Julia Faye's Birth Story (chase16)

chase16 · September 2014

Julia’s Birth Story—LONG! (Sorry)

I was scheduled to be induced on Wednesday, 10 September at 0800, since I was 41 weeks and 3 days. I woke up at 0330 and laid there talking with DH

, enjoying our last night in bed as a twosome. At 0730, I called to make sure that we were still going in that morning. We were told “we’ll call you.” I couldn’t hang out at home anymore, so we got Starbucks and drove around Lawton and Ft Sill for a couple of hours. There are miles and miles of roads out by the ranges, so we chatted and wasted gas while we waited for the hospital to call. At 0932, the nurse called and said “It’s baby time.” We were checked in and chilling out in our room by 1000.

At the initial check I was dilated 1cm with a ring of scar tissue still in place, and the doctor decided to do a round of Cytotec to soften my cervix. I took the pill and we hung out for four hours waiting for it to work its magic. At 4, they checked my cervix and said it was soft, but I still wasn’t dilated, and told me their plan was to insert a Foley bulb and let that dilate me before starting Pitocin and breaking my water. They inserted the bulb at about 5:30 and attached a bag of saline to provide traction. HOLY MOTHER OF GOD. I went from irregular contractions that I couldn’t feel to non-stop, excruciating contractions within the space of 5 minutes. It was all I could do to breathe through them. They definitely felt like menstrual cramps, but they also made me have to poop. Let me tell you, DH and I officially have nothing to hide from each other anymore, since he had to hold my saline bag while I pooped (the foley bulb was still in).. and then had to check me since it was hard to wipe with all my cords, tubes, and strings. (side note- I was hoping to be able to move around during labor, use the birthing ball, etc.. but I was hooked up to monitors, BP cuff, and pulse sensor right from the start, which made dealing with the contractions that much harder.. I hated being on my back through them, but I couldn’t change position). I really wanted a med-free labor, but knowing that I wasn’t dilated at all yet, and hadn’t even started the Pit, and already was having insane contractions made me tap out after an hour. I begged for the epidural. Unfortunately, I had ordered dinner before the bulb was placed, since it was my last chance to eat. It arrived about 30 minutes into my hour from hell, and I was too nauseated to eat. Of course, the second I got the epidural I was starving, but could no longer eat. I watched DH eat my dinner.

After the epidural took effect (AMAZING), we laid around and waited for the bulb to pop out. About 30 minutes later, I felt the bulb pop out, and then seconds after, gushes of liquid. I was hoping it was my water, but basically I had just peed everywhere. The nurse had never placed my catheter after I got the epidural, and I had no control over my bladder. So in the space of 2 hours, my lucky DH got to watch me poop, and pee the bed. However, the bulb was out, and I was now dilated to 4 cm! They broke my water and started the Pitocin at about 8:30, and that’s when things got reeeaallllyyy boring. I napped on and off and watched boring night time TV until the nurse came in about 4:30 and told me I was dilated to 9cm. (All through pregnancy I was worried about Transition, since I knew that lots of women get the shakes and get nauseated and vomit during this time. Turns out I had nothing to worry about, since I slept until I was 9cm, and woke up starving). At about 5 the nurse came back in and told me I was complete, and to get ready to push. I started pushing at 5:10, with DH and the nurse holding my legs. The nurse stopped me after 3 sets of 3 pushes and brought the doctor in. 3 more pushes with him and Julia was out at 5:25! I was a hot mess after pushing. I pushed so hard I popped blood vessels all over my face, chest, shoulders, and back. It looked like I had hundreds of freckles. Also my two baby hemorrhoids exploded while I was pushing.. and for 2 days that was the only pain I felt. I tore, but couldn't really feel that for a few days. I couldn’t sit, lay on my back, or walk. I was disappointed because I didn’t get to hold her right away (they took her to get cleaned up, get her shots, and be measured), but DH reassured me that she was beautiful, which I verified when they brought her over to me about 10 minutes later.