The day is pretty much a blur, and I’m not sure of the times that everything happened but I’m pretty sure of the order.
We went to the hospital at 5:30 on the morning of the 5th to be induced, because I had not gone into labor on my own. By 7:30 I was in a gown with the IV hooked up to my arm, and they started giving me Pitocin, a medication that would be given continuously to cause contractions for me. I was also hooked up to a external fetal monitor just like the one used in the NST, to monitor the contractions and the baby’s heart rate.
It took awhile for it to kick in, so I tried to relax as much as possible in the meantime. Finally I started feeling slight tightening in my lower belly that would slowly get higher and higher, up to the top, and then fade. Sorry, I can’t remember how long they lasted or how far apart they were. D-husband and I had fun watching them come and go on the monitor. They slowly got stronger and stronger, and I was nervous but so excited to finally be feeling something!
My OB, Dr. Arensdorf, stopped by to check on me a few times, but the doctor spending the most time with me was Dr. Fast, a resident. He and all the nurses were absolutely awesome. I couldn’t have asked for better people taking care of me.
An internal exam showed that I was 4 cm dilated, and another hour or two (really can’t remember), there was no change. Dr. Fast suggested that we break my water to help keep things moving. It was painless, but the contractions intensified a little after that. My blood pressure started getting pretty high, which concerned the doctor but he thought it might just be because of the pain.
One thing that they found interesting was that my contractions were not coming spaced at regular intervals. They were almost two at a time- two very close together and then a long gap before the next two. They had gotten pretty unbearable, bad enough that I couldn’t talk through them.
At this point I had not gotten out of bed at all, because I was tired from being up so early, and felt like I should save my energy. When another internal exam showed I was at 6 cm, I figured it was time for me to get up and help things move along. The contractions were getting incredibly uncomfortable, and I was able to breathe through them with D-husband there with me, but I knew moving around even a little could help too. I couldn’t leave the room with the monitor, so I sat on a birthing ball and rested my upper body on the bed.
The change in position on its own felt good, but the contractions were still pretty intense. Before they had started my labor the anesthesiologist had come in to tell me what pain management options were available, and all the risks, just in case I ended up using them. I remembered that she had told me about IV medication that would still allow me to feel the contractions, but would take the edge off. After I had been using the ball for awhile, I felt like I was reaching the limit of my ability to work through the contractions, so I asked for that medication, called Nubain.
The Nubain made the room spin a little a first, and though it did help the contractions were still putting me at my wit’s end. I stuck it out awhile longer, had another internal check, and I was between 8 and 9 cm! This was great news, but unfortunately the baby was still floating pretty high in my belly. Dr. Fast told me that being nearly completely dilated was great, but that there was no way of knowing how long it would take for the baby to move down into position, and the contractions were going to stay the same, if not get even more intense. At this point I think they had stopped the Pitocin, and I was contracting all on my own.
I can’t remember what time this was, probably mid- to late-afternoon, so I was feeling pretty beat. I was relaxing completely between contractions in order to save energy, but I was still getting physically, and mentally, exhausted. During one of those breaks I took a minute to clear my head, take stock of what the doctor had just told me, ask myself honestly how much more of this I could do, and decided it was time for an epidural. My main concern was having zero energy when it was finally time to push.
The anesthesiologist came in, and I sat on the edge of the bed for her to put the catheter into my back. It’s a gigantic needle, which tends to freak people out, but they numb your back first so you don't feel a thing. The hardest part was sitting perfectly still while she did it. I only had one contraction while she was working, but it took every bit of focus not to move.
After this I had to stay in bed of course, as I lost all feeling below the catheter site. The relief was incredible, I just took deep breaths and enjoyed it. I think I even dozed for a few minutes.
Later Dr. Fast came back to check me again. I was completely dilated and he told me it was time to push! Unfortunately the baby had not descended much at all, but pushing would help that along. By this point the epidural had started to wear off slightly, and I could just feel the peak of every contraction, which were still coming two at a time.
Dr. Fast directed me through the pushes, and it was very weird not being able to feel them for the most part. However, the epidural continued to lose effect, and soon I could feel the full force of each contraction, but only on the left side of my body! This is not unusual, from what I understand. I’m actually really glad I got that feeling back, because I knew when to push, and it gave me greater focus. Not having feeling on my right side kept me from getting completely wiped out, so the fact that the epidural was partially ineffective turned out to be a great thing for me.
Once I started feeling those contractions, pushing felt really good! When I focused and put every ounce of energy into it, I couldn’t feel the pain anymore. I focused on getting a good breath before each push, keeping my arms, legs, and face relaxed (to avoid wasting energy), and directing all my energy downward through my belly. I started out doing 3 pushes per contraction, with the nurses and Daniel counting to 10 for me through each one. I told them I thought I could do 4 per contraction, and we tried it, but I couldn’t do it so we went back to 3.
At some point during the pushing, the baby’s heart rate started to drop during each contraction, and although it would always come back up after the contraction was over, it was still a concern. They decided I needed an internal fetal monitor to keep a closer eye on the baby’s well-being. I think this was when I met Dr. Voth, the hospital OB. Dr. Arensdorf is primarily a family practice doctor, so she can do normal, routine deliveries, but when something doesn’t look right, the staff OB at the hospital steps in.
The internal monitor got hooked up, and then after several more pushes a few things happened. I had what you would call a “monster” contraction, or pair of contractions in my case, and the baby’s heart rate got low, and stayed low for a little too long before coming back up. Dr. Voth explained to me that the baby’s head was still behind my pubic bone. To be able to come out, the head would need to slide underneath it, with one big push from me. With every push I was coming close, but every time the baby’s head would slip back behind the bone.
He asked if I would like him to use forceps to help the head along. They are not used to pull the head, only to direct it properly. He was worried about the baby’s low heart rate, and also reminded me that I could exhaust myself trying to push past this bone, and that when I run out of energy the only remaining option in a c-section. At this point I had been pushing for about an hour and a half. I told him it was fine to use the forceps.
Because I had regained some feeling, they had to give me another epidural before they could use the forceps. He got them in place, told me to push with everything I had, and I felt the head slide under the pubic bone, just like he had said! It was incredible.
Within 2 or 3 pushes she was out! While D-husband cut the cord, they held her up for me to see her before taking her away (they needed to examine her right away because of her low heart rate, and because it turns out the cord had been wrapped around her body). It was just a brief glimpse, and I remember that she was covered in blood, smaller than I had imagined, and in general I was just surprised that she was real. That sounds crazy, but I just couldn’t believe that this was the baby that had been inside me for 9 months!
I’m not disappointed that I didn’t get to hold her right away. I was completely exhausted. All I remember from the first few minutes after the birth was trying to catch my breath and waiting to hear her cry, which didn’t take more than a minute, I think. I think I was probably too tired to hold her even if they had given her to me.
In the meantime, D-husband took some video and some photos of H-bear being cleaned up, weighed, and measured. They put ointment in her eyes, and pricked her heel to get blood for some test (she didn’t make a peep), and then brought her to me. I don’t think I was quite ready, because as they put her in my arms I started to feel sick. D-husband was standing right there, and the nurse practically threw H-bear into his arms so she could give me a tray to throw up into. It was a bizarre moment- D-husband was totally unprepared, and I felt horrible because by that point I had been looking forward to holding her.
The hospital policy is that as soon as you can pee, you can go to your recovery room, where you spend the next two days. That was going to be more difficult for me because having just had another epidural, I had no feeling in my legs, and therefore couldn’t walk to the bathroom. I spent several hours slapping on my legs (I’m not sure that made a difference), and gradually I was able to wiggle my toes, then roll my ankles, and so on. I also finally got to hold H-bear and got a chance to start feeding her. The nurse asked if I could lift my leg straight up off the bed without bending my knee, and as soon as I could do that, she and D-husband helped me walk to the bathroom. It took awhile (my bladder was pretty traumatized, as you can imagine), and long story short: we made it to our recovery room just before 2 in the morning.
In the recovery room we had a full-size bed, TV, chairs and table, and a bassinet so we could keep her in our room all the time. It was a great set-up, and in my next post I’ll tell you about our two days in the hospital!
To be continued...
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