Better late than never
My induction was scheduled for Tuesday, January 18th so we headed into Hopkins for our 7am arrival time. They got is in very efficiently and did all the stuff that needed doing. Since I was only 2 cm at that point, they were going to try the foley bulb to mechanically dilate me to 4cm. The first go with the midwife and the nurse (who was training so was really afraid of making me uncomfortable) didn’t work so they started the pitocin at 10:40. Contractions started probably around 11, but because the nurse didn’t want me uncomfortable, she didn’t have the bands tight enough so they weren’t registering on the monitor. I needed that fixed stat b/c I don’t think people believed me. A little later, the attending dr., Dr. Levy, came in and did the foley bulb and it worked but was very painful. Eventually the bulb fell out and I was at 4 but the baby wasn’t interested in coming down. He was at like -2 station at this point, I think.
The contractions had been hitting around 50ish on the intensity scale and getting worse each time they jacked up the pitocin, which is what they’re supposed to do. Dr. Levy suggested I get an epidural since I was in a lot of pain so he could break my water. The epidural went in at 6:30 and it hurt. A lot. The last time I had an epidural, I hardly felt it and had immediate relief. This time I could feel a lot of pressure in my right hip and the whole process was really painful. At this point, the contractions seemed to intensify in one small area at the bottom of my abdomen on my left side. It felt like I was being stabbed each time I’d have one. Then they broke my water around 15 minutes later and things started to intensify. I was told that the spot that the contractions were hitting was an area that the epidural didn’t cover. However, they kept doing the numbness test and my left side never numbed at all. They kept boosting it, but nothing would help. I was even able to tell that I had to pee and had to do it in a bedpan. In front of my husband and my mom. Ewww. This was about the time I stopped trying to live tweet/facebook my labor.
Not long after my water broke, I was 5cm and he was at -1 station, so there was some progress. But the contractions were getting crazyfierce and I was actually crying quite a bit. They kept having me push the button to increase the epidural, but my left side felt everything. It was even starting to go into the side of my back/butt. After going through this for about 3 + hours they checked me again and I was still at 5cm. This was pretty much when I started to give up. I was begging to go home. I even told them they could put the water back in and we’d try again later. I was pretty hysterical. I’m not going to lie, I was less than dignified during this whole procedure. The doctor was monitoring the contractions internally (also not comfortable) and said that they were incredibly angry and violent. My mom also told me later that the nurser was kind of teary at one point as well. In retrospect this makes me feel better and like less of a wuss.
They brought in another anesthesiologist to try to do something with the epidural. At this point there was no way they could redo it because the contractions were coming so hard and fast that I’d never be able to be still - they were at like 198 or something according to my mom. Josh also told the doctor that there was no way that I could do this for several more hours. There was definitely the feeling that we were going to have to end up doing a C-Section under General Anesthesia, which I really really didn't want. They pulled the epidural back a bit to try to spread it out and had me lay on my side and it was at this point the contractions changed. They moved to the center and with each contraction, my water was gushing out in large amounts. I was also tensing up my bottom. They checked again and I was at 7 and +1. Good news. I told the nurse that I might have to push and she said it was probably the internal contraction monitor I was feeling. The doctor went to get his glasses, came back in and told them to put me in the stirrups. At this point another huge contraction hit and the head was beginning to crown. Dr. Levy told me not to push again because they needed to get the birthing supplies moved over because this was obviously it. One more huge contraction and push and Brendan William was born at 11:11pm. Basically the time it took from 7cm/+1 station to Brendan being on my chest was the span of 10 minutes. That was pretty crazy, but oh my, what a relief! He’s beautiful and perfect and despite a pretty horrendous pregnancy and an even more horrific labor, he’s worth it all.
