Oliver's Birth Story

mwagner25 · December 2013

Better late than never... here is the VERY long story of Oliver's birth.

Monday 11/25 10:15 am

Had OBGYN appt at 10:15, was scheduled for induction that night but my OB wanted me to be dilated before pursuing that option. I found out I was 70% effaced but still not dilated. So we ended up having a NST in the office that day, Oliver didn't fail the NST but I had to be on my side and drinking juice to get any accelerations on the monitor. We had to make a hard decision to proceed with the induction that night (despite the 75% chance that I would need a c-section and the induction would fail) or wait 1 week and hope that I go into labor on my own but knowing that if I didn't Oliver would be at high risk for having meconium aspiration and I would still have a high c-section risk if I needed to be induced, L and I cried about it and made the hardest decision to go ahead and proceed with the induction while we knew we had a healthy baby even if that ment I may end up with a section to deliver him.

Monday 11/25 9:00 pm

We arrived at the hospital for scheduled induction. Since I was not dilated they had to start with cervidil to help ripen my cervix before starting pitocin. The cervidil is supposed to be in place for 12 hours and per the nurse who offered me a sleeping pill, "most women feel some light cramping but sleep right through it." An hour after the cervidil was placed I was in full on labor with contractions back to back with 30-60 second breaks inbetween. I labored on a ball and actually spent a lot of time time rocking back and forth in a rocking chair. L was great support but the labor was relentless. I couldn't focus on what anyone else was saying or doing, it was all I could do to continue to breathe through the contractions.

Tues 11/26 5:00 am

My OB shows up to see me and is not happy with my labor pattern overnight, he was concerned that my uterus and the baby were way too stressed out from the medication and contractions and opted to remove the cervidil early. When he removed the cervidil, I was only 1 cm and felt defeated after the long night I had. A few hours after the cervidil was removed my contractions slowed down and I settled into a natural labor pattern. This was the BEST part of my early labor. L and I walked through the department and I was comfortable for most of the day.

Tues 11/26 early afternoon

Despite my regular natural labor pattern I was still only about 2 cm dilated, so we opted to start pitocin to keep things moving along. The pitocin wasn't bad, it certainly intensified my contractions but they were still tolerable. I had spontaneous rupture of membranes after the pitocin started which was a good sign. I was still not progressing with labor enough so my OB was talking about possibly needing to do a foley bulb to help me continue to dialate. This is such a painful procedure that he said he would not do it unless I had an epidural. So, in the evening (not sure what time) I had an epidural placed. After the epidural I was checked and was at 4 cm. Still very slow to progress but at least things were moving.

Wed 11/27 midnight

I didn't like the epidural, although it was nice to have the pain gone, it was weird to have everything so numb and to have to have people move me in the bed. I started feeling more pressure that was in my low back so the nurses helped me get onto my hands and knees to try and get Oliver's head to move off my sciatic nerve. Thankfully it worked and when they checked me again I was now 9 cm. A few contractions later and I was fully dialted. Around 1 am I started pushing. It took me awhile to get the hang of it since I could not feel much from the epidural. Once I did, he was moving down well. I kept having to remind L (who was holding my leg) to push against me. She was mesmerized by seeing his head with every contraction. After 2 hours of pushing he was about to make his entrance, my OB wasn't there yet, so they asked me to stop pushing while we waited. Every contraction he came out a little more despite me not pushing. When my OB showed up, finally, his head was out in one push. He had the cord around his neck which my OB quickly moved. I was going to pull him out but his shoulder was stuck so I was not able to. His shoulder was able to be dislodged with me getting a second degree laceration. He was absolutely perfect when he was born at 3:18. We did immediate skin to skin. He was wide awake and his eyes kept locking in on mine and L's eyes as we talked to him. He spent the first hour curled up on my chest just staring back at us while we stared at him.

I still cannot believe that everything turned out as well as it did with a vaginal delivery and healthy boy and mom. We absolutely made the right decision to induce on Monday even though 30 or so hours of labor plus 2 hours of pushing was exhausting I wouldn't change it for the world. He is perfect. Here is an updated pic for making it to the end. This is from his newborn shoot.

KH826 · December 2013

That is a wonderful story and an even more wonderful photo! Thank you for sharing. He is beautiful, and I am so glad that everything worked out well for moms and baby, despite a long road to get there. Congratulations!

ATXmommas · December 2013

After my intense 4+ hours of labor, I'm even more in awe of mamas who have such long labors! Great job at telling Oliver's story. I'm so happy that it worked out for you to deliver vaginally. And what a cutie!

trisholio · December 2013

I am so happy that everything turned out well. It sounds like you had some difficult decisions to make, but made the right ones for your little family :-) Oliver is perfect!