. Because everything progressed so quickly, the Epidural was still in full swing and I couldn't feel much in the way of how to push correctly. The doctor got the vacuum ready just in case his heart rate continued to stay low. Fortunately, his heartr ate came back up again, and we started pushing at 9:00pm. It was tough at first since I wasn't sure where I was pushing, but eventually I figured it out. And once his head was low enough, I could easily feel the pressure to push him out. Nathan Joseph was born at 9:19pm. He was 7-lbs, .08-ozs, and was 20-inches long. His apgars were 8 and 9 and he is just picture perfect. We came home on Wednesday, August 8th and things are going well. He's breastfeeding like a champ, and we're just so in love with him! Oh--and the reason his heart reate was dipping: He came out holding onto his cord with both hands--he was squeezing it during his delivery!
All in all, I had a great (and fast) induction, a wonderful labor & delivery (thank you Epidural man!) and am loving life with my new little boy!
Re: Induction at 1 Week Late Birth Story
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