Birth Story- Success with Cervidil
I went in for my 40 week appt on Aug 2 (40w 1d) and had made no progress in 3 weeks (I was 1 cm, 60% effaced, and -3 station) and my OB felt that since my body wasn't progressing it would probably need some help and suggested an induction with a cervix ripening.
So I went in on Aug 4 and was given Cervidil around 4 pm to help my cervix soften and the plan was to start pitocin at 5am the next morning. By 8 pm I was feeling REALLY bad gas pains and had 2 BM's. I asked the nurse if these pains were contractions and she said they could be but didn't seem to think too much of what I had described. By 10pm I was able to time the 'gas pains' regularly at 2-4 min apart and they were getting worse. By midnight I had a new nurse and I asked to be checked since these pains were getting worse and closer together and sure enough, I was 2cm and 90% effaced and my bag was bulging. The look on her face was priceless as she was shocked that that much progress had been made, she immeidately took the Cervidil out. At that point I asked her 'So does this mean I'm officially in labor?' and she smiled and kindly confirmed that I was. I was checked again around 2AM and was 4cm and 100% effaced.
The contractions were getting very intense and I asked if I could have something for the pain so I was given something through my IV as my doctor wouldn't approve an epi without trying IV meds first (I wasn't pleased about this but I was in so much pain I sucked it up and dealt with it). I don't remember the name of what they gave me, but I immediately felt like I was drunk and started slurring my words but the pain was still pretty bad so I got an epi about an hour later. The epidural was HEAVEN! I felt absolutely nothing and was able to wiggle my toes. A new nurse came in around 5 am to introduce herself and check my progress. While trying to find my cervix (they kept saying it was so thin they couldn't feel it) she accidently broke my bag of water! I was 6-7 cm by then and at 0 station. By this point the nurse said she wasn't going to give my the pitocin since I was obviously in active labor. My OB came in at 7am and checked me and I was 8cm! Around 9:30am I started feeling some pressure in my bottom and the nurse said that that was a sign that the baby was ready to come out. She encouraged me to 'labor down' which was just letting the baby move down on his own so that I wouldn't have to push for so long and waste my energy. By 10 am I was fully dilated and was ready to push. I pushed for 30 min when Kevin Gregory came into this world. He weighed 7 lbs 6 oz and was 19.5 inches long.
He's such a great baby. He's taken very good to nursing and sleeps pretty well. I've been dealing with the baby blues but I'm taking it day by day and it's slowly getting better. I'm completely amazed at how this little guy captivated my heart instantaneously
Re: Birth Story- Success with Cervidil
Congratulations! I hope that you feel better soon! Your son is precious.
I'm just curious - was there a reason why your doctor was concerned about your progress at 40w1d? I thought that most doctors will let you go to at least 41w before they even consider induction, unless there are fluid issues?
She said that since I had been at 1 cm and -3 station for so long without ANY progress whatsoever, she really didn't foresee any change happening in another week. I had also been measuring 2 weeks ahead for a while so she was concerned that he was going to be too big to push out and she knew how much I wanted to avoid a c-section so she felt the best thing would be to ripen the cervix and induce with pitocin. Luckily, I went into labor on my own so the pitocin wasn't needed. My OB said that I was only the 2nd patient she'd ever had that went into labor on their own after cervidil.
Thanks for the info!
I'm scheduled for an induction on the 23rd, just because they needed to get me on the calendar. Anyhow, I've been worried to death. I'll be 41 weeks and a day over, but I doubt he'll wait that long. I hope not
I'm supposed to go in the night before, at 5 for the cervidil. Your story makes me feel a bit better! Congrats!
Hopefully your little guy will come on his own. But even if he doesn't, the end result will bea baby> I wasn't thrilled about having to be induced euther but I just kept telling myself that and it helped. Good luck either way!!