Don't like birth stories? Look away. I'm not going to get all graphic, but I do use the word "cervix" so if that bothers you...well...skip this one.
As some of you know, I've been on bedrest for a week or so due to having borderline pre-eclampsia. My blood pressure has been higher than normal, I'm swelling like a marshmallow, slight protein in my urine, and some substance in my blood is elevated. At my 39 week OB appointment on Monday, my doctor and I talked and we decided the best thing to do at this point was to induce my labor. She called down the L&D to find out when the best time would be to come in. Tuesday, 7pm. Holy crap - it's weird to know when you're going to have a baby!
Except...
Turns out we didn't know.
We got in Tuesday night, got all checked in, and they gave me an insert of cytotec in an attempt to soften my cervix since I hadn't dilated past the 1cm I was 2 weeks before that. The cytotec is supposed to work overnight, and then either things would start on their own or they'd break my water and give me pitocin in the morning.
WRONG.
Cytotec FAIL. Nothing happened. No softening. No dilation.
They gave me pitocin anyway hoping to get things going and while I did have a few contractions here and there, nothing else was really going on. 8.5 hours later, they unhooked me from everything and let me shower and eat since I hadn't been allowed to do either all day. We'd be staying an extra night and trying over again with a new drug.
Night 2 I was given Cervidil.
While it wasn't a total FAIL, it didn't do much....but it did enough. I didn't dilate anymore, but I was softened enough that they were able to break my water at around 8 am. They hooked up the pitocin and we were on our way...I started having contractions and started dilating slowly.
Except 2 hours later we realized that while the pitocin had been hooked up - it hadn't been started. Whoops! But at least my body was doing stuff on it's own. They turned on the pitocin and things started moving at a decent rate. A couple hours later I decided it was time for the epidural. That thing hurt going in, but it was OH SO WORTH IT. I wanted to wait as long as possible to get it so I could still move around and stuff, and I'm glad I did it that way. That thing was heaven. I was high as a kite and slept almost all day. I didn't know I was having contractions unless I saw them happening on the monitor. It was great. I thought they gave you the epidural and called it a day...no...THERE WAS A BUTTON! I got to push a button for more drugs! I realize that it only lets you push it so often, but that's ok. I was comfortable, and amusing myself while watching the contractions on the monitor with my popsicle was fun.
At 8:10 pm (12 hours after they broke my water), they told me it was time to push. At 9:07 (on Earth Day!), Sophie Lora entered and subsequently rocked our world. She was 6lbs 12oz, 19 inches long, eyes bright and alert and ready to go.
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