My Induction Story and my Son's Birth - Day #1

It's been a long time since I posted an update! Believe it or not, it's been so busy / hectic -- that this is the first time I've been able to boot up my computer since my last entry. I'm hoping to get caught up soon! First, here is the induction story. Since I had a long induction, I'll split this up into days. Here is Day #1.

Saturday, May 27, 2017 

6:30am: I call L&D at my hospital to make sure I wasn't bumped to a later time. They've been so busy, that they were rescheduling inductions a lot. Luckily, I wasn't bumped and I needed to be there by 7:30am. I was super excited about that!

7:30am: I arrive and I get all checked into my room. When I was changing into the hospital attire, I noticed some blood on my underwear. I was hoping that meant "things were happening" on their own and that the induction wouldn't take too long. Maybe this was my bloody show finally making its appearance?

8:30am: First cervical check.... OUCH!! WTH. Those things hurt like hell!!!! No joke. At this point I was wondering if I would be able to have a vaginal non-medicated birth since I can't even handle them checking my cervix. With modern technology, it'd be nice if they had a better way to check for dilation! At this point:

• Effaced: 70%
• Dilated: 1cm
• Position: -3
• Blood Pressure: 162/101 -- VERY HIGH 

The nurse also told me that in my chart it said I had mild pulmonary hypertension. I NEVER heard of this and had no clue what the heck that is. Google is not your friend. Pulmonary Hypertension can be fatal in childbirth... with all my monitoring, I couldn't fathom why my MFM or OB would never tell me I had it? The OB on-call and the nurse were trying to track down all my medical records and read through them.... because, you know -- my chart is HUGE. If you recall, I saw a cardiologist back in November and my MFM said there were no concerns... so this totally freaked me out. Not helpful for my blood pressure at all. They were actually thinking I may have preeclamsia at this point. 

9:30am: The nurse puts in the IV... took 3 tries and I got a huge bruise on the missed tries. Hard veins suck. 

10:00am: At this point, I was wondering if it would be better to do a C-Section if I had the pulmonary hypertension vs. trying to do an induction... that it would be safer for both me and the baby. The doctor finally came in after reading my entire chart and told me that I did not have pulmonary hypertension, that my chart was wrong. The OB inputted it wrong and the wrong input just kept carrying over in my chart without being corrected... WTF, what a big scare that was totally unnecessary. At the same time, I'm glad the nurse/OB took the time to research it to make sure everything was OK. 

The OB OK'd moving forward with cervical ripening. OB was guessing the baby would be about 8lbs... I was curious to see if she was right! I started to relax a little at this point after the scare of having pulmonary hypertension. 

10:40am: They start cervical ripening #1 - prostaglandin. They also take blood work. Ok, the cervical ripening stuff... if the cervical checks hurt -- this HURT much more. They have to rub it in everywhere on your cervix. Ouch and ouch!!! :( 

After this, I kind of tried to nap and had lunch. 

11:05am: Started to get some cramps. Thinking and hoping that it's working! All my blood work came back fine. 

12-1pm: I was able to get up and walk around. Went to the healing gardens and the chapel to pray. I finally let myself cry at the chapel. The scare of the pulmonary hypertension was pretty difficult to handle and then the utter relief of everything being ok... Things just did not start the way I hoped or expected because of that. 

Just to note: walking around in a hospital gown around a hospital is kinda weird. Especially when you don't have underwear on. LOL. 

1:35pm: Re-apply cervical ripening for a 2nd time. But no real progress on dilation, which was a big disappointment. 

• Effaced: 70%
• Dilated: 1cm
• Position: -2

3:00pm: I went to the restroom and there was a lot of blood on my legs and in the toilet. Finally, a REAL bloody show! Things had to be happening now, right? (Nope, not really - but I was hopeful.) My blood sugar was also really low, at 69. They gave me snacks and juice, but it only went up a little, to 79.

4:00pm: Re-apply cervical repining for a 3rd time. With the prostaglandin, they can only apply it 3 times, then they move onto something different. Can you believe it --- absolutely NO changes. I was getting worried at this point that maybe I'd have to have a C-Section after all.

5:30pm: Since my blood sugar was so low, they only had me take 1/2 dose of insulin.

6:30pm: We move onto cervical ripener #2, Cervidil. This was the most painful thing I think I ever experienced... was them putting in the Cervidil. It looks like a white piece of ribbon and they insert it into your cervix. I screamed and cried with this one... it's no joke. After they put it in, you can't walk for 12 hours. You have to be VERY careful when you go to the bathroom, that you don't accidentally pull it out. The string hangs out of your vagina, kinda like a tampon string. I started getting major cramps throughout the night -- that I couldn't sleep. They had to give me a sleeping pill to help me sleep, which I was hesitant to take. I could've taken another one if I wanted, but I only opted for one. It helped a little... By this point my blood pressure was back to normal. Yay for small miracles. If my blood pressure had continued to be high, it would've been bad for me and the baby.

That's the end of Day #1. More to come with Day #2 and then finally the birth of my son on Day #3.

I'd like to add that the entire time during the induction, I was strapped to monitors:

• Monitoring the baby's heartbeat. There's a strap around my stomach. 
• I was connected to the IV. 

Getting up was a hassle, since I had to unhook from the baby heart monitor and then push my IV stand with me anywhere I went. It was also hard to sleep, since anytime I would move or switch sides -- the monitor on my stomach would need to be adjusted. Sleep during induction? I wish it was possible. Very uncomfortable. Not to mention the beds in L&D are designed for giving birth -- so they're highly uncomfortable to begin with. 

All in all, Day #1 -- not much progress with induction!