R/P Brendan's Successful Induction Birth Story

maiken1027 · July 2011

When I was debating an induction, I found others' stories helpful in making my decision. Not all inductions end in a c-section.

Around 37 weeks Brendan's head was measuring large, and my pelvis is rather small. My doctor gave me the option to wait out the birth or to be induced. I debated what to do. I didn't want to me induced because of a "too big baby", but I had also talked to several IRL people that had a very similar situation, end up having long labors that ultimately resulted in c-sections. DH and I decided that if I really wanted to avoid a c-section, that the best option was to be induced.

I was 39 weeks when induced. I was 4cm & 80%effaced. When I was hooked up to the monitors I was actually already having regular contractions, but not feeling them. Pitocin was started at 8:15. Every 15 minutes the nurse kicked it up 2 ml/hr, we got to about 18 when my OB came back to check on me. I was having good contractions, but not feeling anything. My OB broke my water around 10:30 and that's when it really was kicked into high gear! Contractions became far more intense. I started on the birthing ball leaned over onto the bed, but the monitor kept losing the baby's heart rate. I then moved to the rocker/glider with DH in front of me and my doula behind me. I pretty much stayed there the rest of my labor. My doula and DH made sure to pace my breathing and keep me in my zone. When things got too intense, my doula was amazing at bringing me back to my zone to get through each contraction. About 2 hours in I had the incredible desire to push. The hardest thing was to have this feeling, and to not push. Around 1 the nurse re-checked me and I was fully dilated and 100%! I remember the nurse asking if I wanted to push and I screamed out "YES" and everyone in the room laughed at how excited I was to finally be able to push! To me, pushing was way easier than dealing with the contractions. The nurse called my doctor about an hour later to let him know we were about to have a baby!

The cord was wrapped around his neck when he came out. They took him from me right away to resuscitate him. That was the scariest part of the whole process. I was so grateful to have a doula explain to me what was going on and reassure me that everything was OK while DH was with DS.

In all I labored for just over 6 hours total with 1 1/2 hours of pushing with no pain meds! I had a 2nd degree tear and an internal one. The outside one is still sore, but not horrible. Yes, I pooped on the table! I knew it was happening and couldn't have cared less at that point. I just wanted to get my baby out.