The induction 

 

With Oaklyn I had to be induced, I was 38 weeks and 1 day. When you have a scheduled induction they call you in the morning to tell you when to come in, it depends on how many women came in overnight. They called me at 7:30am and said to come in right away. Josh was out taking Echo for a walk so I started getting Ryden and everything ready. Soon after he got home we dropped Ryden off with his grandma and we went to the hospital. The nurse and my midwife were waiting there to assess me, we then had to wait for the doctor to look at everything. This ended up taking forever. Finally they said I was dilated 1cm and that was enough for a Foley balloon, so my options were cervadil which I had last time, this new medication that is oral (I can't remember the name of it) or the oral medication and the Foley balloon. I wanted to pick cervadil so bad, if I picked that one I could go home, but if I picked this I would need to go back to the hospital at like 10 pm and if I was ready I'd have to give birth over night. We kept looking at each other not knowing what to pick and my midwife finally says the fastest would be to do the oral medication and the Foley balloon, since we got there first thing in the morning we decided to do that and just get it over with.

 

With the Foley balloon they put it up past your cervix and inflate it with water causing it to put pressure on your cervix which makes you dilate. Once you hit 3 cm you just pull it out like it's a tampon. Every time I went to the bathroom I had to give it a little tug to see if it would come out.

 

The oral medication had to be taken every 4 hours so I had to be reassessed every four hours. This medication causes contractions and dilation and it has the possibility of kick starting labor and having your body take over. You can get up to 6 doses so if you get all 6, which I did, it'll take a little over 24 hours until the next step. The next step is going to the labor and delivery room to get oxytocin if needed, which I did.

 

Early Labor

 

First the doctor had to place the Foley balloon. This took awhile because the doctor was struggling to get the Foley balloon in or at least that's how I remember it and it really hurt.

 

Once the Foley balloon was placed and the medicine was taken and the assessment was done we got a room on the maternity side of the ward. We relaxed and watched Superstore on the hospital tv. I mostly paced around the bed and swayed back and forth because it was so uncomfortable to sit with the Foley balloon in. After the 4 hours was up we had to go back to the assessment room for more medicine because nothing was really happening. After a second dose we went back to our room and continued hanging out and watching tv. After the second dose I started to feel contractions, half way through the Foley balloon came out, meaning I was 3 cm dilated. My contractions started to become 10 minutes apart. That evening I got another dose, we called Ryden to see how he was doing, we had some dinner, my mom came to visit and we went on some walks. My contractions continued to stay at 10 minutes apart, they were slowly getting stronger, strong enough to have to breath through them but they really weren't that bad. 

 

Late that night I got another dose, they also gave me some Gravol so that I could sleep but when they gave me my Gravol something went wrong with my IV. It wasn't going in and it hurt so bad, more than the contractions so they had to take it out and place another IV. This was my fourth try by the way, it took them three tries when I first got to the hospital. I didn't sleep, by the time I got my Gravol the contractions started to get stronger, too strong to sleep. At this point we called my doula because I didn't know how long it was going to be until it turned into active labor. I also started using a tens machine on very low whenever I got a contraction, it helped with the pain. In the middle of the night I went for my next dose, the nurse said my contractions weren't strong enough for oxytocin yet. This time I got a morphine Gravol shot so that I could try and sleep. My doula showed up while all this was happening. I felt bad because we called her in the middle of the night and then we both just went to sleep when we got back to the room. But it worked out because the morphine made me feel funny, and I kept needing water but I had no energy to grab it. My body was sleeping but my mind still kind of knew what was going on. They let me go a little longer between doses this time so that I could rest. I ended up going for my last dose early that morning and I just kept kind of sleeping through all of it. At this point the tens machine was on low consistently so I could sleep, it continued to help with the pain. I had some breakfast and went back to sleep. Around 10 am they took me to a labor and delivery room to start active labor and oxytocin.

 

Active labor

 

Once I got in the room we settled in, they hooked me up to oxytocin. For a while I used the tens machine and different positions to get through the pain, eventually I added the gas which worked really well, apparently I was good at breathing lol. I again was here for a bit and then I asked for the epidural. I have no idea how long anything took because I had no concept of time. Last time my epidural only partially worked, this time it seemed like it was going to work. For about 20 minutes I got to relax and partially sleep and then the pain started up again. This time just in the labia area. After a bit I was in so much pain, they asked if I felt like I could push because that could be the cause of the pain. I said ya maybe, so my midwife checked me and I was at 4 cm, I burst into tears. Hours of contractions and I was 1 cm more than I was the evening before. My Midwife says “your cervix is paper thin though, it can go really fast from here.” At this point I was so tired and in so much pain, I said I wanted my mom. I originally didn’t want her there because I just felt like it was too many people (which it sort of was) but I ended up being very grateful she was there because there was someone to take care of just me. She showed up half an hour later and Josh, my doula and her were all around supporting me. When I heard I was at 4 cm I didn't think I could keep going, funny how we think that, as if we have a choice. They also kept feeding me, jello, yogurt, popsicles, juice, tea. I think they were maybe trying to distract me. Finally they check me and I get to push.

 

Push

 

I had pushed out my first so it wasn’t new to me, I knew what to do but it still felt odd to push, it felt like nothing was happening. I guess things were happening though, it only took 5 contractions and I pushed that baby out in less than 20 minutes. I was so determined, I was thinking, as soon as I push this kid out I never have to do this again. First I pushed his head out and then I had to wait for the next contraction and I could feel him wiggling, it was so weird, then as I was pushing the rest of him out I continued to feel him wiggling, so weird. I didn’t have this with my first.

 

As soon as he was out they put him on my chest and I just layed back and thought, I did it, I did it. When my midwife told me I was 4 cm dilated I didn’t think it was going to happen. I just kept cuddling him, he was so cute.

 

After I pushed out the placenta my midwife started to panic but not panic because I was bleeding a lot. My midwife was asking the nurses to get the doctor, I didn’t know what was happening. I wasn’t panicked yet because she was calm, then she realized it was the tear, it was bleeding a lot so she stitched me up while I snuggled with my baby, 11 stitches.

 

Postpartum in the hospital

 

After 50 minutes of snuggling with my baby I was getting antsy. I was ready to get up, I felt gross and I wanted a shower so I told the nurse. She said I had 10 more minutes of my golden hour but I was ready now. After 10 minutes I was helped up. I wanted my mom to help me shower, she is a care aid so she knew exactly how. Then she helped me get dressed in my jammies and I took my french braids out. I felt so much better and I got back into bed to try and feed my baby.

 

I asked my mom to order some pizza, I think I ate like 4 pieces, I was so hungry. At some point they checked Oaklyn’s blood sugar because it was a side effect of the medication I was on that he could have low blood sugar, he did. They had to give him glucose gel. A few hours of colostrum from boob and syringes plus more glucose gel and a bit of formula they got his blood sugar up and it stayed up. The next day Ryden came to visit and that evening we got to go home.