Baby Helena is here- induction story

tinne004 · March 2013

I had a very positive experience with labor induction, so I thought I'd share:

I had an induction scheduled for Sunday, March 10, which was four days past my due date. I had been three centimeters dilated and seventy percent effaced since thirty-seven weeks, with no obvious contractions. We checked into our LDR room at noon and started going over things with our first RN for the day, Abbie. I had tested positive for group B strep, so they started an IV with antibiotics right away. They waited until 2:00 pm to start the induction with Pitocin in order to give the antibiotics time to get into my system.

I didn?t really feel anything for a couple hours, even though the monitors said I was having irregular contractions. They broke my water around 3:30 pm- I was afraid of it being painful or uncomfortable, but it wasn?t bad at all. The doctor was already performing an internal exam, so she just inserted what looked like a plastic crochet hook, and it popped like a water balloon.

Finally around 4:00 pm I started feeling painful cramps, and my contractions measured about five minutes apart. I asked for the IV pain medication, which I believe was Demerol. They checked me at this point and I was dilated five centimeters.

Unfortunately for me, they administered the medication while increasing the Pitocin dosage at the same time. So after a few minutes of pain relief, my contractions started feeling worse. I waited about twenty minutes, and then decided I wanted the epidural. The pain level was at a point where I had to control my breathing and had my husband standing at my side to squeeze my hand when the contractions came.

I received the epidural around 6:00 pm. I remember being terrified of the procedure after all I had read and heard about it, but honestly the only pain I felt was the numbing shot, and that was nothing compared to the pain of the contractions. By now I measured eight centimeters. I was shocked- I had fully expected to be in labor for the standard twelve to eighteen hours, and now I realized that this baby was coming in just a few hours! I had my husband text my parents and best friend, who lived about an hour?s drive away, to let them know that our baby was coming soon.

After the epidural, my pain lessened and time seemed to fly. I could still feel the contractions, but the pain only lasted for a few seconds before subsiding. A few of my friends showed up, and we passed the time talking and joking around. Then around 9:00 pm, the nurses decided it was time to start pushing.

I was numb from the epidural, but I still thought I was going to feel intense pain or pressure, at least when the baby?s head came out. But all I remember was my doctor urging me to push- push harder, harder, as hard as you can, don?t stop, and then I saw the head! A second later the rest of the body was pulled out and my baby was placed immediately on my chest. She was already crying, but as far as baby cries go, hers wasn?t so bad.

Helena Lea was born at 9:52 pm on March 10, measuring 19.5 inches and weighing 6 pounds, 14 ounces. She had a full head of dark brown hair and greyish-blue eyes.