A positive unplanned induction story

Had just gone to bed after a long new years day. We had just picked my SS up and had done a full day of seeing the movie Les Miserables and going to zoo lights. I was exhausted after a day of balling my eyes out les mis and walking around the zoo lights light show. Turned out we had done our long awaited outings just in time, because 10 minutes after dozing off at 11:45, I felt my water break, like a warm gush. Im not going to lie my first reaction was ?oh crap not now? because I was so exhausted I was afraid I?d never make it through what I expected to be a long delivery.

I debated going back to sleep since my midwife had said that even if my water breaks I don?t need to come in until I have contractions. But I gave in and called the nurse hotline who said I needed to go to the hospital.

So off we went. DH was super tired too and I was upset because I was so tired, I thought starting off this exhausted there would be no avoiding pain medication. Got checked in to the hospital. They checked the baby?s heart rate which was strong at 140 and looking good. I wasn?t hardly having any contractions. My "official" midwife happened to be oncall and checked to make sure baby was headown. She did an ultrasound and I got to see his sweet head. ?See you soon.? I said. We were there at the hospital from 1 a.m. to about 3 a.m.

Went home & slept. It was a beautiful sunny January day, Wednesday. ?A good day to be born? I told DH. We got out of bed, and I called the hospital. No contractions. But well rested we were told that the latest we could come in was 6 to get induced.

So those nesting instincts finally kicked in and we decided to spend our last hours alone together cleaning. We left for the hospital at 3 p.m. after stopping to get magazines and popsicles--readying ourselves for a long painful induction.

We came into the hospital with 3 bags of luggage mostly packed with my labor ?tools? I mean I brought so much stuff to help with labor: labor ball, lip balm, suckers, magazines, music everything that could possibly distract and refocus me from labor pains or help with uncomfortable dry mouth. I thought it was like packing for a long, rough flight. They started me on Cytec ?..nothing, so they upped my dose. We walked around the hospital. It was kind of cool to walk around the hospital in my bath robe. My parents visited us, Dad was relieved he didn?t have to worry about me ?Getting to the hospital? in time anymore.

Nothing was happening with regards to labor. The midwife guessed that we wouldn?t see baby until noon the next day. So we settled in. Got something to help me sleep, and DH slept on the cot in the hospital, once I was able to get off the monitor for a bit I climbed in bed to cuddle with him. At 3 am I woke up with contractions. They were painful but manageable. Gabe came and rubbed my back. Quickly maybe 20 minutes later they were really painful. They checked me..this was the first time I?d ever been checked..and man I was glad I hadn?t. I was 6 CM. Pain was pretty bad and was focused really low in my pelvis. Awesome. Again I thought I was in for the long haul. So they made me a bath and i got my popsicle posed and ready to go. As soon as I got into the bath tub I felt like I wanted to push.

Ohh I want to push I said. That or I really need to poop. Reluctantly I got out of the tub so they could check me again--10 CM.

?Okay let?s have a baby.? the midwife, Dawn, said. I was on my back kind of laying on my left side with my right leg being held in the air by DH who was also holding my hand. Quickly a birthing bar appeared and I grabbed on and pushed.
?He?s crowning? I heard.
I wanted to get onto all fours, but it was pretty much too late. Baby was coming.
?Here comes the head?
I pushed a second time.
I felt his head go through. I was this crazy moment in time feeling him half in and half out of me.
One more push and he was out.
I heard him cry but just a little. They towled him off and put him on my belly.  He wouldn?t reach my chest because my placenta was still in and apparently I had a very short umbilical cord.
That was nice to know that all my umbilical cord choking worries were unfounded as there wasn?t even enough cord to go around him. He had good color. And looked healthy.

 All in all I figure I was dealing with labor pains for about an hour. Then in came in less than 10 minutes! 

Was so surprised to see him have red hair as I was sure my Mediterranean genes would win out over DH's fairer features. He's a doll. We can't stop looking at him.