Lex's Birth: Successful Induction (PIP)

We arrived at the hospital at 7 am Wednesday morning and got set up in the delivery room. The doctor came in at 7:30 and broke my water, then hooked me up to the IV of pitocin and antibiotics for GBS. I started feeling contractions around 9:30 and they weren't that bad. They were around 20 minutes apart, lasting for a little under a minute. I was able to get up and move from the bathroom and back to the bed, but they wouldn't let me walk around.

The contractions increased in time, but not in strength. The nurse came in and upped my pitocin at around 10:00 and then checked me at 11. I was at 4cms, not in a great load of pain, and not having a patterned set of contractions. After about 30 minutes, the contractions picked up and started to become more painful. They were in my back and were hard enough that I recruited my mom to come rub my back anytime I had one.

At 12, I was getting angry. Very angry. Not at anyone in particular, but at the contraction. They were so close together I didn't feel like I was resting at all and they were so hard that it was everything I could do to not scream. I had a wonderful nurse who came in and grabbed my hand. She told me to focus on something and breath through them. "Blow away the pain." I blew. I blew as hard as I could and stared at the TV's channel number. Channel 57, by the way.

There was no comfortable. I was moving constantly, trying to get into a position that didn't hurt or at least eased my pain a little. We turned the bed into a chair and tried having me rock my hips. We tried turning me on the side and rocking. Nothing helped. So at 12:20, I begged for a drug. My nurse, knowing how much it meant to me to have an epidural free birth, gave me a shot of Fetinol (Sp?). This was the worst idea I had the entire time I was there! She said it would take off the edge, but that was a lie. I went from being able to focus and get through the pain, to dizzy and nauseous and even more pain.

The nurse decided that she wanted to put in a inter-uterine catheter to monitor my contractions and see how strong they were. After about 10 minutes of it being in, I had started to yell at her to get it out. I could feel it pressing whenever I had a contraction and I swore it was making them worse. Then it started. That undeniable urge to push. And it is undeniable. She told me to huff through it whenever I felt it as she checked me. I was at 9 cms and ready to go at 12:45.

This is where it begins to get fuzzy. My nanny and dad both told me later that the nurse had come out and gotten on the phone and told the doctor, "She WAS at four, now she's at nine and is wanting to push. You need to get here." They said when the doctor actually showed up a few minutes later, she didn't talk to anyone but just dropped her bag and ran.

I remember one second trying to fight off the urge then hearing my doctor's voice and just let go. She sat down and started talking to me, but I have no idea what she said. I was pushing with every ounce of my being. They put an oxygen mask on me and no sooner than it was on, was he out. He let out a scream and I started crying. They put him up on my chest as my husband cut his cord. I held him for about 20 minutes before I let them take him and clean him up...with my husband close behind, snapping pictures.

After I was stitched and he was cleaned, I was able to hold him and he was wide-eyed. It may be cliche, but it was love at first sight.

Lex at 3 days old: