Birth Stories

EASY INDUCTION BIRTH STORY

Birth Story

We were scheduled for an induction at 7 am on May 28th. We got to the hospital, checked in and went to our room. I had been 1.5 cm dilated and 80% effaced at my 38 week appt. I was hoping the consistent contractions I?d been having would have helped me along by the time the induction started.

We got into our room during a nurse shift change. Then there were 3 emergencies that morning, the first was a triplet delivery, the second was a code blue (didn?t sound good) and the third was a woman who was crowning (baby was coming out) in the elevator. We heard moaning and nurses saying ?who is she?? ?Who?s her doctor?? and then a couple minutes later we heard the baby cry. Apparently in all the hustle and bustle, the nurses forgot about us. We sat in the room until 8:30 am without ever being checked on.  I wasn?t even hooked up to monitors. I was getting a little frustrated, so Mike decided to peek in the hall and pretend he was a clueless Dad. He asked one of the nurses if we were supposed to be doing something and then they realized that no-one had even checked on us in an hour and a half. Yay for a hubby that gets things moving!

The nurse came in and hooked me up to antibiotics for the group strep vaccine (I needed it for 4 hours before delivering). They hooked me up to monitors to measure the baby?s heart rate and my contractions. They decided to hold off on the Pitocin (which induces labor) until they had given me at least an hour of the antibiotics.

My doctor showed up about an hour later to check on me. She looked at my contractions and said ?you are already in labor; these are 5-6 minutes apart?. She was pretty surprised that the nurse hadn?t started the Pitocin yet, since it was already 9:30 am and I should have had the antibiotics for a couple hours at that point. The nurse explained the craziness of the morning, but I could tell my Dr. was a little annoyed that everything had been delayed so much. My Dr. checked me and I was 4 cm dilated and 90% effaced! I couldn?t believe that I was in labor without even knowing it. My contractions were not painful at all. I had been having the same type of contractions for months. I always thought that real labor contractions would get longer, stronger and closer together and be really painful (they were with Portia). However, my contractions never did any of these things. Around 10 am they started the Pitocin on the lowest dose. My Dr. had to be in surgery and didn?t want me giving birth too soon. She assumed my water would break on its own. She told me I could get an epidural at any time, but since I wasn?t in any pain, I decided to hold out. I felt like I needed to ?earn? the epidural. This was too easy!

My nurse suggested I get the epidural around noon, since there was a line forming for the anesthesiologist and it would take up to an hour to work. I agreed, even though I was still not uncomfortable.

The thing that most surprised me is that I labored without an epidural for 5 hours and my contractions were NEVER painful or uncomfortable. They were also very sporadic. There would be a burst of 2 minute apart contractions, and then they?d slow to 4-5 minutes apart.  My labor never followed a typical labor pattern.

I was chatting, watching TV and reading magazines throughout my contractions. I hesitantly decided to get the epidural right after noon, even though I still felt great. The anesthesiologist asked if I was uncomfortable and I kind of had to lie ?uh, yeah, getting a little intense?. Honestly, I would equate my pain to that of getting cramps after a run. Nothing unbearable AT ALL.

The epidural hurt like hell. Seriously, that and the catheter were the worst pain of the day. Ouch.

I hated having my legs go numb. I hated being confined to the bed. I hated having a pee bag hanging next to me. I LOVED not having pain, but I can definitely see the positives of both sides (natural birth vs. epidural birth ? I?ve done both now).

My nurse checked me and I was only at a 5-6 cm. I hadn?t progressed much at all. She said she thought my water had broken. I didn?t notice anything, but couldn?t feel anything, so I didn?t disagree. Apparently, she told my Dr. it had broken, so my Dr. decided not to come check on me before her surgery. It was about 2 pm at that point. My Dr. would be in surgery for the next 3 hours.

Around 4 pm, I was pretty frustrated that I hadn?t progressed very much. Portia?s birth was sooo fast, that I assumed this one would be. My nurse decided that my water hadn?t broken and that was probably the reason I wasn?t progressing.

My doctor sent another doctor to break my water at 5 pm (she seemed annoyed that the nurse wrongly told her my water had broken and wanted to get the ball rolling, even though she was still in surgery).

I had a HUGE bag of water. They guessed that as soon as it was broken, labor would progress. An hour and a half later my doctor showed up and checked me. I was STILL only 6 cm dilated, but 100% effaced. They both seemed a bit nervous that I wasn?t progressing much. The main concern was that Addie?s head was still floating at a -2 station. Meaning, she wasn?t coming down the birth canal.

My nurse positioned me on my side to try and get Addie into the right position to move down into the pelvis. At that point I was pretty nervous that I was headed for a c-section. She was being a stubborn little girl.

My doctor told me to call the nurse if I felt any rectal pressure. About 15 minutes later at 7:10 pm I started feeling very minimal pressure. I touched down there and said ?Mike, something feels weird down there?.  He asked if I had pressure and I said ?yeah, but not a lot. It?s probably not enough to tell the nurse about?. He decided to go ahead and tell the nurse anyway (doesn?t listen to his wife, haha!). My doctor came in and checked me?

I was 10 cm and the baby was at +2 station!! She was already crowning!  I had gone from 6 cm to 10 cm in about 15 minutes. Finally, Addie had gotten into the right position. YAY! My Dr. said that if she had broken my water early in the morning, I would have had her by noon. No doubt about it.

At 7:17 pm the Dr. was all set up. She told me to push when I felt a contraction. I asked her to tell me when. She said ?oh she?s coming out without you pushing?. The nurse said ?you could laugh her out?. I hadn?t even finished one push and her head was out. I finished the second push and her body was out.

1 minute of pushing. Two pushes. No episiotomy. One tear (a couple stitches), but very minor.

No hemorrhoids. YAY! Oh and no poop on the table! I guess not eating all day worked! LOL.

Adelaide Isabel was born on May 28th, 2009 at 7:18 pm.

She was 7 lbs 15 oz. and 19.5 inches long.

Recovery:

I feel very lucky that my labor and delivery were so easy. My recovery has been so easy too. 12 hours after giving birth I was wearing jeans, had showered, put on makeup and walked around the room (standing) for 3 hours visiting with people. My nurse had to come in and tell me to rest since ?I had just given birth?. 

Hope everyone's experience is as easy as mine. I HIGHLY suggest the epidural.

Photos in blog (link in siggy).

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