Smoochie's birth was my longest labor, she was our biggest and latest baby. It's so interesting how that worked out - NO ONE expected our day to go the way it did!
So where I left off...I had seen midwife Lisa on Monday, found out I still had a lot of fluid and a large baby, was barely dilated/effaced {2 cm, 50%}, and had my membranes swept. I would go in Wednesday afternoon for a balloon catheter to hopefully help me dilate and efface some more and then Thursday morning, we'd go to the hospital to begin an induction.
After my sweep, I started cramping and was sore the rest of the day. But nothing was really happening. Tuesday brought more of the same, and by that point, I was just ready for Wednesday to get things going. BUT...Tuesday afternoon, I noticed my mucus plug started coming out. I had read that for 'experienced' moms, this coming out usually meant things were going to begin in the next few hours, and that made me start to get excited.
I went to bed Tuesday night and about 11:45 PM I started having contractions - like so many other nights. I was trying not to get too excited but that combined with the loss of my mucus plug made me think this could be it. I made sure to change positions - yup contractions stuck around - and get up - check check. I started timing contractions and told Brent about 1:15 AM Wednesday morning. They were consistently 3-5 minutes apart and lasting 1 minute or more. They weren't painful, but it was picking up and no matter what I did they stayed. Previously I would have them in bed for an hour but if I went and sat on the couch or walked around, they would stop.
At 2:00 AM, I called the OB. Dr. Campaigne was on call and we agreed I should call my parents and head to the hospital but didn't need to rush. I waited until 2:30 to call my parents because I really wanted to make sure I felt good about what was happening. I think that annoyed Brent a little {like 'are we going or not?'}. I got ready {hey, if I've got the chance why not fix my hair and put on makeup?}, and my parents got to our house about 3:15. I had also called Lindsey, our photographer, and she was going to head to the hospital when we left.
Last views of Smoochie on the inside!
We got on the road about 3:30 and 10 minutes into the drive I realized I didn't have my wallet {hello insurance card and ID} but was hoping since I had pre-registered, I'd be okay. I had a copy of our insurance card on my phone and woke my mom up {sorry again, Mom!} to take a pic of my ID.
We arrived at the hospital about 4:00 AM. Contractions were still consistent and a little stronger. I knew I was in early labor which only lasted about 2 hours for Drew, and it had already been 4 with Smoochie, so I was really curious what was going on.
Lindsey was already at the hospital and walked in with us as we got up to L&D and got into a room. The nurse asked a bunch of questions, got my IV started, and let me know that Dr. Campaigne was sleeping somewhere in the hospital and would come by when she woke up. I did find out that my previous Group B Strep test was invalid {I had taken at 36 weeks and they are only good for 5 weeks}, so I had to repeat that. I also noticed that the whole time I was talking to the nurse my contractions had spaced out some which was a little upsetting. The nurse told me that since I was 41 weeks, 6 days I got some priority and could choose to stay even if I wasn't dilated very much where they would normally sent someone else home. I told her 'I am not going home without a baby.' It also helped that I was set for an induction in 27 hours! Since it was going to be a while before Dr. Campaigne came down, Brent decided to catch some zzzzz's and Lindsey went on a walk with me around the floor. I told her I really thought because I had SO much fluid, it was really going to take my water breaking to get things going, so I was hoping Dr. C wouldn't take forever to come check me so we could get a plan going.
Ready for action!
Our morning stayed pretty much consistent - contractions stuck around and I was monitored 20 minutes of every hour while we waited on Dr. C. Brent napped on and off, Lindsey and I chatted and watched TV {I caught the end of 1 Law & Order: SVU episode and then we left it on HGTV the rest of the day}. A new nurse came on shift at 7:00, Ashley, and I LOVED her.
Dr. C came down about 8:15, and she agreed with my thoughts about my water - labor was never going to progress because Smooch had too much water and couldn't really descend. She checked me, and I was 2-3 cms and 75% effaced - better than Monday's appointment but still not what I wanted! She knew my labor goals, but both she and Brent reminded me that this was already a different labor than Drew's and I probably needed to be flexible given I was going to need interventions to really get things going. Dr. C is extremely supportive of natural labor, but I swear she also has a 6th sense about what is happening and what a laboring mom needs to hear. Then Ashley let her know I had tested positive for GBS with the test I took that morning. Womp, womp - this put a major change into our plans as we were seriously ready to break my water but now needed to get antibiotics in my system. So this led to another intervention...what we decided to do was give me a bag of penicillin and then turn on Pitocin. My contractions just weren't progressing on their own, and we really needed to get them stronger. Penicillin got started about 8:30 AM and our plan was to break my water at 11:30 AM before I got the second bag of penicillin, and I could start Pitocin {on the lowest dose, 1} whenever I wanted. Brent and I decided on 9:30, so I could have it for 2 hours {maybe ramping it up a little if necessary} before my water broke.
I was able to walk the halls a little more with the penicillin, but once we started the Pitocin, I had to stay in the room. I could be monitored with a portable monitor but no more walking the halls. Contractions definitely started picking up but were still not bad. We took Pitocin up to a 2 {milliunits/minute}. Dr. C came back about 11:00 and asked if I was ready to break my water - YES! I wanted to turn the Pitocin off to see if we'd gotten enough in my system to keep the contractions going once my water was broken and Dr. C agreed. She and Ashley put double pads under me because everyone was expecting a gusher. I was now 3-4 cms dilated and 80% effaced. There was definitely SO much water, and there was meconium in it, which I expected given how past due I was. Dr. C sat me up to talk about our next steps and all of the sudden another flood of water came out and pooled at my feet. It was so funny because Dr. C and Ashley were so proud of keeping the water to the 2 pads - um, nope!
I noticed pretty quickly that contractions were picking up and getting painful. We started the second bag of penicillin about 12:00. The next 2 hours I experienced really strong contractions every 3 minutes lasting a minute or more. I felt these hurt as bad as when we left for the hospital with Drew {and remember I was an 8 when I got to the hospital}. I was having to lean on Brent, moan, visualize, take deep breaths, everything with these contractions. I felt nauseous and was shaking through them and just hoped good things were happening - it really seemed like I was going through transition which would be really consistent with Drew's labor. Ashley even started getting everything set up for delivery!
When Dr. C came back a little after 2:00 {3 hours after she broke my water} and checked me, she told me 'I don't believe in good news or bad news, there is just news. But this is not the news you want. You are still 3-4 cms and 80% effaced.' She said based on the way my cervix felt, she wouldn't even say I was in active labor yet. WHAT???
I knew then I was done. I had been up for over 24 hours, had been having contractions for 14 hours {Trent's total labor had been under 12 hours and Drew's 5.5 hours} and was nowhere near where I needed to be. Dr. C started to be very diplomatic reminding me that every labor was different and no one expected this one to take so long, and I looked at her and said 'I want an epidural.' I knew we still had a long way to go, and the only way I could have continued naturally was if I was in transition or further. Did I feel a little bit like a failure? Yeah maybe a little. Was I sad I 'couldn't do it'? Yes - I definitely felt weaker than I wanted to. But I also knew I was barely holding it together and still had so much more ahead of me. I know this was also what Dr. C and Brent thought were best. And with that the hour long wait for the epidural began...
Part 2 coming soon...I am too wordy!
2 comments:
Oh man, I am such a sucker for these! I can't wait for part 2!!!
#notafailure
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