EM was born after only 6 hours of labor and 3 pushes. 3! The doctor didn’t even have time to glove up, and she was delivered by a very surprised resident. I came in at 3cm , my water broke spontaneously at 6cm and then 3 minutes later I was complete. And, yes, I did get induced.
At my appointment on Tuesday, my doctor and I decided that my body – and I -was done being pregnant. He told me to come in Wednesday night at 11pm to be induced. “All you’ll have to do is be touched with the gel and it will throw you into active labor”, he told me. Little did I know how very true that would be!
Wednesday – I had been having contractions off and on the night before, and all day that day – but I didn’t feel like they were doing much. They were pretty regular, but I was still functional. I started listening to my Hypnobabies Birthing Day Affirmations, which put me in a great mood while making the contractions stronger. They kept me relaxed and looking forward to the induction as I played and snuggled with L as much as I could before we took him to his grandma’s house.
At 6pm, we decided it would be a good idea to drop L off at his grandma’s early so that we could go out to dinner, relax and get our energy up for what we thought would be a long night ahead. We went to Applebee’s, and I loaded up on some steak, potatoes and veggies, YUM! My husband was more nervous than I was so I tried to get him to order a beer – but when we came home after dinner, he had a little snip of scotch to take the edge off instead. We had 2 hours to hang out and relax at this point, so we took advantage. At about 9:30, a strange hush of relaxation set over both of us. I played my birthing day affirmations again while we got everything ready to go.
We got to the hospital about 10:45 – Now, my mom used to work in the unit, so I was able to use her pull to get the same room L was born in and the nurse I wanted. This made the induction decision feel better, Nurses do all the work so having the right ones to help you through is important – who knows who I would of gotten if I had just came in spontaneously! They settled me in, hooked me up to the monitors and low and behold – regular, quite strong contractions. “You aren’t feeling those?” Erin – my awesome nurse – asked me. “Well yeah, but they don’t hurt, I just stretching and pressure.”. She and my husband looked at the monitor and each other – apparently my hypnosis had kicked in because they were spiking pretty high.
Erin left, and my husband sat looking at the monitor. I would tell him when a contraction was starting, and he would tell me how strong they were registering. It was pretty surprising, and I made sure to keep everything relaxed through the contractions. Face, hands, pelvic floor… after monitoring the contractions, At 1 a.m. they inserted the gel, and by 1:25 the contractions became harder but still manageable. They checked me at 2, and I had dilated to a 4. I asked if I could walk around a bit and Erin took me off the monitors – “If the contractions get too hard, hop back into bed and call me.”
Last time I was in labor, I felt better walking around and out of bed, but this time the walking made the contractions intense. They were starting to get painful, she was moving down fast. But, I made myself walk around for an hour because I knew the gravity would help. Using the same relaxation and hypnotic suggestion I made it through. At 3:15 I hopped back into bed and called the nurse. I told her how intense they were getting. She watched the monitor and I was spiking at 3 times the intensity than I was at the beginning. Being in bed actually felt better, though, and she checked me. Still at 4, but the baby had moved down quite a bit.
While lying there for a little while, I was working beautifully through contractions, but I started feeling some anxiety. I think the fact that things were moving sooo fast freaked me out a little. Only 3 hours in, and I was farther along than I was last time, the contractions felt like they were working, and I knew I would be having this baby SOON. So, to take the edge off a little, I asked for Stadol.
Stadol is funny. What it feels like to me is getting drunk really really REALLY fast. I was relaxed. I could still feel the contractions, and had to concentrate through them, but I wasn’t in pain. But, like being drunk, Stadol can take away your ability to think straight and while in the stupor of the Stadol , I convinced myself that an epidural wouldn’t be so bad. I didn’t want to start throwing up violently like I did with L, and since everything was moving so fast, I knew that if I didn’t ask for it NOW then I would miss my chance. I didn’t need it. I really didn’t. And in hindsight, this is the one thing I regret…
{ 0 comments… add one now }