Thursday August 25th- 41 Weeks 6 Days Gestation
Had to be at the hospital to start cervidil induction at 8am. Had cervidil inserted around 9am and it did little more than make me uncomfortable and have mild contractions that did not increase at all. Baby was not engaged and still high in my pelvis. Dr. came back to check me a few times through the day, and not much had happened. We were sent home overnight on a “pass” and told to be back again the next morning at 8am for round 2.
Friday August 26th – 42 Weeks Gestation
Arrived at the hospital on time and had cervidil inserted around 9:30. Almost immediately contractions began, and I was not coping well at all on the monitor I was meant to be hooked up on for 2 hours, to ensure there was no hyper-stimulation. I was coping so badly that they removed me from the monitor after only 20 minutes. I was having bad back pain, and started walking around, using the tub, shower, etc. to try and get things going. At 11am Blair called my Doula and asked her to come. She arrived at 1, and when the Dr. checked me at 2 or so I was at 2cm, still posterior, head not engaged, and cervix was still hard. That was frustrating. Went to the bathroom and cervidil fell out. Things started getting hot and heavy after that, and coping became much easier as my body took over and contractions began coming naturally. Dr. checked me at some point that evening and I was at a 3, and 90% effaced. They were very happy with the progress. Contractions began coming hot and heavy, about 1 and a half minutes long and 2 minutes apart (so only like a 30 second break) sometimes one after another for up to 5 minutes. I began to vomit, but generally speaking was coping well and was confident that the baby would be there soon. After a huuuge long contraction, I made the (what I now believe to be bad) decision to get in the shower. It was about 10pm or so. After that labour slowed down, and I started to get frustrated. Dr. checked me close to midnight, and there was little change, maybe close to 4cm but not much. Finally at 1:30am when contractions had not picked back up they encouraged me to take some morphine so I could sleep, because the next day could be a long day. I kept having some contractions through the night but managed about 4 hours. My AMAZING doula slept in her car.
Saturday August 27th- 42 Weeks 1 Day Gestation
By morning labour had stopped. I was very upset. The dr. came and and talked to me- told me that she was not confident, especially since the baby was still high and thought I would probably be needing a c-section, but if I wanted I could start on Pitocin for a few hours and try. I cried and cried but finally started Pitocin. She did not want to break the bag of waters because of the possibility of cord prolapse. I started around 9:30 or so, and by 10:30 I was in heavy labour again. The nurse was wonderful and did not require me to be attached to the monitor, only to be checked every 15 minutes or so. It was similar to heavy labour the night before, with contractions about 1.5 minutes long and 2 minutes apart. When the dr checked me at noon I was at 5cm, but head was still high (though had dropped slightly). Decided to break the water- and it was meconium stained. After the water was broken I was suddenly 6cm and the head dropped slightly. This is when things got really bad. Coping became impossible, and I could not empty my bladder although it felt like I really really needed to. It was excruciating. I moaned and screamed, tried to shower, and nothing worked. The dr came back around 3pm, and there was no progress, the head was still high and was starting to swell. That was the worst news of my life. That is when surgery became inevitable, 29 hours after beginning induction #2.
They got me in there quick, and our beautiful girl was born at 4:33pm. Recovery has been long and hard so far, I am still sooo sore. WHEN WILL I FEEL HUMAN AGAIN? I have yet to sleep much- I can only seem to doze and have weird body tremors on occasion that yank me out of sleep. I am afraid I will run out of pain meds before the pain goes away. (there was a lot of pushing on my ribs, lungs, etc to get her out of the small incision, and multiple attempts before the spinal was successful)
First night home , and it two nights ago, it as AWFUL. She had bad gas and cried for hours and hours. Second night was much better.
Breastfeeding going pretty well, she is latching good and milk is in.
More to come later when things settle down.