On May 2nd I went into my doctors appt like no big deal. I was prepared to go into work immediately afterward. Well life had a different plan...
8am: Got an Ultrasound. The tech stated everything on the baby looked okay but I had low fluids. The fluid was measured at four quadrants and calculated as the amniotic fluid level (AFL). My levels were at 4.5 cm and anything less than 5 cm was considered low. So it meant induction.
8:30am: I saw doctor and she stated an induction needed to occur. She knew this was not the news I wanted to here so since I was on my way to work with no bag, etc I talked her into letting me go home and come back. She said I needed to be back to hospital by lunchtime.
So as soon as I got out of the office I called my husband and told him the news. He said he would leave work and meet me at home. Let's just say there were lots of tears shed that ride back home. I was ready to be done being pregnant but I wasn't excited about the unknown of an induction.
9am: Arrived back at home. I got my stuff ready, finished up last minute items, ate a snack and loaded the car.
On the way to the hospital I sent my work an email letting them know that I would not be in today or for another 12 weeks!
10:45am: Checked in to Good Sam Hospital
11:00am: We were sent directly into the labor and delivery room. We had quite some time to just chill as we waited for the doctor to arrive.
11:30am: We finally met with Dr. Leroy and discussed how the induction would go. She stated she used a cook cervical ripening balloon which would open my cervix to 5cm along with a low dose pitocin drip.
Noon: The balloon was inserted which was slightly uncomfortable but nothing crazy and the pitocin was started (increase 2 every half hour until 10 dips). Also since I was Group B strep positive I had to have penicillin so that was started as well.
No one except our works knew we were at the hospital. And my mom had texted and called so I finally called her back and simply stated we were still waiting on baby which was true! 😉
Between 12-5:30pm: I worked through contractions by walking, sitting on birth ball, leaning over bed with feet on ground. The contractions were not fun but they were tolerable by closing my eyes and trying to relax through them. I kept telling myself they were only 1 min long I could do it.
6pm: Dr Leroy came back for an internal check. I was 5 cm and 80% effaced. She removed the balloon and then water broken manually. Breaking of my waters was really not comfortable at all. It was probably the most painful part yet. After that was done it was a sit and wait game.
The contractions got pretty intense after my water broke. I tried to do some laps but had to stop walking. I coped by leaning over raised up bed with feet on ground. I went through lots of ice packs to the forehead and burying my head in pillow.
My husband called JoEllen our doula to come now that my water was broken and things felt like they were progressing. By 6:45 he was really hoping she'd be there soon as I was well into active labor.
7:15pm Our doula arrived and helped with pain management. She suggested I move to leaning on back of the bed with knees on bed as standing got difficult. JoEllen was best at squeezing hips together during contractions and counter pressure on tailbone once urge to push got intense.
7:30pm I felt like I had to push, couldn't hold back sensation. We asked for the doctor to come and check me. I was 8-9 cm with a cervical lip remaining. The doctor said she could help progress that along so the nurses started to set the room up for delivery.
8:00pm I started to push in the position I was in over the top of the bed.
8:15pm I moved to side lying on bed then eventually to lying on back pulling knees back and crunching forward on pushes with each contraction.
My husband coached me. He would count to 10 and repeat three times per contraction. At some point I struggled to recover my heart rate so the baby's heart rate was struggling to recover too so the doctor had me recover with oxygen on in between contractions.
This part of the labor felt like an eternity. It was my second workout for the day as I had worked out earlier that morning. I think I asked a few times if I was getting close. At one point the doctor asked me to reach down and feel the head crowning. I did and that didn't really feel like much except slime. You could have fooled me that it was a head down there if you had wanted to. 😳
8:40pm I finally progressed enough and the baby had made its way. The doctor asked if I wanted to help pull baby out. I replied maybe ask me when it's time. Well once that time arrived she said "Breana reach down and grab your baby" and I did.
Lincoln arrived at 8:41pm. Reaching down and helping to pull him out was a really cool experience. I can't say I EVER thought that would happen or that I would be up for it. Once baby was out he immediately went up to my chest and we did skin to skin. We also tired to see if he would latch to nurse. He did some routing and did suck for a little. I also hand expressed some colostrum and placed in his eyes as we did not do the eye ointment.
8:50pm Soon after Lincoln was delivered I felt another strong contraction and the doctor looked and there was the placenta. She gently helped glide it out and place in the bowl. One curious thing was that the umbilical cord was attached towards the top vs in the center which may have been the reasoning for the low fluids.
9pm I was hoisted into the stirrups to start tear analysis and repair. I had a first degree on back half and one tear on labia. This was quite a difficult time too as my legs were so tired and started to shake from fatigue and from hormones.
At 9:45pm Lincoln's hour skin to skin time was up and they went to weigh and measure him. He was 7lb 12.5oz 20". He had brown/red tinted hair and big blue eyes.
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