Warning: This is LONGÂ :)
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           I’m not exactly sure where to start since going almost 2 weeks overdue made the short labor I actually had feel like it had lasted for weeks. At 40 weeks I was 2-3 cm dilated and 50% effaced. When I went for my 41 week appointment I was 4-5 cm. In between we had tried just about everything to get labor going. I think the fact that I ate about 5 pounds of fresh pineapple that week helped ripen my cervix. When we got to that point we had to talk about options since besides the fact that I was totally done being pregnant, as a VBAC the hospital has policies on induction, etc. We decided that trying to induce with castor oil would be the best option. On Saturday I was 41 weeks 3 days when I got up and drank a castor oil smoothie. Absolutely disgusting. I spent a long while in the bathroom and got to drink another one 4 hours later. The second one did start some contractions but a couple hours later they stopped. And by the end of the day my bottom was bleeding from so many trips to the potty. My midwife Pam still thought I had a very good chance of waking up in labor. But nope, as of the next morning, nothing.Â
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         I talked to Pam on Sunday morning to see what my options were. Option #1 was to go to their office and she would break my water. Option #2 was to go to the hospital on Monday for a fluid check. The problem with that was that if my fluid was low they would recommend a repeat cesarean. We decided to just have Pam break my water hoping that that would be enough to get labor going. Paul and I went to the office at noon (still 4-5 cm which bummed me out a bit since the castor oil did nothing) and Pam broke my water. Paul and I walked around Princeton for a couple hours and had lunch but nothing was happening so we went home. If labor didn’t start during the night we planned to head to the hospital first thing in the morning to be induced. Around 2am I got up to pee and the baby wasn’t moving despite my poking my belly quite a bit. Needless to say I was pretty freaked out. Thank goodness we have a little hand held Doppler and I found the heartbeat right away. I actually called Pam as well since the baby still wasn’t really moving and Paul was panicking. Since the heartbeat was strong we figured she had just settled into a new position and was sound asleep. We eventually got back to sleep as well.Â
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          We got up a bit before 7am and headed to the hospital. Louise was on call and met us there. By the time I got signed in and they got the IV in (which required 5 tries, the last 2 by the anesthesiologist) it was 10am and my doula Patrice had arrived. I was having a few contractions here and there but they weren’t that strong and were pretty spaced out. So we got the pitocin started. They start it on 1 and up it by 2 every 30 min. I remember the nurse saying the magic number for most women is 5 or 7. When it was on 1 it started making the little contractions I was having a bit more regular. On 3 I started to feel them a bit. On 5 they were getting pretty intense. I think this was when I started thinking about asking for an epidural. It had only been an hour or so of pit and I was on it for 11 before Miriam was born so I was thinking about how I could possibly handle another 10 hours of this. The nurse comes in and ups the pit to 7. After 3 or 4 very strong contractions (Patrice is sitting behind me rubbing my back at this point as I sit on the birth ball and lean onto the bed) I looked up at Louise and said “I’m done” and she said “With what? Labor?” and I said, “Yes, I want the epidural.” She said before that could happen then need to get more IV fluid into me and she had to check me. I said that was fine. She also asked how much longer of a labor I would have and not need the epi. I said an hour. The pit was upped to 9 at some point but I don’t remember exactly when. The midwifery student with Louise checked me first and said, “I think she’s fully dilated.” I was like “Seriously??” When Louise checked me I was 6-7cm. Then I knew I needed the epidural. This was about 11:45. However, the anesthesiologist had just gone into the OR where they were sectioning twins so it was going to be at least 45 min until he was free. I asked for the pitocin to be turned off until he could get here and they did turn it off. I couldn’t even move from the position I was in the contractions were getting so strong with no breaks. I managed to sit on the side of the bed and Paul came over and I was leaning on him, I was moaning pretty loudly at this point as well (a couple days later Paul said I sounded like a revving car… thanks honey). God did they hurt. At one point I actually opened my eyes and looked at the monitor and the line measuring the contractions was straight across the top with 10-second breaks in between where the line went down a teeny tiny bit. I wanted to stand so Paul sat on a stool and I put my arms around him and was hanging there squatting a bit with each contraction. I kept asking where the epidural was. After a little while I started feeling the urge to push. I was pretty shocked since I had been 6-7 not too long before. I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want Louise to say it was too soon to push so I just started to. After a few contractions she asked if I was pushing and I said I was a little bit. I remember yelling that I still wanted the epidural. So she came and checked me while I was leaning on Paul. I was 9cm. So she asked if I wanted the good news first or the bad news. The bad news was that it was too late for the epidural; the good news was that I was 9cm. So now Louise says, “We don’t just plop our babies onto the floor” since I was still standing with Paul. They asked what position I wanted to deliver in but the contractions were so close and so intense I couldn’t even answer. They helped me onto the bed in the supported squatting position with the back of the bed up. I kept pushing and at 1:30 was complete. It felt like this part of labor took forever. Every contraction I was expecting her head to pop out and it wasn’t. Agony! Around now the pitocin must have worn off because I was finally getting breaks in between the contractions. During one of the Louise looks in my eyes (trying to draw me out of that la la land where labor happens) and says, “Are you ready to meet your baby, you are almost done, in a few minutes you will be holding your baby.” At 1:44 Analise was born. They put her on my chest and I just remember saying, “It’s a girl!” over and over again. She was having trouble breathing though so they cut the cord and rushed her over to the bassinet in the room, called for the NICU, and all these people rushed in. I was only half aware since I was now delivering the placenta but Paul said when he saw like 10 people standing in the hallway he got very scared. Analise’s apgar score was a 3 but the second score was a 6 and the 20 min score was a 9. They think it may have been because she had a true knot in the umbilical cord and it was also around her neck. But at 20 min they said she was fine and placed her back on my chest. She was 8lb 6oz and 21 ½ inches long with a 13 ½ inch head. I’m still in shock over how her birth turned out and how fast it went. If I ever have to be induced again I will certainly ask for the epidural sooner, and with no guilt. Having had a cesarean, a vaginal birth with epidural, and a vaginal birth without I have to say that I prefer the epi. The only thing left would be a pitocin free birth but I don’t seem to have luck in that department. Since I was begging for the epidural I’m not overly proud of having a natural birth, I feel like I survived but it wasn’t that I had a choice by that point. BUT I got a super sweet baby girl out of it J
