With all of my pregnancies I have had borderline high blood pressure- but it has never turned into pre-eclampsia... So I asked my doctor at one of my appointments early in March at what point she would induce me. The context I was asking this in was at Kaiser they wouldn't induce until you were two weeks overdue... So I was hoping she wouldn't make me go two weeks past my due date... Well I think she thought I was wanting to get induced early because she said she would induce me at 39 weeks since this wasn't my first pregnancy and I have had other successful inductions (both Silas and Eliana were induced too). So Friday, March 25th was 39 weeks for me... As that day got closer, my doctor looked at her hospital schedule- and she was scheduled for March 24th, March 28th, and March 30th. I told her March 28th was out for sure- that's my birthday- and Luke and I already share our anniversary with Eliana's birthday. My parents were going to watch the older kids while I was in the hospital, and my mom was still on the mend from a recent surgery. So in my mind, I was thinking that March 30th would be the day I would want the induction, if an induction was needed. So on Monday, March 21st, I got a phone call from my doctor that she wanted to induce me on March 24th. I questioned her a little, because I was REALLY not ready mentally to have this baby. But because of my blood pressure, she felt like it would be better for the baby to arrive sooner rather than later. She told me to arrive at the hospital at 7:30AM on Thursday morning. I got off the phone and was in shock. Reality was sinking in. I felt like someone just told me I was pregnant and was due to deliver in 3 days. Needless to say, a list of all the last minute things to do got started... Cleaning, laundry, packing for the hospital, errands to run, going to Y for a swim with the kids (obviously not a "must do," but we were trying to make some last memories as a family of 4...). As I began to think about my induction, I realized that it was highly unlikely that my doctor would even deliver my baby because typically my inductions have taken about 24 hours from start to finish. So if things progressed as they had the previous two times, I would be delivering Friday morning. So on Tuesday I called and left a message for my doctor to talk with her about this. She was out of the day. Awesome. So Wednesday morning I got a call from the doctors office and they changed my check-in time for the induction to 1:00AM. Yes, 1:00AM. So our plans changed again and I began to start working even faster to get that "to do" list done.
We arrived at the hospital about 1:10AM (in typical Emily fashion, a few minutes late). I was *hoping* to get some sleep. I guess I wasn't be realistic. We did all of the normal check-in stuff. I was hopeful that they would give me a pill to start softening my cervix and I could wait until the morning for the IV to get started. No. Such. Luck. When I delivered Eliana two years ago, the worst part of my whole delivery was getting that stupid IV started. I informed the nurse of that and told her that evidentially IV's are hard to get started on me. She didn't seem concerned. Fast forward a few painful minutes... The nurse had tried two times to get the IV started in two different places. She blew both of those veins. The head charge nurse was called in and was able to get the IV started, thankfully with just one try. At that point it was about 3:30AM. The plan was to start Pitocin at 6:00AM. Well I tried to sleep during those few shorts hours with not much luck. Around 6:30AM they started Pitocin and I was able to get a little sleep. Around 8:30AM, my doctor arrived. I was about 4cm dilated. With my last two deliveries I received my epidurals at 3cm, so I was proud of myself for making it to 4cm without an epidural. (Those of you who have had natural childbirths are probably thinking I am a total wimp- and admittedly, I am a baby when it comes to pain). So at that point my contractions were uncomfortable, but not unbearable. The nurse offered to have the anesthesiologist come to do the epidural. I knew that I would get an epidural, so I decide to go for it at that point. Normally once I get the epidural, my labor starts progressing faster. My nurse came back and informed me that the anesthesiologist was in the OR and that there was one other person ahead of me waiting for an epidural. She offered me fentanyl to take the edge of things until I got my epidural. I had fentanyl when I was in labor with Silas and loved it (hopefully I just didn't come off as a drug addict)! So I had one dose of that while I waited for the anesthesiologist to arrive. He arrived around 9:30AM and not long after I was on the way to going numb. He gave me an initial shot that was supposed to last about one hour. After that, I had a pump of medicine and I just hit a button if I wanted more. (Obviously, there was a limit to how much I could have). So about an hour and a half later, I was pretty uncomfortable and could really feel the contractions. I started to panic a little thinking that my epidural wasn't completely working and that I was actually going to feel this birth. My nurse checked the pump- and guess what? The anesthesiologist forgot to turn it on, so I was getting no drugs at that point. The anesthesiologist came back and gave me another shot that started working instantly and then got the pump on so I could start using that once the shot wore off.
Around 12:00PM I was doing good. I had been able to sleep part of the morning. I wasn't feeling pain, but I was starting to feel pressure. My nurse checked me and said my water was ready to burst. She called my doctor to let her know. My doctor was in the OR and said that she didn't want anyone to break my water (because I told her that in the past, once my water breaks, things really start to move). She said she would be out of the OR in about an hour and would come break my water at that time... Fast forward almost three hours- my doctor was still in the OR. At 2:55PM, my water broke on it's own. My doctor was called and she came immediately. I was dilated to 6cm. My nurse started getting things ready for delivery. At about 3:20PM, I told my nurse I was feeling a lot of pressure- she checked me and I was 10cm. My doctor was called back. She arrived quickly and had me do a practice push. She very quickly told me to STOP pushing! We had to wait for a nurse from the nursery to arrive. While we waited, we all took guesses on what we thought he would weigh. I guessed 7lbs 5oz. Luke guessed 6lbs 10oz. The nursery nurse arrived a few minutes later. Two pushes later, at 3:30PM, our baby boy was born. He was born crying and absolutely beautiful. He had a head full of hair, was 18 inches long (just like Eliana)- and weighed in at 7lbs 4.8oz- which they called 7lbs 5oz- I guessed right! :) Luke and I were thrilled that our new son was here- safe and healthy. And literally, my labor was effortless. (Which my mom always says I would be feeling very differently about if I didn't have an epidural). :) Again, the worst part of the whole labor was getting that IV...
Part Two coming tomorrow...
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