I am still processing everything, but wanted to get this out while I still remember some things. I think I need to start a little before induction day to fully capture the event…
Our induction was scheduled for Friday, the 26th and about a week before that our OB wanted to start getting my cervix ready so that the induction would go more smoothly. On the Friday before the induction I was sent to the hospital for Misoprostol. They gave me an oral dose and I had to stay for about 3 hours after taking it. I felt a little crampy, but not much else. I hadn’t been having any contractions at this point.
On Monday I went back to the OB for another check and my cervix was “a little softer” but no real progress. They couldn’t get us in until Tuesday, so we went back to the hospital for another round of Miso at 9am. This time they gave it to me vaginally. The Miso started contractions and I was contracting pretty regularly, but the intensity was not very strong. They decided to keep me there for a while to monitor before releasing me around 5pm. My mom decided to fly into town early just in case I went into labor. The contractions continued until sometime after midnight.
On Wednesday I went back to the OB and my cervix was about 1cm and 50% effaced. He wanted me to have one more dose of the Miso. We checked in at 11am. The Miso started contractions again, but they weren’t as regular this time. They were about to release me after 4 hours, but then Truman’s heart rate started to decelerate with contractions. The OB on call was concerned and started talking about things like induction that night or c-section. I was worried about Truman, but felt that she was being a little premature bringing up c-section. And by this point, I was so sick of laying in that hospital bed that I felt like screaming. The OB ordered a bio-physical ultrasound to check on Truman and help determine what to do next. OK, fine. We ended up having to wait a couple of hours before they could even get us in to the sonographer. In the meantime, the OB decided I should have a fluid IV “just in case”. I hate IVs. It took two attempts to get the IV in and I was not happy. The ultrasound looked good and they finally sent us home around 10pm.
Thursday was Thanksgiving. I had to go in for an NST to make sure Truman was still doing OK. Fortunately they got me in and out in less than an hour. We spent the rest of the day waiting for family to get into town and just making sure all our bags were ready to go. We had a great time Thursday night visiting and eating “the last supper”.
Friday morning rolled around. We got up at 5am. I ate a bowl of oatmeal, hoping it would stick with me a while. We kissed Atticus goodbye and left for the hospital around 7am. Our check in time was 7:30am.
Last pregnant photo! 39w, 3d
By 8am they had my IV going with fluid and pitocin. My cervix was at 2cm and 80% effaced. Baby was at -3 station. At 8:15am our OB broke my water. Contractions started by 9am. Apparently I respond very well to pitocin. They started me at level 4 (whatever that means), but kept turning it down and sometimes off altogether. I think I spent most of the time at a level 1. The contractions weren’t too bad at first. I was able to manage pretty easily for the first couple hours. We decided to watch a movie while waiting for things to get moving, but we didn’t even make it through the credits before realizing that it was getting harder to focus and I needed to concentrate on labor.
The goal!
I couldn’t go very far due to the IV and contraction monitor, so I mostly labored in bed. I tried the birthing ball for a while and just standing. It was going OK until the nurse decided that I needed to stay in bed on my side. Truman’s heart rate was decelerating again and she wanted me in the position that he tolerated best, which was on my side. I was on my right side for about 45 minutes before my hip was hurting so bad that I couldn’t stand it anymore. Our nurse finally let me switch sides. By then contractions were getting pretty strong and I was having trouble tolerating them.
Around 12:30pm I told Dave that I was ready for the epidural. I had wanted to make it as far as possible before getting the epidural in hopes that it wouldn’t slow labor. I was pretty disappointed with myself for not making it further and cried when we told the nurse it was time. I was sure that I had only progressed a little. The nurse checked my cervix and found that I was at least 4cm dilated and 90% effaced. I was relieved that we had made it that far and our nurse was very reassuring. She ordered the epidural and started prepping me. She wanted to put Truman on an internal heart monitor so she could keep a better eye on him.
My mom showed up with Atticus for a visit right about this time and they had to wait in the waiting room until the epidural was in.
The anesthesiologist came in around 1pm and started the epidural. While leaning over for him to get it in, Truman’s heart rate went way down – I think around 80. The nurses put me on oxygen and had me lay down as quickly as possible. His heart rate went back up, but anytime I wasn’t on my side it would drop a little. They put the catheter in and also an internal contraction monitor. It felt good to get rid of all the bands on my belly, but now I had things stuck all over me. Plus I had to wear the oxygen for the rest of labor.
After the epidural I was feeling much better, and so relieved that I made the decision to get it. My mom brought Atticus in and we visited for a while. I was so happy to see him that I cried. I was missing him like crazy. After they left, my brother and sister-in-law showed up and visited for about an hour or so.
I was getting pretty tired and we decided to try to rest a little before the hard work started. I almost fell asleep when the contractions started changing. Even with the epidural I was starting to feel a lot of pressure down low. The nurse said that was a good sign. She checked my cervix and I was at 8cm with just a lip of cervix left. She called our OB and told him we were getting close. I couldn’t believe we were that close already. It was around 5pm.
The pressure kept increasing and by the time my OB got there around 6pm, I was starting to feel the urge to push. He checked my cervix and I was fully dilated, but still had a tiny lip of cervix left. They left us for about 20 minutes to see if it would go away completely, but it didn’t. My OB decided that it was soft enough that we could get started anyway.
I started pushing at 6:40pm.
Pushing is HARD. I felt like I was working hard with little progress. That was probably made worse by our nurse’s lack luster attitude. She kept leaving the room and seemed generally unimpressed with my laboring. I should mention here that we had an awesome nurse from the start whose shift ended RIGHT WHEN IT WAS TIME TO PUSH. Boo.
After about an hour and a half of pushing (ugh), the OB came in and said that both baby and I were exhausted (yes!) and that he thought it was time to offer some assistance. Truman was facing up instead of down, and that was slowing his progress through the birth canal. I was in quite a bit of pain even with the epidural. The pressure was intense, but my right hip was killing me. It had been giving me trouble throughout the pregnancy, and I think it was ready to be done! So Dr. H wanted to use forceps or the vac extractor. He said he had been trained on forceps. Dave asked me what I wanted to do, and I basically said, ” I don’t care, just get him out!”
Dr. H got prepped for delivery and prepared the forceps. I could feel a lot of pressure and just wanted to keep pushing even when there was no contraction. Dr. H told Dave that he wasn’t having to pull at all, but just used the forceps to direct his head. After a couple of minutes of non-stop pushing, his head started to come out. He got part way out and everyone stopped to watch as he rotated himself all the way around so that he was facing down before his head came the rest of the way out!
I don’t remember much about his shoulders and body coming out. I was just so relieved when his head was out. I think his body slipped out pretty easily in comparison. He was born at 8:24pm.
I am sad to admit that I couldn’t really focus on my sweet new boy right away. I know they put him on my stomach, because I have a picture of it, but I don’t remember much. After he came out, the Dr. delivered the placenta and then went to work stitching me up. I had 3 second degree tears. I was so completely exhausted, frustrated and ready to be done. The stitching up part was tough to take, and it took forever. I was shaking uncontrollably.
Dave focused on Truman and was able to cut his cord and give him his first bath. He was perfect, even with his extreme conehead! His apgar scores were 8 and 9. He weighed 7lb, 10.2 oz.
After I was all stitched up, I started to feel much better and was starving and THIRSTY! The nurse brought us some sandwiches, because the cafeteria was closed. After I ate, I breastfed Truman for the first time. He made some hunger gestures and latched on pretty well. It was a great start to our new life together, and I was finally able to check him out – all the fingers and toes. 
Truman
We finally made it.
