Maverick Spencer
Within the last few weeks of my
pregnancy my doctor, my husband & I had all decided that for
several reasons we were going to go with an induction during my 39th
week of pregnancy.
My due date was Dec 17th but we went in on December 12th at 2:00 to have my
*hopefully* last checkup at the doctors. At this point we had an
induction scheduled for Thursday(Dec 15th). We found out once we arrived
that due to scheduling they had bumped us to that evening(the 12th). We
were obviously ecstatic and I was now starting to get more than a
little nervous. We headed home to finish packing our hospital bags and
attempt to crash for a few hours knowing that we probably wouldn?t get
much sleep the next few nights.
We arrived at labor &
delivery at 7:30pm to get checked in. I got to be a guinea pig as the
nurse practiced drawing a blood sample from a IV seeing as though the
lab tech showed up just as my nurse was placing the IV in. They didn?t
end up using the IV until the next day but they still place them out of
policy. About an hour after we arrived I was give then first dose of
Cytotec which is a small pill that softens the cervix & helps it
efface. I was less than 25% effaced and only a fingertip dilated when we
arrived & Maverick was still very high. We were told that the
Cytotec is the first step and I could expect several doses & that
inductions do not always work so there was still a very good chance we
could be going home without a baby. We were also told that if the
Cytotec was successful the next step would probably be pitocen in the
morning to try and start dilating. The worst part about the Cytotec was
that you had to lay down for two hours after it was given and weren?t
allowed to stand up which for a pregnant women who?s bladder was
currently smaller than a hamsters it was agony.
About midnight
my nurse came in an asked me if I was feeling contractions. I wasn?t
feeling them but there were some showing up on the monitor. The doses
are given approximately every 4 -5 hours and I received my 2nd dose at
about 1:30am. When I was checked again at 3:30am I was still only 50%
effaced & 1 cm dilated. We were able to get quite a bit of sleep
during the night seeing as though there wasn?t much of anything going on
during other than waiting for the pill to work. I received my 3rd dose
at 6:30am.
The nurses had a shift change at 7am and my new nurse
was much more proactive in attempting to help the Cytotec along. After
the two hours of laying down she had me alternating between walking the
halls, bouncing on an exercise ball(I felt like an idiot) and relaxing
in the Jacuzzi tub, all of which were supposed to help by body relax
& Maverick move lower into my pelvis. I received another dose of
Cytotec at 12:00pm. By this point I was starting to get discouraged
because I was still only 75% effaced & 1cm dilated. I was really
starting to believe that an induction wasn?t going to work for me and I
wasn?t going to have my baby yet.
At about 2 my nurse came back
in to have me get up and start walking the halls again. I used the
bathroom and I realized was bloody when I wiped. I called my nurse into
the room to tell her and stood up to put shoes on to go walk the halls. I
realized there was a trickle of water running down my leg and when I
looked down it was bloody. I told my nurse and she told me to lay down
so she could check me. As soon as I laid down I felt a gush of water and
was pretty sure my water had broke. As soon as the nurse checked me
there was a ton of water and she confirmed that yes, my water had broken
and one way or another I was absolutely having a baby within 24 hours!
I
got back up and started again started the routine of walking the halls,
bouncing on the ball and sitting in the tub. Bouncing on the ball
helped a lot and I when I was done, I could DEFINITELY feel him much
lower when I had started. At about 3pm I really started feeling
contractions. The worse part about them was that there was ZERO pain
anywhere except in my back. I was checked at 5 and was still only 2cm
dilated.
At about 5:30 my doctor came in to check on me
because the nurse was concerned that she couldn?t tell if she was
feeling Maverick?s head or his butt. When my doctor checked, he couldn?t
tell either so they ordered a sonogram to check his position. When the
ultrasound tech got there about 5 minutes later she was able to confirm
that he WAS head down but was unable to confirm if he was actually still
a HE because he had his foot curled up under him(we were originally
told ?he? was a ?she?).
By 5:45 I was totally zoning out during
each contraction. I was laboring in the tub and was falling asleep
between each contraction. We had already decided by this point that I
was going to get an epidural, it was just a matter of when. We had been
hoping to wait until I was 4 or 5cm dilated because we were concerned
about the epidural slowing down progress. At about 6:30 my wonderful
nurse came in to tell us that she was going to go ahead and call for my
epidural. I am so glad that she ?pushed it? on us when she did. The
anesthesiologist arrived at 6:40 to administer my epidural. Getting my
epidural hurt as bad as the contractions! I will admit that I cried
while getting the epidural because the pain of that combined with
contractions at the same time was more than I could handle. The
anesthesiologist confidently told me that those should be the last
contractions I felt?the nurse then told him I was having back pain and
he changed his statement to those should *hopefully* be the last
contractions I felt. I felt about 3 more contractions but each one got
progressively milder. I was in love with my epidural because I could
still feel & move my legs but I couldn?t feel any contractions at
all.
I was only 3cm dilated by 7:15. I slept until they checked
again at 8:25 - I was still only 4cm. I was slightly frustrated by the
fact that I was dilating so slowly but was determined to try and get
some more sleep.
By 8:30 the nurse came to tell me she was
keeping a close eye on Maverick?s heartrate because he was starting to
show some mild signs of distress. Nothing to be concerned about, but
enough that she wanted to keep an eye on it. At 8:45 she came back in
and said she would be more comfortable if she put me on oxygen to try
and help Maverick?s heartrate stay up.
When she checked me at
8:50 I was now dilated to 6cm. I was left alone until 9:35 when she
checked me again only to tell me that I was now 10cm dilated. Within the
next 20 minutes Maverick?s heartrate got back to where it was supposed
to be and was showing zero signs of distress. Apparently the reason he
wasn?t liking everything was the fact that I dilated 6cm in little more
than an hour.
She went ahead and called my doctor while they set
up the room for delivery. They decided because I wasn?t feeling any
contractions to just let me ?labor down? for awhile instead of having me
push for 2 hours. Laboring down was so helpful because it allowed my
body to slowly do the work of moving Maverick downwards without me even
being aware of it.
My doctor arrived at about 11:40 and by 11:45
we were ready to start pushing. I couldn?t feel my contractions at all
so my nurse had to tell me when I was having one. They actually weren?t
even really showing up on the monitor, they were pretty much going by
feeling my stomach to tell when I was having a contraction. I had no
problem pushing and they could see his head from the very first push.
The first thing my doctor said was ?He?s bald!? My contractions were
still only about 5-8 minutes apart so we spent a good amount of time
sitting around waiting for another one. At one point my doctor looked
around and said ?So, anyone know any good jokes??.
After about
my 6th push, Maverick?s head was out and with one more small push he was
born. My husband cut the cord and when they placed him on my stomach,
it was the most amazing feeling ever but it almost didn?t even seem
real. I couldn?t believe that this child was mine!
They took him
to the warmer next to my bed shortly after to get him all clean,
measured, etc. During the meantime, my doctor continued to attempt to
deliver the placenta which my body apparently didn?t want to give up. It
took longer to deliver the placenta than it did to deliver my son!
I
had a very small 1st degree tear that didn?t even require any stitches.
I was on my feet and walking around within an hour and have had the
easiest recovery EVER. The next day I was walking around with Maverick
just to get out of my room some and one of the nurses asked who I was.
My nurse turned to her and said ?That?s my patient!? The other nurses
response was ?OH! Well you certainly don?t LOOK like a patient?. I kept
waiting for the horrible postpartum pain and I never really had any. I
have been more sore in the past after falling off my horse! The ?worst?
pain I had was from being catheterized before I started pushing. Within
about 3 days postpartum, I felt completely like my normal, pre-pregnancy
self and am so thankful for that!
Re: Maverick Spencer - Positive Induction Story