22 hour induction-turned-c-section birth story!

I got to the hospital at 4:30 AM for my scheduled induction on 4/20, filled out all my paperwork, and got settled into bed to begin the process.  They offered me pain meds right off of the bat, but I wanted to wait and see what it all felt like before I decided what I wanted to have.  They started pitocin at 5:30.  For the first few hours I barely felt the pitocin contractions.  It sort of felt like mild period cramps, but they weren't even that bad.  The nurse checked me a few times, and I was still hanging out at about 2cm, and I was effacing quickly and my cervix was moving into the anterior position.  She said that my doc would come in and break my water around 10.  At about 9, I got up to use the bathroom and my water broke all over my bare feet.  I kind of stood there like, "What the hell??" and the nurse just laughed at me.  My doctor came in a bit later and said, "I knew you were going to go today!"


DH and I played a few card games, watched the House marathon on TV, and they kept cranking up my dosage of pitocin every 30 minutes.  By 3:00, I was maxed out on pitocin and still not on pain meds.  My contractions were about 45 seconds apart and a minute long.  I started feeling a lot of pressure in my right hip, and got off of the birth ball and back in bed to see if I could find a good position to relieve it.  The nurse checked me again and I was around 3cm, 100% effaced and totally anterior.  We couldn't figure out why the heck I was dilating so slowly, since she could feel the baby's head and my contractions were very, very strong.  She suggested I get the epi so that I could sleep, because it was going to be a long night.  I agreed, and they shotgunned 2 bags of fluids into me in 5 minutes to prep me.  My anesthesiologist was hilarious, and soon I was feeling absolutely nothing below the waist except some pressure in my right hip.


I slept for a few hours, and by 10pm they decided to drop the pitocin back down to zero and ramp it up every 15 minutes.  They said most of the time this will stimulate contractions and bring on labor quickly.  I was still at a 3 and 100%, so I went back to sleep.  I started feeling really intense pressure in my right hip but nowhere else.  When I woke up, I mentioned it to the nurse, and she said it was probably because of the way the baby was facing.  I'd been having problems with this hip for awhile, so I wasn't totally shocked.  So, I went back to sleep.

My doc came in at 3:15 and checked me again.  I was almost a 4, they could feel baby's hair, and she wasn't really happy with my progress.  She was really confused as to why I wasn't going faster - she was so sure I was going to go on my own anyway, so she assumed I'd have had the baby hours ago!  She said she'd like to do a c-section, since she couldn't figure out what exactly was going on, and didn't want it to end up being an emergency situation later just in case.  At this point, what the hell - I said OK.

I was in the OR, prepped, and drugged from the shoulders down in less than 20 minutes.  DH joined me and my body was trembling horribly from the drugs when they started to cut.  About 2 minutes later I heard some mumbling from the doc and nurses, DH made a face at this strange popping/cracking sound, and I heard a teeny tiny little baby cry.  The whisked David over to the warmer and started to clean him up, and I was crying my eyes out on the table.  They finally brought him around to see me, but he was grunting and breathing bubbles so they rushed him to the nursery to get him fixed up and dried out.  His APGARs were 8 and 9, and the nurse told me he was acting great!  SP went with him and took pictures and let his parents see the little guy while I got stitched (well, glued up).  They wheeled me back into my room to let the anesthesia wear off before moving us to our postpartum room.


I was told when we did our nursery tour that I'd have the baby within an hour for breastfeeding (sooner if it was a vaginal birth), and an hour came and went.  SP told me they still had the baby under a light and warmer.  A nurse came in and I asked here where my baby was and when I could have him.  She didn't know, and went to check.  Another hour passes.  Another nurse comes in.  I ask again, "WHERE THE HELL IS MY BABY?!"  She doesn't know.  She'll go check.


Finally, one of the nurses comes in and explains to me that sometimes c-section babies end up with fluid in their lungs that they have to allow to absorb.  This is why David was making grunting sounds and blowing bubbles.  A baby born vaginally will have these fluids "squeezed" out when they are born, but that doesn't work with a section.  If you handle or agitate the baby during this time, they can aspirate the fluids further, so the best thing to do is to put them under a warmer and leave them be.  I was stuck in bed, unable to walk because of the anesthesia, and couldn't even see my baby at all.  DH would go periodically to the nursery and check on him, but couldn't go in and see him so he just reported what he saw through the glass.

SIX HOURS LATER, they finally brought David to me and I started crying all over again.

 
As it turns out, the c-section was absolutely necessary.  David's head was jammed into my hip socket, which is why I'd been having so much pain in my right hip for the last 2 weeks and especially during labor when my contractions got stronger.  This was also the ?pop and crunch? that DH heard when they pulled him out.  The right side of his face was smashed up at delivery, he has a huge bruise on the side of his head, and his right ear is clubbed at the top.  The doctors think that it will become normal over time, however.  His cord was also wrapped around his neck.  I'm so glad that I listened to my doctor!  His features have almost returned back to normal, with exception of the ear and a nice small bruise/blood blister on his right eyebrow.  He?s had some issues with his biliruben levels, but the doctors say with some time in front of a sunny window he?ll be just fine

David Arthur Delany II was born on April 21, 2011 at 3:47 AM, weighing 7lbs, 3oz and at 19 inches long.  We can't get enough of him and can't wait to continue to show him off as he grows up!