I have to say for a pitocin induction and not having the time to really practice this time (this is my second hypnobaby) I had a pretty decent birthing time. There are a few point you may want to use a BOP, but for me it was just how my labor decided to progress. I do have to credit all of my nurses for helping me have a natural childbirth that could of easily taken a different course without them.
I had been having problems during this pregnancy with swelling of the face, hands, and feet and towards the end started having higher blood pressure so we decided to schedule an induction for 41 weeks. I was scheduled to go in Monday night for cervidel and start pitocin on Tuesday morning. I get to the hospital Monday evening, after stopping for a bite to eat, and after several attempts finally got an IV started and got all of the paperwork done. I was going to have a hep lock, but decided that it would be better to have an IV that way we knew that the line would stay open or we would know if it stopped working.
At my last appointment, a week before, I hadn’t had any cervical changes and the head wasn’t engaged when they checked be before starting the cervidel we found out I was 3cm and 50% and she could feel the head. So they call my doctor to find out what to do. He told time to just let me rest for the night and we would start the pit in the morning. So they ordered me up a supper tray, with a snack for later, and then I did a few laps around the floor to see if we could encourage things to progress. Didn’t really change anything, but it was worth a try.
Then next morning we start the pit on the lowest dose and only bumped it up every 30 minutes. The nurses weren’t really supposed to let me off the monitors while the pit was going, but they would let me walk as long as I would be monitored every once in a while. So I would be monitored for about 10 or 15 minutes for every increase to make sure that we was tolerating the increase and then I would walk the halls. While I was monitored I could stand by the bed or sit up, but I didn’t have to lay down. At this point I didn’t feel any contractions as long as I was laying flat, sitting straight up, or walking, but I couldn’t sit in a semi-reclined position. So a few hours later I get checked and there is a little progress, but not much and they can’t feel the head anymore. So more walking and still slowing increasing the pit.
Everything was fine until we hit level 13 on the pit, which was increase number 7, at that point we started losing the heartbeat during contractions. Everybody stayed calm and we just shifted gears a little bit. We just figured that the cord was getting squished a little, and that she had the cord wrapped. They had me lay down on my side with oxygen going to see if that would help, and we still were having trouble with the heartbeat. So they turned off the pit completely and let my body recover for a while.
At that point my doctor came and tried to break my water and get the pit started back up again. Well, we didn’t get my water broke after a few attempts but we started the pit again with increases every 15 minutes this time. I didn’t get to be off of the monitors this time because of what happened last time, but I could stand or sit or whatever I wanted to do. My doc came back a couple of hours later and finally got my water to break with a bit of effort.
At this point I don’t really remember much because I put in my mp3 player and fell asleep for the next hour. I guess they still came in and turned up the pit because I sort of remember Kent talking to the nurses and I remember the contractions getting stronger, but still not much pain. Kent says that I was relaxed enough that I started snoring and he got bored and watched two game shows on TV. He would still pay enough attention to help me relax through the contractions if he could tell I was tensing up.
After I woke up I lost control a bit, but I was in transition. When the nurse came in to check on me I begged her to turn down the pit and after checking my progress, she did but not by much. After a while my body just took over and started pushing on it’s own, which sent everybody scrambling (I had warned them ahead of time that this would happen). So everybody came running in and got everything setup and paged my doctor.
This whole time I am pushing and nobody is telling me to stop or wait (last baby they tried to get me to stop). They do lay me flat on my back but I tell them that I am not pushing laying down so they help me setup while pushing after they get my legs in the stirrups. Of course by this time I am completely focused and not hearing a word that they are telling me. Next thing I know my doctor is there and I am at station 0 and everybody can see the baby coming. So my husband and my mom grab my legs and pull them back while I am pushing. Three good pushes later she was here and she had the cord wrapped once around her neck.
The nurses put her directly on my chest after all initial observation was done, but they waited on all non-crucial procedures. They helped me take off my hospital gown and get her latched on for the first time within a few minutes of birth. Then after a while I gave her back and they did the eye drops and stuff.
The whole induction and birth lasted about 10 hours and my water was broke about 2 hours before the birth. Lizzy was my biggest baby at 7lbs 3oz and was 20 1/4 inches long.
