Type 1 successful induction story (long)

kristak53

Let's start at the beginning. I was scheduled to go in for an induction on Monday, October 3rd at 8pm at the hospital (at 38 weeks and 6 days). So we pack and go and go to check in but the weather was changing so there were a bunch of women going into labor, so they didn't have a room for us. We were annoyed (of course... we HAD a reservation!) but stuck around since we didn't want to drive home and then back early in the morning. So they got us a bed to sleep in at like 11pm and we were going to move into L&D at 7am on October 4th in the morning when they had some open beds. That night, I got low blood sugar so there were a bunch of nurses that were there and they gave me a very nice large bruise on my arm because they needed to start an IV to get me some low blood sugar treatment (IV glucose). After that, we slept a little and then got up at 7am on the 4th of October and went over to L&D.

In L&D, the nurse that was in charge of us told us that it could take 3 days to have labor move forward since I was only dilated like 1cm and 50% effaced. She started us with a cervix softener around 7:30 or 8 in the morning and told us that we'd need another one of those in a few hours if things don't proceed forward. So they had a thing on my belly to monitor the little one and another thing to monitor my contractions. So an hour or two pass and the nurse comes back and asks me if I noticed that I had been having contractions. I was surprised to find out that she had seen that I had been having more contractions closer together so the cervix softener was helping. Another hour or two later, she checks to see if I had dilated more and to see if I could be started on pitocin... So she said I had been dilated to like 2 1/2 or 3cm so that was enough to start pitocin (no more waiting... yay!). Also, they didn't really worry too much about my blood sugar except if I felt low or high or was eating food, so they only checked my blood after breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The pitocin was started around 1pm or 2 that afternoon (October 4th) to get things moving. There were some problems with one of my IVs so they had an anesthesiologist come in to get another IV started on my arm and I advised the doc that I was not opposed to drugs, so after he did my IV, he came back and did the interview to see if they could give me an epidural. I passed with flying colors so I was happy that we got that out of the way.

An hour or two later, the nurse checked me again to see if I was dilated more and effaced more, and it turned out that I was only like 3 or 4cm dilated and a little more effaced, so they gave me dinner that night since it didn't look like things would be happening too soon. I continued to feel the contractions and at another cervix check, she noticed that the mucus plug was gone around that time (I think 4 or 5pm?) so that was a good sign. At the staff change time (7pm) I was feeling the contractions more and more and was not enjoying it, so they checked me and I was dilated enough to get the epidural, so I told the night nurse that I did not enjoy the pain, so she told me to go for the epidural if I was getting uncomfortable so I said to call the doc to get it started. At that point, they checked my blood once an hour since that was considered to be full on labor.

I got the epidural around 8pm I think because I remember some of the contractions hurting soo bad that I just held onto the side of the bed railing and tried to hold my breath the best I could to keep the pain down but it wasn't helping too much. The doc came in and the nurse coached me through it and it wasn't that bad... I felt a little sting when they put the numbing stuff on my back and then it was over and done with. It was kinda cool because I feel coolness when they gave me more medicine in the epidural through the night and the next morning.

So the night was progressing well, I was dilating slowly but surely and my water broke at some point in the middle of the night (maybe 2 or 3am?) so I paged the nurse then and said I felt something like a gush of water down there and the nurse came and confirmed that my water broke. My sis told me that it was good that I had the epidural before my water broke because the contractions hurt much worse when the water is broken. Shortly after my water broke, I felt pain in my ribs because there was less of a barrier there between the little guy and my ribs. Sadly, the epidural couldn't help with that. It got a little annoying because I wasn't able to sleep too well since they woke me up all the time to check my blood, but it was good they were doing that of course.

The night continues and I continue to dilate more and more and get more effaced so 8:30am rolls around and the nurse (the doc was checking on me through the nurses through the night but only came in once during the night) tells me that we're dilated to 9 1/2 cm so we can start pushing but she needed to go on her break first, so another nurse would help us push until she got back. So we started pushing at 8:45am and I discovered that it was very hard work. I also was feeling nauseated, so I did end up getting sick a few times that morning. So the doc comes in around 9:45 or 10am and I figured that meant that we were almost done. But we weren't! I had more work to do still. While I was pushing, I also noticed that the epidural didn't help with the pain in my hips while the little guy was in the birth canal, so the anesthesiologist came in throughout the process and asked if I felt pain and where and I just told him in my hips and ribs and the epidural didn't help much with that, so they gave me as much medicine as they could. Oh yeah, and the other thing with the epidural was that my legs were numb but I could still feel them mostly... I just couldn't do much with them. I was also wondering throughout the massive time pushing at what point I could ask them to do a c-section. Hehe. But I pushed through it.

So the doc is down there trying to help loosen my area to avoid tears and coaching me to push and telling me that I'm doing a good job and all, and then they call in a bunch of people... nurses for the baby, NICU, me, etc. and then at 10:34am on October 5th Shaun arrives. They immediately place him on my chest and all I remember was that he had a cone head and was blue looking. Not so cute. But I do remember that it made me so happy and SO and I were so overwhelmed and happy that we both cried. SO was so proud of me. I was just in shock and awe from what just happened. They did the weight and length and footprints (one on SO's arm too, so cute) so at that point I just stayed kinda speechless and still a bit nauseated and let everything sink in with the nurse.

SO stayed with the little guy for an hour or so and then came back to check on me because he was so proud of me and wanted to make sure I was okay. My mom and sister and nephew came in to check on me right after also, and my mom stayed with me and got us packed up to move into the recovery room. I remember that my mom was texting me (along with a few of my friends) to check on me and SO kept the phone with him since I was busy and he let my mom (only) know how things were going. She stayed in the RV in the parking lot so she was close by.

My blood sugars stayed pretty steady throughout he birth (no lows or highs) so that helped the baby's blood sugar at birth since I know they all freak out about diabetic's baby's blood sugars.

So that's the birth story in a nutshell. There are so many more details but I want you to read this before Christmas.

juliane2004

Congrats

kristak53

I also forgot to mention that with my diabetes control being so good throughout the pregnancy, he was a normal sized baby... 8 pounds 8 ounces and 20 1/2 inches long at a 39 week and 1 day gestational age.

Thank you all for all of your support!

Now to figure out the whole maintenance of my diabetes control...