{Our Little Leaguers}: March 2010

Since it has almost been a month since I had Luke, I thought it was about time to share his birth story! I had the option to induce. It weighed so heavily on my mind and I was at odds over what to do. After talking about it with my husband, family, doctor as well spending about two hours on the phone with a dear friend who is a L&D nurse at the hospital I was to deliver at, I decided that we were going to induce. I didn't feel 100% about it, but I did feel it was what I was supposed to do. I hoped for the best!

So on Tuesday, February 23rd, my husband and I headed for the hospital since we had to check in at 5:00 pm. We arrived, bags in tow, and went to the admissions office. We actually had to wait about 45 minutes since there were three others checking in to be induced. Once we finally did the paperwork, a nurse came and got us from the waiting room and brought us back to our room. Once we got there, things started happening fast. I thought we would get in and she would let us have some time to get settled in. Nope! She immediately had me change into a gown and started to draw my blood, put me on all the monitors and got my IV in. This all took about an hour or two and we finally were settled in by about 7:30 pm. There was a shift change sometime in the midst of my order and we got our new nurse for the night. She let me eat and then around 9:00 pm put in the Cervadil. This was to help ready my cervix for the induction the next day. My parents and my sister and her husband came to the hospital that night and visited and took pictures. It was all so exciting and so real for the first time ever.

I actually had contractions that evening and throughout the night. I asked for an Ambien and tried to get some shut eye around midnight. Unfortunately when you are hooked up to monitors and you are in an uncomfortable hospital bed, sleeping is not exactly easy. I probaby got about three hours between midnight and 5:00 am. So when my nurse came in at 5:00 and asked me if I was ready to get started, the answer was easy...Yes!

On Wednesday, February 24th I got started on Pitocin at 5:30 am and was currently dilated to 2.5 cm. Then it was just the waiting game. Around 7:00 am there was another shift change and I got a new nurse...Tracy. Tracy would be my fabulous nurse I would have for the next three days. All morning I would have contractions, some pretty strong. I was constantly asked if I was ready for my epidural but I figured I would wait for the doctor to check me since they said she should be there between 7:00 and 9:00 am. I wanted to try to hold out as long as I could for pain medication...even though it was getting pretty painful.

Well, my doctor didn't show up until about 10:00 am. I was in a lot of pain, but trying to hang in there. She checked me and I was at 3 cm dilated. I was disappointed that I didn't make much progress. She decided to break my water. At that point, everything changed. She went up there and I felt the most intense pain. I kept thinking that she would remove her hand and the tool that she used to break my water and I would feel relief. But it never happened. For some reason, the pain went from about a 4 or 5 to a 100. I started sweating profusely and couldn't speak or do anything. I was ready for the epidural...well, begging for it actually! The girl next door was getting her epidural right then so I had to wait about 45 minutes until I could get mine. It was so hard to get through that. I had no idea that it was going to hurt so bad, so quickly. But then we found out why...

My nurse came back in about an hour and a half later to check me. Low and behold, I was fully dilated. I went from 3 cm to 10 cm in less than two hours. So at noon they called the doctor and found out she was in surgery at another hospital and wouldn't be back for a bit. So they turned off the Pitocin and I had to wait two hours, but finally got to start pushing around 2:00 pm. I pushed for about an hour and 15 minutes and finally my little one arrived. I was applauded for the incredible pushing I did. He was big and very high up the birth canal. My doctor predicted I would be pushing for 2+ hours, but I got him out sooner than that. I was determined and focused and in the end I got my perfect bundle.