Successful induction birth story

My Dr induced me on Friday, August 20th, when I was exactly 36 weeks pregnant (IUGR). DH and I got to the hosptial that morning at 6am to get things started. They started me on pitocin at 6:45am, and told me they would come back every 15 minutes to up the dosage. I was still having preterm labor contractions, but the pitocin was there to amp things up. So weird, because less than a week before that, I was admitted there to STOP labor, now I'm there to deliver. We found that kinda funny anyway.

At 9am, my Dr came in to break my water. Unfortunately, Rylie was too high at that point (there was room for the umbilical cord to come between her head and my cervix), so she told me she would come back around noon to see about doing it then. My cervix was also still closed at this point, but I was 85% effaced. So, DH and I continued watching the movie "Knocked Up" and episodes of "The Office". The contractions were about 2 minutes apart and very manageable.

At noon, she came back in, and this time she was able to break my water. Holy cow, there was a TON of fluid!! It felt like someone had poured 2 gallons of warm water on me down there. I felt so gross and unsanitary. I just had to lay there in it. Gross! Shortly after that, my contractions started getting more and more frequent and more and more painful. Around 1:30, a nurse came in to check and see if I was dilated yet, and I was, but it was only a 1. Wth?! I told DH that I didn't want any visitors anymore. I didn't want anyone else to see me like that. After another hour of intense pain, the nurses felt bad for me and called my Dr and begged her to let me have an epidural. I was still only at a 1, but my Dr and nurses thought that as soon as I got the epidural, things would start progressing at a much faster rate.

I got the epidural around 3:30pm - hallelujah!! Sweet relief for the first time in 3 1/2 hours. I went from bawling hysterically in pain, to being calm and actually taking a nap (DH and I were preparing ourselves for a long night). A little before 6pm, I looked over at DH and said, "Right now would be a great time to have a baby!" I sent out a text message to our family/friends letting them know that things were going very slowly. A few minutes later, I started feeling a lot of pressure and contractions again. My nurse came in and got the anesthesiologist to come in and give me a boost with my epidural. The nurse checked me, and I was still at effing 1! I continued feeling intense pressure in my pelvic/hooha region. So, about 5 minutes after she checked me the first time she checked me again, just in case, and she said, "Well, you're at a 3, no 4, nope, make that 5!" Finally! We were getting somewhere. They started debating on whether or not to give me more medicine, because they weren't sure if there would be time for it to kick in before I delivered. The nurse decided to check me again, and she said, "You're done. You're ready" Wait, what?! I went from being dilated a 1 to a 10 in less than 15 minutes!

Chaos began, calls were made to my Dr to get here in there. I was pushing, and they were telling me not to push, etc. DH and I were excited and nervous, thinking "Wow, this is really it!" All of the nurses kept saying, "You're barely going to have to push at all. I can already see the head!" If they could see her head while they were walking by, was I really going to be able to hold her in until my Dr got there? Finally, my Dr showed up. I pushed once with the first contraction I had. When the second once came on, I pushed two times and she was out. We did it! Rylie Marie P was born at 6:44pm at 4lb 10oz and 18 inches long. My labor/delivery was pretty much 12 hours exactly.

The feeling I had when I saw her for the first time was amazing. No words can express how I felt. I started crying and kept thinking "She's really here! And, she's alive and crying!" We are so in love with her. I can't wait until the rest of you have your LO's. It's incredible!