Freya's Induction

acreight13 · December 2016

at my 40 week appointment my doctor and I discussed an induction either for the 20th or the 27th of this month depending on how favorable my cervix seemed. When she checked me I was at 2cm and 50% effaced and said that we could schedule for the 20th. I had been induced with my son at 17 days late and a fully closed cervix so she was confident that we could induce.
We arrived at the hospital at 6am on the 20th and they immediately started pitocin, after they tried three different veins for an IV location. Ouch. The one they finally used actually leaked blood all over my arm which wasn't the most fun way to start the process.

Contractions began around 7:45 and were every 5 minutes and very manageable. They remained steady through the afternoon and began to increase in intensity around 4 when the doctor broke my water. At this point I had only dilated to 4cm and I was feeling discouraged. With my son I had to get an epidural after 22 hours to help with progression and I was worried that I would reach that point again. I really wanted to go med free.

Unfortunately by 7:45 I was still at a 4 and the doctor was concerned about lack of progression. Again! For whatever reason my body doesn't respond well to pitocin and just doesn't dilate like it should. I agreed reluctantly to an epidural as long as it was at the lowest dose. The anesthesiologist came in and did a great job. I could still move my legs and reposition myself as needed to handle the contractions.

After another few hours I had dilated to a 7 and I was so relieved. However, baby girl was having heart decelerations with every contraction. At this point my blood pressure dropped to 55/32 and out came the oxygen and the doctor ran in. Between the combination of those two factors he decided to monitor very closely for a half hour and then make a decision about whether we needed to move to an emergency c section. The nurse came in and checked to see how far up my belly I could feel (all of it) just in case we had to rush to the OR. I've never been more scared.

I kept shifting my position trying to get baby girl to move herself around so she wouldn't keep getting her cord squeezed causing the decelerations. Somehow right as the half hour was running out she moved just enough to make her heart rate more steady and we all breathed a sigh of relief. By 11:15 I was at a 10 and I pushed for 30 minutes. After her head and shoulders were out I had to stop pushing so the doctor could cut the cord that was wrapped around her neck and chest. After that I gave one more push ans she was here at 11:47. 18 hours of labor was still better than my 31+ with my son. We are so thankful to be going home today.