Abigail Marie's Birth Story- induction & BIG baby!

mrskeller825 · January 2009

So... here it goes.

We checked in for our induction at 7am Thursday Jan 15th. They started the pitocin around 8ish. Things were fine- moving along but slowly until 7 when I guess she moved & put soooo much pressure on my back. I got an epidural, which made life exponentially better! I was so so scared of getting an epidural because I'm super needle-phobic, but by that time I felt like I couldn't breathe. Unfortunately the first time the catheter in the needle kinked, so they had to redo it- very scary as they are pushing & fussing with a big needle in your spine.

Finally it kicked in, and I was so happy!

Then kicked in the vomiting. Around 8 or 9 until an hour after she was born, I threw up every 45 min. I wasn't nauseus, so I didn't want to take the meds, just every here & there I'd sit up & puke, then feel fine again. They said the puking actually pushes the baby lower too, so I figured since it wasn't really bothering me, might as well. (Great decision except for the fact that the next day my throat was swollen almost completely shut from so much action- anyways, it went down & was fine by the next night.)

Then Abbey fell asleep. Around 10 when I was still 5-6, they said I should try to rest since it had been so long already. As soon as Dh & I tried, her heart rate stayed consistent- not with the little dips & accelerations they like to see. It was still in the right range, just not moving around as much as they would like. They said that if she didn't wake up, they would do a c-section. They recommended poking at her & talking to her to wake her up to see if she'd respond, which she always did. So, from 10 until 6 am- ugh! we'd try not to fall asleep while we tried to wake her up. This was the hardest part I think because we were both SOOO tired. Around 6 am she woke up & decided to stay up- phew!

By the morning I was 8-9- YAY! By 11 I was 9.5, but there was still part of the cervix, a lip, around the head that just wasn't going away. Again, they told us that if it didn't go away after an hour they'd do a csection. I just said we'd go with whatever they recommended since it had been so long at that point.

At 12 they checked me & hooray! I was at 10 & they said ready to push. The baby was low, between +1/+2, so they figured it would go fast. Dh went to the lobby to tell our family who had also been there for over 24 hours at that point.

From 12-3 I pushed, they said they were the right kind of pushes, but she just seemed stuck. I was so tired from being up so long, not eating, and puking so much I'd fall asleep between the contractions. They turned the epidural off to see if it helped me push a different way- which was terrible! I felt like I couldn't move or breathe, so they turned it back on- yuck!

At 4 they said they'd try the vaccum 1 time to see if it could move the baby to a place where she was less stuck, and if it didn't work, they'd do a csection. I asked if they thought it was ok to do it, and they recommened that since we'd come so far, and the baby was tolerating everything so well, it was fine.

They used the vaccum, and thank goodness, it worked! I pushed for another hour, and FINALLY Abigail Marie came out! Once she was out everyone in the room just gasped. She was SO big! She was born 9 lbs 6 ounces, 21 inches long, at 5:15 pm the next day. I'm pretty petite, 105 before pg, and 5ft 1, so that was why she was so stuck! They kept telling me that if they had any idea she was so big, they'd have done a csection initially. The doc did a minor episiotomy, but other than that we're all good. It was funny though. We had one nurse for her entire 12 hour shift on Thursday, one other nurse the whole night shift, then in the morning, our first nurse came back and was with us all day for her entire shift. Funny, but makes me tired thinking back about it.

She is perfect, and we couldn't be more in love. Since she is not really a peanut, she eats really well, and sleeps really well. last night we only got up once with her since she can eat enough before to hold her over. It hasn't even been a week, but we can't imagine our lives without her.

Sorry it's so long! Good luck to all the ladies still waiting!