Maverick Spencer - Positive Induction Story

KansasFarmMomma · December 2011

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!