Jude's Induced Birth Story (long)
So it has been a month now but I have finally found the time to write out my birth story. My son, Jude Michael, was born September 6, 2012 at 7lbs 7oz and 21.5in long. At my 41 week appointment we found out that my fluid was pretty low so I went in to be induced. Because of an issue with anesthesiology (a totally different annoying story) I was transferred from my small community hospital to a larger one. So I was admitted to a hospital that I had never toured and was seen by doctors I had never met before. At first I was nervous and disappointed that I wouldn?t be able to do this with MY doctor but the doctors and nurses at the hospital were amazing! Let me just say this, while I did go in with a birth plan (in my head) of not wanting any kind of labor inducing or pain management medications when the time came that birth plan went out the window and it was more important to get my son out safely than to labor and deliver the way I wanted to.
So Tuesday night I was started on Misoprostol. I was only 1.5cm dilated and 50% effaced. I was administered the first does at 9:30pm and then got two subsequent doses at 3 hour intervals. I was told I needed to make progress by 9am or they would send me home (as long as my fluid was too low) and that I would have to come in for an NST and fluid check every day until Friday when they would try to induce me again. Since they never specified what ?progress? was I was nervous when the doctor told me I had only dilated to 2.5cm and 60% by 9am. But that progress coupled with my fluids getting a little lower overnight was enough for them to admit me. At 9:30am Wednesday morning I was started on Pitocin. I was told if my fluid levels got any lower I would have to have an emergency c-section for the safety of the baby. By about 4pm on Wednesday however, my contractions were so intense that I could barely breathe during them and they were coming every 3-4min lasting 1-2min. Because I was still only 4cm at this point and could not see myself being in this amount of pain for any longer I ended up with an epidural. I swore up and down throughout my entire pregnancy that I wouldn?t get one but after 4 hours of pain so bad it made my bp spike with every contraction I was very honest with myself. So Wednesday came and went and still no baby.
By Thursday morning I was only 5cm dilated but 80% effaced. Unfortunately, Wednesday night was rough. My poor husband had slept in a chair Tuesday night and while trying to get some sleep in the chair again Wednesday night my constant complaining was driving us both nuts (I am SO not a complainer normally). Needless to say we were both absolutely exhausted on Thursday but the 5cm I measured at 9am moved to 6cm by 12pm and 7cm by 3pm and by 6pm I was fully dilated and effaced and ready to push! The bad news though?baby was still at a -2 station. Thankfully the nurse that was with me through transition into pushing was amazing. We had met her on Tuesday night and she really got a feel for how we wanted the labor and delivery to go (if it were 100% up to me) so she knew how much I wanted a natural delivery. And the fact that she was a former midwife really helped! The doctors were only going to let me push for so long before they called it quits and gave me a section but this nurse fought for me tooth and nail! She had so many great ideas to get the baby?s head to come down unfortunately none of them were working until she had my roll over onto my hands and knees. She told me to rock back and forth but that wasn?t feeling ?good? to me so I rocked my hips from side to side and let me tell you that felt AMAZING! I could feel a difference in where his head was but also being able to stretch out my hips and back felt so good after being trapped, laying on a bed, for 36 hours. It was around this time (7:45pm) that this nurse turned my epidural off. While this may have made some women angry, when I found out later that she did this I was so happy. She knew that I wanted to deliver as naturally as possible and she helped me achieve this. So after 3 hours of pushing and countless times of me saying ?I cant do this anymore just cut him out of me!? my beautiful baby boy was born!! His proud daddy, who coached me the whole time, encouraging me and telling me he knew I could do this, cut the cord but because LO had pooped, he was taken over to be cleaned off before I could hold him. I delivered the placenta less than 5min later but then all hell broke loose.
I began to bleed excessively. I began to slip in and out of consciousness as the doctors worked to try and figure out where I was bleeding from and to stop it. It took an hour and a half, 2 units of blood and boatload of meds to get the bleeding to stop. If I had kept bleeding for 5 more minutes I would have been wheeled into the OR for an emergency hysterectomy. What they originally thought was a cervical tear turned out to be a lazy uterus. After being on the Pitocin for 36 hours my uterus got tired and instead of cramping like its supposed to it did nothing and I gushed blood. I ended up losing between 3.5-5 liters of blood and the doctors told me it was a bit of a miracle that I lived.
I finally got to meet my baby boy at 12am on Friday morning and I just remember thinking that he is why I lived. He was (and still is) the most beautiful baby I have ever seen (not that Im biased or anything lol) and I love him more than I ever thought possible.
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