My induction story

pamiva1

I don't normally post much, but I wanted to share my induction story in case it would be helpful to others. I tried to read as many stories as I could before we had our little girl.

Backgroud: This is my third child. First labor was about 18 hours long and my second was about 10 hours long. With both previous labors, my water broke naturally but I did not have contractions or dialation so I ended up using pitocin and an epidural.

I was induced at 39 weeks using prostin gel. I was supposed to get two doses 4 hours apart, and the Dr thought the whole process would take between 12-18 hours as I was not dialated at all when we started the induction.

The first dose of gel was placed at 1:30am. Within 30 minutes, I started having pretty noticable contractions. Within an hour, the contractions were strong and unconfortable. I spoke with the nurse, who said that is normal. I tried to sleep, but was in too much pain to do so. After more complaining on my part, I was checked again just before 5am, and the nurses were surprised that I was already 5cm. By this point, I was in a lot of pain, and asked for the epidural. I was told that they would call the person to do it, but that she was on-call and it would take 30 minutes for her to arrive. I was not happy, but thought at least there's an end in sight!

Just as my husband was checking on where the epidural was, my water broke. This was at about 5:30. They checked me again and I was fully dialatated. The pain was so intense at this point, and I was obviously told there was no time for the epidural (not that it was an option since the person to do it had not yet arrived). The on-call DR had also not arrived, so we were waiting for the mid-wife who was in the hospital to get to my room. I told the nurses I had to push, but I'm not sure they believed me. I started pushing on my own and minutes later the mid-wife arrived. At 5:44am, my daughter was born.

The whole induction process, from start to finish, was just about 4 hours. I never needed the second dose of gel, and from what I can tell I went from 5-10cm pretty instanstaly when my water broke.

For me, it was a scary situation. While the labor was fast and I was able to do it med-free, I was very concerned that the DR did not have time to get to the hospital. With my previous two births, I've needed the vaccume to get them delivered. Our mid-wife does not know how to use the vaccume so I was so worried that something was going to go wrong before the DR arrived. This was actually the reason why we scheduled the induction - to ensure that a DR was on hand for the delivery since my practice uses both midwives and DRs. Unfortunatly, my DR underestimated the time I would be in labor and as a result I started the induction sooner than I needed to. Luckliy for us, it was actually a really smooth delivery and it was the first time I did not need the vaccume.

One thing I've learned from this is to find out exactly how you on-call system works. Who is at the hospital when, how long it takes them to drive there, and when they are called in the laboring process? I still look back and can't believe a DR was not able to get there in time, but I'm very thankful everyone worked out and our daughter is here and safe.

 

 

baby_mama88

This sounds alot like my second delivery. Lol cervadil at 9pm uncomfortable by 230am dying by 330am dd born at 622am no time for anything else.

bandwife

Congratulations! And that is a very fast induction.

Do you think not having the epidural allowed you to push more effectively and not need vacuum assistance? Was the pushing phase easier or different from your two previous births?

pamiva1

bandwife:

Congratulations! And that is a very fast induction.

Do you think not having the epidural allowed you to push more effectively and not need vacuum assistance? Was the pushing phase easier or different from your two previous births?

Yes, I 100% think that not getting the epidural was the reason I did not need the vacuum. With my older two, they would tell me to push buti never felt like I had control as I did this time around. Not only did i feel in control, but the pushing phase was much much shorter. While the epidural is great from a pain perspective, that inability to feel everything is a negative for sure. 

julia55e

Congratulations :-)

snowybride08

Wow, that's so fast!  Congratulations!

georgi611

Congrats!  I was induced with cervidil as well, and had a pretty fast progression.  No time for an epidural either.  It was pretty awesome, and my next baby, I am planning on doing med-free from the beginning.

Again, congrats to you!

CGKyle

Congratulations 

misspunky

Congratulations! I thought my induction was short--6 hours, but you beat me!

MonicaClaire13

pamiva1:

bandwife:

Congratulations! And that is a very fast induction.

Do you think not having the epidural allowed you to push more effectively and not need vacuum assistance? Was the pushing phase easier or different from your two previous births?

Yes, I 100% think that not getting the epidural was the reason I did not need the vacuum. With my older two, they would tell me to push but i never felt like I had control as I did this time around. Not only did i feel in control, but the pushing phase was much much shorter. While the epidural is great from a pain perspective, that inability to feel everything is a negative for sure. 

 

First of all, congratulations!

But I would like to say that I was induced through the IV and my pushing last about 30mins and I didn't feel out of control or like the epidural affected my ability to push negatively. Just my personal experience, just to throw a different one out there.