At my last OB appointment, it was decided that it would be best to induce me. When I had William, he had some trouble coming out and the doctor needed the forceps to deliver him. He thought it would be best to have a little smaller of a baby, and hopefully he wouldn't need the forceps. So, on Tuesday, Sept 29, we went to the hospital at 8pm to start the induction. When we got there, admission desk was closed, so we had to go to the emergency room. Once we walked in, there were about 40 people in the waiting room, all with surgical masks!!! YIKES! H1N1 at it's finest! It freaked me out! I didn't want to catch it while waiting for a wheel chair to take me up to Labor and Delivery! Luckily, the lady checking us in must have sensed my apprehension, and let us wait in the hallway for the wheelchair! Thanks! So, they wheel us up, and I get all dressed in the lovely hospital gown. Of course, I had Benjamin take one last "bump" picture...
They hooked me all up, asked me a ton of questions because we didn't make it to our pre-admission appointment because it was schedule for the 30th! Oops. They inserted a little pill into the cervix to try to ripen things and get them going. I got 2 doses (1 every 4 hours). They started bringing on some contractions, but nothing too bad. The hardest part was the nurse trying to get me to sleep. They offered some medication to help me sleep, but I am not the type of person who likes to take a lot of drugs. With all my allergies, I get nervous about taking something I've never had before, and I tend to get a lot of side effects even if I am not allergic. So, Benjamin, my Mom, and I all try to sleep through the night. I think we all got about a hour total, so it was really hard. They checked me after the 2 doses, and I was only 3cm. After 8 hours and not sleeping, I was a little discouraged that I wasn't farther along, but the nurse kept telling me that the pill they gave is just to start things going, and once they started the pitocin, then I would really be going. (Almost like those 8 hours shouldn't count as "labor".) Once they started the pitocin (6am on Wed) everything really started to move. For this labor, I was really hoping to go natural, no epidural. My epidural when I had William was not the best experience, and I really was afraid to get one this time around. Last time, the doc had a TERRIBLE time getting it into my back - taking almost an hour - and then got it in the wrong spot, which in turn had me go numb way too far up, to the point I was having trouble swallowing. Also, I had a drop in blood pressure, which was scary to me. So, I was going to try to go all natural. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA YA RIGHT!!!! I was so kidding myself! Once the pitocin started, holy cow were those contractions painful! Kudos to women who do it naturally. I kept trying different positions to labor, but I had to keep a monitor on to keep the baby's heartbeat registering and lots of positions we lost the signal. So, the best position for me was in a rocking chair...
Once I moved to the rocking chair, my water broke. This was it!! That happened when the nurse shift change started, so my new nurse, Mindy - who was just AMAZING!!! -, was a good luck charm. I stayed in the rocking chair for a little while, but my OB showed up and wanted to check me. So, I got back in bed, he checked me, and I was 4cm. WHAT??? That's it. Oh man, and by this time I was barely getting through the contractions at all, so that is when I caved and asked for the epidural. I was very scared to get it, but the pain won out over the scared. They called the anesthesiologist in, and he was sooooo nice. I told him my concerns and how scared I was, and he was very comforting and explained everything. The nurse whispered in my ear that he was "The Best" and was even the chair on a special "Pain Management" team or something. Last time, it took almost an hour to get the epidural, this time 6 minutes! I kid you not! And let me tell you, I was ready to KISS that doctor. Not only did I not go numb too high up, but my bp was great. He is now my favorite doc! hehehe Once I got the epi, I was feeling so much better. Mom and Benjamin came back in and I was like, "Hi guys! I'm feeling soooo much better." The nurse checked me again, and I had gone from 4cm to 7cm. Cool!! Progress! The bad part was is I started to shake, which is something that happened last time, and it a side effect. (See, I get all the side effects of drugs) However, I would take the shaking, which was pretty awful, over that pain. I told the nurse I was feeling some pressure, so she checked me and I was at 9cm! I'd say I went from 7 to 9 in like seconds! She called for the doc, because he had just left. After the OB checked me, I had asked for the epidural, and since that went so fast, I think he had just checked me at a 4 like 30 minutes prior. FAST! She called him back, and once he got there I was ready to push. I asked the nurse how I would be able to push when I was shaking so badly. She said that somehow you just stop, and she was right. When I started pushing, I really couldn't feel too much, so she totally stopped the epidural. I didn't even get a chance to push the little medicine button. I pushed and pushed, and felt like I wasn't doing much. The OB said that Michael was coming out crooked, which is what happened with William and why I needed the forceps. He asked for the vacuum (it goes on the baby's head and the doc can kinda maneuver the baby out. We tried that with William before the forceps, but the vacuum didn't work.) This time, it worked. I pushed with like 5 contractions, and Michael was born. What was kinda cool, is I could feel it more this time. With William, I was over medicated with the epidural and then numbed even more when I needed the forceps, that I didn't feel a thing. This time, boy could I feel that pressure. It really helped with the pushing, and once he came out I could feel relief immediately. Amazing! So, if you don't count the 8 + hours I was there in the evening, and just count "labor" once the pitocin was started, it took from 6am to 9:38am. FAST! Here are a few pictures!
Look at his big mouth! Hehe! He has a great set of lungs too! ;-)
Our new family!
Brothers!
Coming home!
3 comments:
Thanks for sharing your birth story! Welcome Michael!
Congrats to your family!
I had a horrible experience with my first epidural, too. Worst pain of my life. The second time around, it went much better. I laughed when you wrote that you wanted to kiss your anthesiologist. I told mine that I loved him. :)
Congratulations, I am happy you and baby are safe!!
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