Birth Story Part 2 - Induction

Part One

Leaving for the hopstial on Sunday night!

So, on Sunday night, my parents saw us off to the hospital to start our stay.  We were leaving as the two of us and wouldn’t be back until we were a family of three!! It was very exciting.  When we got to the hospital, we knew that the plan was that we would be checking in, and have another NST.  From there, they would insert a 12 hour dose of cervidil to soften and dilate my cervix.  We got to the hospital, and my midwife gave me an internal exam again.  I was about 1cm dilated and 50% effaced.  This made me glad because it meant that my body was sort of on its way to labor on its own.  I was still hoping that we would only need the cervidil and I could skip pitocin all together.  So, we went to sleep and were checked in the morning after the dose was removed.  I wasn’t having contractions like I had hoped I would be.  My midwife did one more intensely painful internal exam and found that I was still only 1cm dilated but that the cervix was nice and soft.  It was hopefully doing what it was supposed to be.

From here, we could decide if we wanted to start with the pitocin right away or try another drug; misoprostol.  We opted for the misoprostol with the hope that it would continue to ripen my cervix and prepare my body to deliver this baby.  After the 4 hour waiting period with very few contractions, the administered the pitocin drip.  This was our last shot.

When the pitocin was administered, things picked up right away.  I began having contractions that I could feel.  By 3pm, they were getting so uncomfortable that I couldn’t really speak through them anymore or focus on the movie that we were watching on TV (A League of Their Own…I was so excited that we caught it at the very beginning!).  This was right around the time that my Mom and Dad arrived, and when Dad also decided that it was time for him to go to the waiting room!  When the nurses changed at 3:30, our day nurse (who was awesome) said that she was glad things were picking up, but that she was so bummed out that she would likely miss the birth.  Just before this, we were told that it could take a while for the pitocin to work.  We were hoping to deliver that day but were told that if things do not progress, we would need to decide to let me sleep or continue with labor into the wee hours.  I did not like that idea and wanted my body to do it’s thing to get me into full on labor.

My last pregnant picture.  Just before Dad went to the waiting room!