Successful induction turned emergency c-section
BananaBlitz
member
I was induced due to GD. We arrived at the hospital at 5pm the night before, to have Cervadil inserted. I was 1cm dilated and 50% effaced. It was inserted at 6pm with no issues. I had some minor cramping during the night but nothing horrible. The nurse gave me Ambien to sleep. The Cervadil was removed at 6am. I was able to shower and eat before the pitocin started.
My OB came in at 8 to check me. Almost 100% effaced, but still 1cm dilated. She manually broke my water with some sort of pricker on her fingertip. It didn't hurt at all but I definitely felt her flicking around! The water broke with a huge gush and they started the pitocin.
Everything went smoothly for the next hour and a half. I barely felt anything. Suddenly, the contractions went from totally bearable to off the charts ridiculous. I have one contraction, and after the peak it would get about halfway down before the next one would start up. They were coming in groups of 3's with about 30 seconds of rest before they started up again. I was able to get up and walk to the bathroom (pushing my little IV stand with me) which helped with the pain. The nurse checked me, said I was now 3cm dilated, and asked if I wanted the epidural -- yes please!
They turned off the pitocin for the epidural. At this point my body was in labor on its own, so I felt the difference between a regular contraction and a pitocin contraction. I could've lasted much longer with the regular contractions. The epidural was put in without problems. The anesthesiologist was thrilled that I did yoga throughout my pregnancy because he was able to easily locate where the needle needed to go.
The next 7 hours went off without a hitch. I was more relaxed than I had been the entire month prior. I hit 7cm around 4 pm, and at 5pm the nurse had to turn up the epidural slightly. That's when the problems started. The baby was reacting to contractions and her heart rate was decreasing. I was instructed to lay on my left side and stayed there for the next hour. By 6pm, I was about 9.5cm dilated with a lip left. The nurse had me try some practice pushes to make sure I understood how to push with the epidural. I caught on quickly and she thought the baby would be out within the hour.
At 6:30, the lip was still there. They had me start pushing to help dilate to 10. The nurse checked me and asked if I had any back pain -- I said no, I hadn't felt a thing. She said the baby was sunny side up, and that it would be a little more difficult for me to get her out. I kept pushing with no progress. I had some mobility, so she had my try several different positions (squatting with a bar, and leaning over the back of the bed) with no luck.
The baby's heartbeat was still dropping with contractions. However, laying on my left side now was causing the heart rate to drop further. Good news was that I had finally dilated to 10 AND the baby had flipped over to come out face down. Bad news was that my cervix was swelling, I had to wear an oxygen mask in between pushes to help get the baby more oxygen, she still wasn't budging -- and the epi had worn off. The nurses don't reload it unless the patient asks, and while I knew it was gone, I also knew I would feel more without it and that may get the baby out quicker. I decided to not say anything and just go with it.
The doctor came in, watched me push again, and said she would like to vacuum the baby out. She injected my perineum with an anesthetic, inserted the vacuum, and I began pushing. Six tries later, the baby hadn't budged. The doctor looked up at the baby's heart rate on the monitor, and said that the baby needs to come out now. I had been actively pushing for over 2 hours, the baby wasn't descending, and her heart rate was reaching dangerous levels. I was exhausted, scared, and frustrated.
They had me in the OR very quickly. I was given a spinal through my epi catheter and went numb very quickly. DH was brought in right before they began. They didn't tell me when they were starting. I felt a very light tapping on my abdomen. Less than a minute later they held up my beautiful (blue) screaming child, saying "here's your girl!" It was the most amazing sound I had ever heard. The nurses were yelling out her stats to me as they checked her. With well-controlled GD, she was under 8 pounds and 19 1/4 inches. Her head was 37 cm (!!!) and she somehow managed to get 9/10 on both Apgars!
I had horrible shakes from the spinal and couldn't hold her until about an hour and a half after she was born, which was devastating to me. But she was perfect. Recovery from the c-section went surprisingly well.
The doctor explained to me what had happened the next morning. The baby hadn't been reacting well to the pitocin during the last couple hours of labor, which I knew. While she was starting out sunny side up, she began rotating as I was pushing. This caused the cord to be compressed, and my laying on my left side and back caused it to be compressed even more. In addition, while she was twisting and I was pushing, her head bent to the side, so she was trying to come out ear first, if that makes sense. That combined with her 95th percentile head circumference made a regular delivery impossible.
I say the induction was successful because I did dilate to 10cm without a problem. I believe that if I had waited to 10cm to push, she may have been able to rotate completely beforehand and I would've had a better chance at a regular delivery.
The doctor said she would support me if I decided to VBAC my next child, but I run the risk of needing another section if #2's head is a similar size, because apparently my pelvis is a little narrow. We'll see what happens!
Re: Successful induction turned emergency c-section