JamieDawn.

March 16, 2015 - I was 40 weeks and 6 days. I was to go into the hospital at 5:30pm & they would start to induce me. (This was definitely not what I wanted, I wanted her to come naturally. However, when I was checked at the doctor on the 13th, I was not dilated at all.) Saturday the 14th, I had contractions every ten minutes apart from 5pm-1am.. then they stopped. So much to my disappointment (only because I was scared of being induced), I went in to start the induction process. When I got there, they started my IV & told me the plan. They were going to put a pill on my cervix 3 times - every 3 hours. Then, 3 hours after the last dose was placed, they were going to start the pitocin drip.

But! I guess all the contractions that Saturday were not for nothing, when they checked my cervix I was dilated to a 3. Change of plans: now, they were going to let the contractions do their thing overnight & start the pitocin drip at 4am. So, I was still being induced, but I wasn’t going from absolutely no dilation/effacement to full on labor.

Overnight I was able to sleep on and off due to a low dose ambien I was given to help me rest before it all began. 4am the pitocin drip was started. Contractions began & they weren’t exactly fun, but they were tolerable. Until they started in my back. The back pain was beginning to be unbearable. I could handled it all but the back.. It was so painful I ended up opting for Stadol. Each dose only lasted an hour, and they will only give you 2 doses. I remember telling my mom that I couldn’t feel my face..I remember feeling fuzzy and drifting to sleep. After they gave me the second dose, they told me that if I chose, they could go ahead and get me ready for the epidural before the Stadol wore off. (All throughout my pregnancy, I was terrified of the epidural, it was not something I wanted at all.) When the back contractions started coming back through the epidural, and I knew I was not close to being completely dilated, I decided to go with the epidural. To be honest, I barely remember getting it. I remember sitting up and bending over, hugging my pillow. I remember the coldness of the antiseptic they put on my back. I remember a slight pinch of the numbing needle. I don’t remember & I didn’t see the “big old needle” everyone always talks about. 

Luckily, after I got the epidural, I was not completely numb. That was one of my biggest fears, not having any control over the lower half of my body. I could not feel the contractions.. I watched them get bigger and more intense on the screen, but I still didn’t feel them. In fact, I slept on and off almost the entire day. My doctor came in to break my water. I didn’t feel it at all. They put a towel under me when he broke it and when the nurse carried it away, it was a greenish color.. the baby had already pooped in the womb. Because of this, they were going to have to have NICU, and a respiratory team in the room for immediately after she was born. The nurses came in to check dilation every once in a while. I was progressing, but slowly. They brought in a peanut birthing ball & I had to lay on that for the remainder of the afternoon. It seemed to speed things up a lot. Also with the epidural, you have your own little button that you can push to administer another dose. I only had to use it once, when the back contractions somehow made their way through the medicine. 

After 3pm or so, my birthing nurse came in and said it was time to go ahead and start pushing her down into the birth canal. Zac held up one leg, I held the other, and I pushed. Three ten second pushes per each contraction.. Turns out, the baby was coming down on her side, instead of face down, this is why I was having so much pain in my back. I pushed for a good 30 minutes when she decided to stop and let the contractions move the baby down further themselves. This to me, was one of the worst parts, waiting on her to come back to that I could push again. I couldn’t feel any pain, but the pressure was so intense that all I wanted to do was push for some relief. It was probably around 4 when she came back, and made me start to push again. It was absolutely exhausting, and almost discouraging, but my nurse was amazing. She was so positive and so encouraging, I probably would’ve had a much harder time if it hadn’t been for her. Eventually, she called for the rest of the team to come in. The doctor, NICU, the respiratory team, and the other nurses. I pushed more and more, getting more and more discouraged with each push. I felt like I was getting nowhere and the pressure was so intense I couldn’t stand it. Zac was right by my side, holding my leg, letting me grab him and pull with each push. He pushed my hair out of my face and told me to just keep going. I could tell that he couldn’t stand the pain I was in. With each push the nurse & doctor just kept cheering me on. And I just got more and more discouraged, after each push when I was able to breathe again, I would start to almost hyperventilate and panic, because the work was so hard and I felt like I was getting nowhere. I remember hearing my mom ask if that was the head, that she could see hair. They eventually gave me oxygen because I just couldn’t calm down and they said the baby needed the oxygen. After they gave me that, it was only 2 or 3 more pushes and they started yelling at me to look. Zac had taken my glasses off when they gave me the oxygen, but I was still able to see them pulling her out..All of a sudden, the room was erupting with noise. My mom started bawling, I started bawling, Zac’s mom was crying as well. She was immediately taken to the corner by the NICU team and I heard her start to scream. This made me cry even more. I could hear her, but barely see her and she was just screaming her little lungs out. I looked up to Zac and he was turned around crying, he kissed me and then went to the baby’s side. They had to clear out her lungs from the meconium and that upset Zac, because it was not a small aspirator..