My Induction Story and my Son's Birth - Day #2

Here is the continuance of my induction story. For how the first day of induction went, please see my entry on Day #1.

Here is what happened on Day #2.

Sunday, May 28, 2017

6:30am: They take the Cervidil out. The cervix check HURT LIKE HELL!!! The nurse didn't tell me what she was doing... but she decided to stretch my cervix while she was in there. She stretched it from a 1 to a 3! Ouch and ouch and ouch!!!! Argh. Not to mention she stretched it during a contraction -- so it was double (triple/quadruple) ouch.

• Effaced: 70%
• Dilation: 3cm 
• Position: -2 

10:30am: We get the green light from the OB to start Pitocin. This means no more eating real food and I would be on a strictly liquid diet. The Pitocin goes through the IV and they would up the dosage every 30 minutes. What was also kinda cool is they switched me to a wireless baby heart rate monitor, which allowed me to get out of bed more and I could wonder around the room. I couldn't go too far though because I needed to be close enough for the wireless signal to reach the computer monitor. But it was soooo nice to get out of bed. I ended up sitting in a chair and watching movies on my phone. 

3:05pm: I went to the bathroom. I felt something like a "pop," I had more bloody show -- my water broke! I was super excited once my water broke because I was thinking this means things were happening. It started to get real REAL at this point. I called my mom to head to the hospital at this point (she hadn't stayed with me in the hospital prior -- but I'll write about that during a separate entry). 

About 5 minutes after my water broke... my contractions went from feeling like bad cramps to being so intense that I couldn't breathe through them. I had to grip onto the bed for dear life to get through the pain. I heard that contractions can be way intense on Pitocin -- and they totally were. 

The nurse asked me if I wanted to get an epidural at this point, that if I did -- it would take 30 minutes to get it. They had to do an IV drip for 30 minutes prior to the epidural being put in. At first I said, "Let me see if I can handle these contracts first." It only took 3 contractions for me to say, "Let's do the epidural!" Once they started the IV drip, I was soooooo cold and shaking. I also had low sugar again, so they gave me some goo to eat to see if it would bring it back up. 

The 30 minutes of waiting for the IV fluids to get in felt like an eternity. 

4:00pm: The epidural guy came in all chipper and happy. I had my mom leave the room while they put in the epidural. It was so weird because I was having these major contractions that rock my body and hurt like hell, then I'm shaking like crazy from the IV fluids... and I had to bend over and "stay as still as I can." Ummm... I was freaking out a bit and totally worried about this chipper/happy go-lucky epidural guy getting it in while my body was thrashing every which way. He was so happy that he just kept saying, "Oh, I'm used to it. I've done so many of these. Don't worry." Hmmm... don't worry? You're just about to stick something in my SPINE. 

So, the worst part about the epidural was getting the numbing agent PRIOR to getting the epidural in. It felt like little needle pricks in my back (which that's probably exactly what they were!). But they hurt like hell, that I actually teared up and cried a bit during that part. It took all my willpower to try to stay still... remember, hurtful contraction pain -- shaking from IV fluids -- now needle pain in my back... Ugh. No one said it would be easy, right? 

Finally, he put in the epidural. I kinda felt it go in -- but I was numb, so it didn't hurt - just felt like the pressure of it. Once they connected the medicine and started the drip, the contracts didn't hurt so darn much. Although I could still feel them a bit. 

I do want to say... that I didn't WANT an epidural originally. I would've liked a natural birth. However, with inductions -- things are just so much more intense, since you're making your body do these things that they're not ready for. You're like forcing it to happen, so they don't happen on the natural cycle. I was open-minded that I may just have to have one. By the time I had the epidural, I was already in the hospital for about 33 hours and having contractions for about 30 hours. I was feeling pretty exhausted that I was actually just hoping for a C-Section, as I wasn't sure I'd be able to physically do a vaginal birth. 

5:00pm: They put in a urine catheter... which is soooo weird. I didn't feel any pain, but I did feel the pressure. Even though I had the epidural, I could still move my legs pretty well -- I just couldn't feel much pain. But once the epidural is put in, you're pretty much stuck in bed and unable to get out. The one glorious thing about the epidural being put in -- the cervical checks don't hurt AT ALL!!! Woohoo! You feel the pressure, but not the intense pain. 

• Effaced: 90%
• Cervix: Anterior 
• Dilation: 3.5 cm 
• Station: 0 

I was really sad to hear I was only 3.5 cm dilated after having such horrible contracts and after my water breaking! Seriously started getting concerned about my body and the pitocin working. Starting wondering, "What if the pitocin doesn't work? What would they try next? Can I handle it?" I was ready to BEG for a C-Section if this all continued. 

6:00pm: They were having a hard time monitoring my contractions, so they put in a IUPC. An intrauterine pressure catheter (IUPC) is a device placed into the amniotic space during labor in order to measure the strength of uterine see website for me info on it. 

• Effaced: 100%
• Dilation: 4cm 
• Station: 0 

Progress at least!! At this point I started feeling itchy. Turns out that the epidural can make you feel itchy! Who knew? I was trying so hard not to scratch myself, but I was mostly itchy on my chest. Also, when you get an epidural -- the nurses "position" you and have to move you every hour or so. We used a peanut ball, which felt oddly comfortable. Baby didn't like it when I laid on my left side, his heart rate would go down, so they had to keep moving me back to my right side. I also was getting my blood sugars checked every hour to make sure they didn't fall too low. 

6:45pm: They added more fluids to my IV and they also put me on oxygen. Which is such a weird feeling having an oxygen mask on. At this point, they also stopped the pitocin for a little bit. The baby didn't like the amount of contractions I was having and was getting a little distressed where his heart rate kept dropping after contractions. 

Ok, when they tell you something like that... it's hard NOT to worry about the baby... 

• Effaced: 100%
• Dilation: 4.5 cm 
• Station: 0

8:00pm: They restart the pitocin. 

10:30pm: Cervical check

• Effaced: 100%
• Dilation: 7cm
• Station: 0

12:20am: Cervical check 

• Effaced: 100%
• Dilation: 9.5 cm
• Station: +1

My notes from the day got less and less after they restarted the pitocin at 8pm. I was really tired at this point and I couldn't sleep. Just exhausted. Not like I could sleep, considering they were checking blood sugars and repositioning me every hour or so. But at this point, when I was 9.5 cm dilated -- I was excited that my baby would be here soon. It was funny, the nurse said she could feel his head and that he had a head of hair on him! Which I thought was so weird that the first person to touch my baby was the nurse, while he was still inside of me... 

At this point, I was also extremely cold -- I started shaking a bit -- and I was really itchy. It all seemed to ramp up. I was also starting to feel the contractions a bit stronger now. This was the only time that I upped my epidural meds so I would be more comfortable. They have a little button you can press to add more drugs, if you want. 

This is the end of Day #2 of my induction. Next up is the birth story!