At 38 weeks, Dr Martinez set up an induction for 10-20-2010, when I would be 39 weeks. After my experience with my induction with Sarah, I was very nervous. But I didn’t want a giant baby, and I know Dr Martinez well enough to know that an induction with her would be totally different than the last one was.
So, at 7am, we walked through the doors of the hospital, and I was extremely nervous. I really didn’t want to go through labor and delivery again, though part of me thought it should be “easier” after the whole kidney stone thing. My nurse was amazing, and she was training a nurse as well who was extremely kind. They checked me and I was still only 1 cm so I knew it could be a long day. But, we still thought with it being my 4th baby, things would go relatively quickly.
Around 8am, the nurse started pitocin, and shortly afterwards, Dr Martinez’s partner came to break my water. Because the baby was so high and I was still barely dilated, she could not get it to break with either the amnio hook or the finger hook. Around 10am, Dr Martinez came in, and it took a lot of work, but she did get my water broken. I was still only 1cm.
My nurses kept bumping the pitocin very slowly, and my contractions were very manageable. I was even smiling and joking between them. They had a really difficult time getting her to stay on the monitor, so I was stuck in bed on my side because it was the only way they could keep her on. Finally around 1:45pm, I reached 3cm, and they were going to try to put a scalp electrode on her so I could have more mobility. The nurse tried several times and couldn’t get it because she had so much hair and it kept getting tangled up in it. Then they tried to get the monitor to pick up her heartbeat while I was standing or sitting on the ball, but they couldn’t. My WONDERFUL nurse ended up telling me that since they hadn’t upped the pitocin in several hours (the contractions were 2-3 minutes apart lasting a minute, so it hadn’t needed to be turned up), and since Anna’s heartrate had been steady, she was going to unplug the monitor for 30 minutes and leave me alone. She said I could sit on the ball or do whatever I wanted and that she would take the heat for it. Those 30 minutes did help bring the baby down some, but I was still only at 4cm.
I made sure I kept getting out of bed to go to the bathroom since it was the only way I could be “off the monitor” at all. And the nurse was great allowing me to take my time to get back to bed. She said “For all I know, you are still in the bathroom.” Around 4:30, I was 5-6cm and was having a lot of pressure. I kept waiting for things to just happen quickly because that is how it was with all of my other births. I decided to take a dose of stadol at that point, but I was very much in control. Usually with my other births, I started to “loose it” around 6cm and become almost incoherent. This time, I just continued with my deep breathing (instead of going into the next phase of breathing), and could carry on conversations between contractions. I really have to wonder if the whole kidney stone thing gave me a new perspective on pain. With my other 3, I don’t really remember being aware of the breaks between contractions. This time, I remember it well and was able to use that time. Also at one point, someone came in the room and said “how is your epidural working for you?” I said “I don’t have one.” She said “Wow! I never would have guessed that!” I took it as a great compliment.
Around 5:30, I was at 7cm and just kept telling my husband that the contractions felt weird and the baby moving down felt weird. It was unlike I remembered with the others. The nurses kept coming in because I was having a hard time telling what was going on. At about 6:15, Dr Martinez came in and said I just had a lip of cervix. We waited through a couple of contractions, but then she ended up telling me I could probably just push through that lip. So I started pushing because I wanted her out! My other 3 were born in 3 or 4 pushes at most, and I was really having to work hard at this one. In between pushing, I kept asking “Why is this taking so long?!” The nurse told me several times that she had women with epidurals that were more noisy than I was.
Finally after about 20 minutes of pushing, she was born at 6:49 and was sunny-side-up. I never had back labor or anything, and we didn’t know until she was born that she was posterior. The nurse told me that most c-sections are due to a posterior baby, and that most women cannot deliver a baby that way without some kind of help (forceps, vacuum, or the doctor reaching in and turning them). I needed 2 stitches and was out of bed 30 minutes after birth.
Here are some pictures from that day and evening she was born.
LABOR
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