Successful induction/Vacuum Assisted birth story

Hey all,

Andrew is sleeping, so I have a few minutes to write all of this out.  I didn't get my Pi Day baby, but he's still pretty great. And it just means we get to celebrate Pi Day and then birthday.  

DH and I checked into the hospital at 730pm on 3/13.  My cervix had shortened slightly from my 40w appointment, but there was no dilation.   I was given a choice of cervadil or cytotec to help with cervical ripening.  Cervadil was a 12h treatment, Cytotec was a 4hr treatment.  We went with the Cervadil, thinking I'd be checked less, and at least I'd get some sleep.  It felt like an itchy tampon during insertion (8:45pm 3/13).   I didn't get the best night of sleep, the IV//saline kept getting kinked causing the alarm to go off, it made me go to the bathroom a lot, etc. etc.  When I was checked on Monday morning, (3/14), no progress had been made.  I was pretty discouraged.  Docs said to eat breakfast, and they'd start cytotec when I was done. I'd started to feel mild contractions at this point, also.  

The first dose of cytotec was administered at about noon. They also started pitocin at a low dose at this point.  When they checked me at 4pm, I'd made no progress.  I was really down at this point, thinking I could go another 5 doses (they let you try this for 24h/6 doses at my hospital), and nothing could happen. Anyway, they inserted the 2nd round. Contractions had picked up in intensity and they'd upped the pitocin, and I was feeling them in my back pretty regularly.  A couple of friends stopped by (they work in the hospital, I didn't invite them, they just showed up, but they were a FABULOUS distraction).  I'd decided I didn't want any morphine, but I asked for a small amt (2cc) at about 5pm to take the edge off.  I got a full dose(20cc) at about 730 right before they checked my 2nd cytotec dose. The pain was almost unbearable at this point, contractions were definitely intensifying, and lasting over a minute every 3-5min!

At 8pm, they checked and I was 4cm dilated!  Hooray! The first words out of my mouth were "can i have an epidural please?"  That was taken care of, and it was sweet, sweet relief.  I didn't get much sleep, but at least I was a bit more comfortable. 

At 2am, the resident came to check on me again, and I was fully dilated!   They prepped the room, and pushing started. I had some crazy pain in my lower abdomen (they call it a window in anesthesia land), so it was a bit challenging.  I also threw up my raspberry jello and lemon ice, but that's ok!  After 2hrs of pushing (4am on 3/15), the resident calmly said, "you haven't met our attending, have you?"  She gets him in the room, and he calmly tells us "you are going to have your baby in the next 15 minutes.  I think I need to use a vacuum to help you get him out.  I'm sorry that I have to do this to you"  He kept apologizing about the vacuum.  I looked at it as "Yes, pushing will be over in 15 minutes YAAAAY"  Also, I didn't realize it, but there were almost a dozen ppl in the room as soon as the Attending arrived.

Anyway, two contractions later (during which I had to constantly push with no breaks) and Andrew arrived. (4:08am on 3/15 - 9days past his due date)  The umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck twice, and he was slightly blue.   They took him to the warmer, and checked him (DH watched the whole time), while the attending and resident stitched me up. I have a 2nd degree tear on the outside, and a lot of smaller tears up the birth canal.  They weren't sure they stopped all the bleeding, so they packed my vagina with gauze and told me they'd check at 6, and there was a possibility I'd need to go to the OR for further stitching.  

In the mean time, Andrew scored 8 and 9 on his APGARs, and they brought him over to me about 15 minutes after his birth. (NICU/Peds staff needed to look him over after the trama).   Love at first sight, let me tell you! 

I did end up needing to go to the OR, and my OB walked in as they were wheeling me down the hall, and she did the procedure.  They gave me a heavier anesthetic through my epidural, and she examined everything.  Apparently between 6 and 8am, everything had clotted off, and I was fine. 

 We went home about 30h later!    I've lost 75% of my baby weight gain, and feel pretty good. I'm only taking motrin anymore (and colace, of course).  My tailbone seems to be the worst of all of it. I feel like I feel down some stairs!

 After we got home, DH told me had I not pushed Andrew out in those 15 minutes, I probably would've had a crash c-section in the room.  It wasn't due to the induction - rather the cord around the neck, and that LO wasn't recovering well after each of my contractions.  No one gave me any indication that he was in any distress at all, and I am grateful for that!

The three most important things I wanted from my birth were a healthy baby, delayed cord clamping and immediate skin to skin contact.  I only got one of those three, but I'm not at all disappointed in the way it all went down.  Also, I have no idea when my water broke.  We think it was when I went to the bathroom between  4-8pm, but nothing for certain. It was broken before I started pushing. 

If you've read this far, congratulations!  Thanks!