Being induced on Thursday 11/19: any helpful info from STMs? loss briefly mentioned

mac-n-cheesy · November 2015

So I've had an extremely complicated pregnancy and LO is hovering just above the 10the percentile now, is an SUA baby, has borderline oligohydraminos, and I've lost 9 pounds in three weeks (now only 2 pounds over my starting weight of 115 and I'm 5'8"). My OB really really wanted to get me to 38 weeks for brain and lung development purposes and this Thursday I'm being induced at 11am when I finally reach the goal mark.
Our last growth scan showed about 5 and a half pounds but I know that means nothing as they can be wildly inaccurate....but we do know she will be small because she only gained 3-4 ounces in two weeks. I'm not dilated but am 30% effaced as of last Friday. Baby has been at station 0 for over a week. Not a favorable Bishop score but my OB (chief of the dept) and my perinatologist have agreed waiting any longer will put my LO at too high a risk for stillbirth due to the SUA, near IUGR, low fluid, as well as my rapid weight loss. LO has also been non-reactive on about 1/4 of 10 NST's. I'm ok with the induction as I just want her out safely (history of late term loss).
So....1 day and 9 hours until I check in to L&D to be induced. I've had so many issues with this pregnancy, literally all the nurses who work in that department know me by name (my doctor always sends me down there after appts; I've only gone once on my own because I didn't want to be that person that goes in for every little thing).
I'm getting increasingly nervous about the induction process as I do not handle pain well, have a history of a multiple vertebral fracture, and LO is sunny side up (I'm aware she can flip on a dime though). For any STM's, I'd love to hear your induction stories (good or bad) just so I'm prepared for what can happen and how long it really takes start to finish. I know I'll need a cervical softener and then Pitocin (I'm definitely getting an epidural). I'm one of those people who needs real-life anecdotes to truly "get" what is going to occur. I've educated myself as much as possible through my doctor, Internet research, etc but would love any tips or information from women who have already undergone this process; especially if your pregnancy issues/history are somewhat close to my own.
Thank you in advance. *i did use the search function but didn't find it helpful*

spottedginger · November 2015

Good luck tomorrow. I don't have any experience to share being a ftm myself, but I'll be thinking about you and hoping for a safe and speedy delivery and health for you and your little.

Gingermom15 · November 2015

I don't have any experience myself, but will be going through an induction on Monday for IUGR unless they need to take him tomorrow after our NST. I will be thinking of you and and wish you a safe delivery. I hope you are able to get a good variety of experiences from the women here. Best of luck!

holly1811 · November 2015

Sorry no advice/experience to offer as ive only had csections. I wish you the best of luck though, just remeber to relax and trust your body knows what its suppose to do and You will be just fine. So exciting seeing all the december babies being born. I get to meet my boy on tuesday

breezypip · November 2015

I have no experience to offer, but wanted to wish you the best of luck and will be praying for your happy ending for you and your LO to what sounds like a stressful pregnancy.

kepoole · November 2015

I'm so sorry you are going through this stress!! But I am glad they are paying such close attention to you and your little!!

I was induced with my first and it was a long process... However HOW long it took was contingent on a few things that we realized later. I was 24 at the time and opted for pain meds as soon as they offered them to me, but the two options were demerol mixed with phenergan or Stadol. I was afraid of the phenergan because it has made me super sick in the past so I refused it. I now know that Stadol is used to help slow or stop labor, so it contradicted the pitocin. I had my intense contractions but my body didn't want to dilate. So at about 32 hours of labor I agreed to try the Demerol and then finally got my epidural.. I was able to vaginally 5 hour later. I basically went from a 4 to a 10 as soon as they quit using the one drug.

This time I am being induced at 39 weeks (Dec 9) and whereas I'm a bit nervous and will make a final decision based on where I'm dilated to the week before, I plan to go as long as I can stand it without the pain meds and hoping for a much shorter labor.

Keep us posted!

laura6006 · November 2015

I read a ton of stories in the Nov and Oct boards and they were pretty helpful. I haven't gone through it myself, but from what I've read being induced can be quite painful and getting an epidural is the way to go. I hope everything goes well and you and your baby are healthy.

RSB1982 · November 2015

Sending positive vibes your way. I hope all goes well, update when you can!

Bombmom3 · November 2015

I've been through the induction process twice and am going to go through it a third time unless I happen to go into labor before the 1st.

My first induction was a train wreck. Mostly because I figured that since it was an induced labor that my "options" for declining certain things or requesting certain things were limited at best. I know way better now. My second one was smooth sailing and ended in a quick, text book delivery.

I am going to share both experiences with you because they were vastly different. Be prepared, this will be long and the first induction story is a little ugly.

Anyways, the process was "standard" - I had a not so hot Bishop's score (0 station, fingertip dilated 50% effaced) so they placed a foley bulb in the night before delivery to help get me dilated. The bulb is designed to get you to a three or four depending on the size they insert. It wasn't uncomfortable at all and it stayed in almost all night before falling out on its own around 4am. They checked me before starting the pitocin and said I was at 3cm. I declined the epi and the nurses told me (repeatedly) that they never saw a mom make it through an induction without the meds and I should just get it as soon as I could. Still declined it. Managed the contractions very well for five hours though the nurses kept coming in my room to put me back to bed (the fetal monitor would slip, they said) and to let me know I wasn't "acting painful enough" every time they cranked up the pitocin. General policy is a pitocin increase every two hours - we started at every two hours but because I wasn't "painful" they stepped it up to every hour. At around noon, the nurse asked if we could go ahead and break my water to speed things up and I said I wasn't comfortable with that until I had reached 4-5cm (I knew I could still "walk away" and try again another day if they didn't break my water but that I would have to deliver no matter what if they did). She checked me and said I was a very stretch 4/4.5cm so I consented. The midwife came in, also commented that I was "managing the pain too well" and broke my water. She then checked me and told the nurse I was still at 0 station and dilated at a tight three externally and a two internally and 70% effaced. I started bawling because I knew right then the nurse had totally lied to me to get me to consent to having my water broken. The midwife commented there was slight meconium in my water. Then the next contraction hit while everyone was still in the room and I thought I was going to explode, it hurt so badly. After my water broke they went from being manageable 4-5 pain scale to a whopping 7-8. I went to get up and walk because my body was literally screaming at me to and I was (gently) pushed back down and told I couldn't get up for at least an hour since I was a fall risk for slipping in the fluids. That hour was the most miserable hour of my life. I kept begging the nurse to let me at least get up and sit on the birthing ball because I had not way to cope with my contractions and she said no, I had to stay in bed. When the hour mark passed, I rang for her again and she sent in a student who told me she couldn't authorize me to do or not do anything - all she could help me with was shifting positions in the bed or getting me some ice. This happened three more times until I told her I *was* getting up to use the restroom and could either help get me unhooked from everything or I could rip it all off. The student helped me up and to the bathroom and kept telling me how sorry she was. When I made it back to the bed I told her to let the nurse know I'd consent to the epi since I wasn't allowed out of bed anyways. She left and the nurse (who had been unavailable while I was begging for someone to let me up or sit or something) immediately popped in the room with extra fluid to prep me for the epi. The epi went smoothly - almost instant relief. Hardest part was timing it between contractions since the pitocin had me going every one to two minutes at that point. I was able to sleep/rest for about two/three hours afterwards. Around 10:50pm my midwife showed back up and checked me. I was at a 9, fully effaced with a lip. She gave me the option to start pushing or to just have a c-section and said if I couldn't get the lip to go away with some pushing I'd end up getting one anyways. I opted to push. Then I got really nauseous and started vomiting every time I would bear down (the midwife joked at one point that three more good retches and I'd deliver the baby). I pushed hard for about thirty minutes. The midwife had inserted an internal monitor to gauge how effective my contractions and my pushes were since I had the epi placed and couldn't tell her if the baby was moving down when I would push. What I *could* feel was the baby frantically thrashing around. I told the midwife that and she just glanced up at me and told me to keep pushing. I very badly wanted to roll on to all fours at this point and was told I could not because of the epi (even though I had leg control and was able to roll side to side and lift my legs and back). My kid had an astounding amount of hair and because my water broke so early it was a 'dry' birth so her hair was keeping her from crowning. They got a bottle of olive oil and liberally doused us with it. That did the trick and her head delivered the next two pushes. Then shit hit the fan. That thrashing I felt was her trying to get into position because she had an arm up by her face. In turn, this caused her left shoulder to wedge itself under my pubic bone. I was directed to push (and push and push) as hard as I could while the midwife pulled on her and a nurse pressed on my fundus externally. As they where wheeling me to the OR, I felt a "pop" and my baby finally delivered. She was in bad shape and I was in bad shape (my BP had reached critical levels, I was so exhausted I couldn't lift my head up and I was convinced that my baby hadn't made it). They got her going and then noticed her breathing was off so rushed her to the nursery after holding her in front of my face for two seconds. The midwife started patching me up - an emergency 4th degree episiotomy had been done so she had to stitch a lot. My baby ended up transferred to another hospital and admitted in the NICU with PPH (a condition where the blood gas exchange doesn't happen in the lungs) and was sedated and placed on a ventilator and she also developed sepsis from a GBS infection even though I tested negative for it. She recovered after a month stint in the NICU and is a thriving three year old now. I had a billion stitches, the "pop" was the cartilage in my pelvis separating and my tailbone broke so I was in a wheelchair for a long time. Total process from start of pitocin to delivery was 16.5 hours.

Second induction I was pretty much an emotional wreck since I had almost daily flashbacks of my last delivery for the past two years. I started off with a good Bishop's score and used a breast pump in the hospital to get things going. That got my contractions started and dilated me to a three all around. Started pitocin and antibiotics for GBS around 10pm. Made it to 7 centimeters before asking for the epi (mainly because I had a panic attack about whether the baby would get stuck or not during delivery and then the pain got away from me). Epi went not so well - placement was wrong and I knew it right away. Ended up getting pulled out and repositioned. Still wasn't right and only worked a little on my right side. The midwife overseeing my delivery stopped my pitocin at this point (which shocked me but was awesome). Water broke on its own an hour after the epi was placed. By 11am baby's heartrate was dropping along with contractions. They suspected a compressed cord so added a catheter with fluid pumped into the birth canal which did the trick. I needed to roll on all fours again and I did with no flak from nurses or staff. About twenty minutes after I did that I told the nurse I needed to push. The midwife came in to check me and asked if I wanted my OB to deliver me (I had requested that when we checked in). I told her if my OB could get there right away then yes, but I wasn't going to wait for her to get there. The midwife barely had enough time to snap her second glove on before my baby shot out of me on the third push. Happy, healthy mom and baby

. Total process from start of pitocin to delivery was 12.5 hours.

Very much hoping for a repeat of #2 with this baby.

KRH6829 · November 2015

First, good luck tomorrow. You get to meet your little one!!! As for inductions, they can be no fun, but so worth it in the end. I had to be induced with my first and was shocked at how long it took. I checked into the hospital at 7 am on a Tuesday to begin the induction process and my son was born just after 11 pm on Wednesday!!! I hope that yours goes a little bit faster. Again, good luck!

lablover920 · November 2015

No experience but I wanted to let you know I will be thinking of you and sending good vibes your way! Sounds like you are in really good hands. You get to meet and hold your baby girl tomorrow, good luck!!!

laurabwalker · November 2015

No stories but Best of luck! I hope the delivery goes great, you deserve it after such a difficult pregnancy.

4puddleducks · November 2015

I was medically induced with DS at 35 weeks. I had pre-e, so I was on IV drugs for that which to some extent counteracted the pitocin. It was a balancing act of up the pitocin enough that continued to progress but not so high that my blood pressure would spike. I was 2cm and 50% effaced when they started my induction with a large bulb foley. My contractions were quite intense and I had an epidural at 7cm. My DS was born two hours later by vacuum assist since his heart rate was experiencing decels when I pushed. In total I was in labor for 14 hours. It probably would have been shorter if not for pre-e and the medicine reactions.

blended10 · November 2015

Good luck tomorrow!
I, too, was induced due to pre-e with my son.
I wasn't dialated at all. Arrived on a Tuesday night after not progressing past 3cm over the next day & a half I opted for a c-section Thursday morning. It was definitely the right choice for us at that point & my recovery was pretty easy. Hoping for another easy recovery from #2 c-section!

MegStark · November 2015

Good luck tomorrow!

I was induced with my DD. I was dilated to a one (maybe) and about 50% effaced, and I was 1 week 5 days past my due date. I was on pitocin for about 13 hours before I had an epidural. I wasn't against getting the epi earlier, but it honestly wasn't THAT uncomfortable until 11ish hours in, and I didn't want the epi to slow anything down since I was barely progressing.

They broke my water around 8 hours into the process. That part was no fun and it hurt, but not for long. They told me usually breaking the waters will make labor progress faster. It did not for me.

About 24 hours in, I was still not even dilated to a 3. I opted for a c-section at that point.

I'm going to try for a VBAC again this time, so we'll see how that goes. Best advice I can give is to just try to relax as best as you can. I was super uptight the whole time. And I didn't realize how bothered I'd be by every little thing. Like, grandparents out in the waiting room stressed me out. I was so frustrated and crying every single time the nurse checked my cervix. It was so frustrating. I'll definitely try to just calm down this time around if I go into labor. (They won't induce me since I had a c section).

Court11152325 · November 2015

Good luck! Thinking of you!!!

ammnam14 · November 2015

Good luck! Praying for a healthy delivery!

BostonBaby1 · November 2015

no experience but I wanted to wish you good luck and send thoughts and prayers.

rxredhead · November 2015

Good luck! My advice is if you want the epi, ask for it as soon as they'll let you. My second was induced for IUGR and I waited too long. Sitting still for an epi in transition is not an experience I'd wish on anyone (also too late to do any good) My induction went super fast, but I didn't have to have cervical ripening. Whatever happens, you've got this!

Daphneh28 · November 2015

Oh honey God bless you both and safely guard you. I'm a FTM so no experience but I will also be induced by the end of next week to make sure she is fine. I have followed your story cause I also have HG that never lifted and problems with weight gain, etc. I hope with all my heart that everything goes well for you. Many many blessings and much luck.

Mother0fDragons · November 2015

Wishing you god luck for tomorrow!

navyblueladybug · November 2015

Good luck tomorrow!!! I can't wait to see your delivery post... You got this mama, so many people lifting you up in prayer and good thoughts!

spottedginger · November 2015

Good luck today, @lynem29! Wishing you a safe labor and health for you and your little.

Bombmom3 · November 2015

Wanted to wish you luck today! Sending you fast, easy, and healthy labor thoughts to you and your baby

mac-n-cheesy · November 2015

I just want to thank everyone so much for the well wishes/good lucks/and prayers. We may all be Internet strangers but your kindness and support will definitely be in the back of my mind this whole day. My appt yesterday (Wed) showed the LO had dropped lower to +1, 60% effaced now, 1cm dilated and my OB thinks we definitely can avoid the foley bulb. During her NST LO's baseline was 15 BPM lower than normal and I almost got sent down for induction then until a bedside US showed her fluid was up and she had good accelerations. Good thing they were ok letting me go home for the day since we bought a much needed "family car." Yeah, we procrastinate!
I've been up all night vomiting (well really dry heaving bits of bile and Quest protein bar since I couldn't really eat anything else yesterday) I'm so nervous

and it's 4am here. DH is snoring up a storm and I have an urge to push him off the bed that is getting harder and harder to resist. Maybe he'll accidently roll off the edge....

Thank you everyone again for your kind replies and the realistic stories of your experience. I appreciate the lack of sugar coating because I want to be prepared for the not so great side of things.
Can't wait to meet the LO and just trying to focus on the fact that it's pain with a purpose. I may be vomiting my way through this entire day but as long as the LO is healthy I could care less how long it takes or which route she comes into the world. I promise to update when she's here.
You all are such an amazing group of people and I just want to express my appreciation for not only the replies to this post but literally getting me through this whole pregnancy.