My Labor & Delivery Story!

My sweet pea is here!  And I've never been more in love.  He made his debut into the world on February 9th. Before I forget details of my labor and delivery, I wanted to write a quick blog on my experience and share with everyone as well!

My story starts at my 37 week check up. I went in and everything was routine, the urine test, the baby's heartbeat and then.. the blood pressure check. My doctor's eyes widened when the reading came in. She told me it was pretty high and asked the nurse to bring in the manual blood pressure cuff to check again. It was still high. She told me she wanted me to monitor it the next couple days and come back in that same week. I did as I was told. I went in after two days and ... Yes, STILL high. It was then my OB uttered the dreaded "I" word. 

Induction.

If you've googled induction, its a smorgasbord of horror stories of 4 day long labors that end in emergency c-sections, NICU time for babies and an overall very tough time for first time mothers. I was horrified at the thought of forcing my body into labor. 

My OB and I decided the induction would start the following Wednesday. I'd come in for a regular check up, she would check dilation and send me to down to labor and delivery to keep me overnight with Cervidil (a medicated tampon against your Cervix). The hope was that the Cervidil would prime my cervix even more, and hopefully dilate me a bit more before starting Pitocin in the morning.

I went in that Wednesday afternoon to my doctor's appointment. My hospital bag was packed; I had prepped myself for every horrible scenario and was ready to take on whatever would come my way (or so I thought). I wasn't as nervous as I thought I would be. The doctor checked my dilation and I was 3 cm! This meant no Cervidil, but they would still keep me overnight to monitor my BP and start me on Pitocin at 4 am.

My husband and sister were with me as I checked into my room and got comfortable. The nurse came in and walked me through what the night would look like. I had brought my own hospital gown, my own robe, my own socks - ladies, take the time to make yourself super comfortable in your room. It was the little things that made that tiny room feel like home away from home those two days. 

I was in the hospital bed in my gown and socks. And then came the part I was dreading the most... the IV. It was PAINFUL! What was even more annoying was every nurse to come in after telling me how good of a job the nurse who put in my IV did and how it looks perfect. If only it felt better. Jeez.  From Wednesday evening to Friday morning, that IV kept my arm useless, in pain and sore. 

Around 4  am, the nurse came in and started my pitocin. My stance on pain relief during labor was "if I don't have to feel it, I don't want to feel it". I had asked my doctor the evening before about when I could get the epidural, and she said that I could have it anytime I wanted – they wouldn’t make me wait until I was so-many centimeters along. I decided to get it around 5:30 am as the anesthesiologist was making his rounds. I definitely wanted to be pain-free before the strong pitocin induced contractions started. The epidural wasn't painful at all. All I felt was a tiny bee sting, followed by lots of pressure. I held onto my nurse with my life and it was over within minutes.  

The rest of the morning involved lots of waiting. I was numb from the waist down and I sat in bed waiting for something to happen. The epidural is amazeballs. I could feel someone touching my leg, but I couldn't feel someone pinch it. It was crazy. My doctor came in around noon and checked my dilation again. 4 cm. It was time to manually break my water. My OB told me that because I was a first time mom, she expected the baby around dinner time and that my body would take its time dilating. Now, it was just time to wait and relax. I spent the next two hours talking to my mom and mother in law, light napping and watching the news.

Around 2 pm, I started feeling slight pressure from the contractions and an urge to push. And this isn't just any urge, guys. It's this all-consuming urge to get something out of you that belongs elsewhere. I called my nurse back in and asked her to check me. I was freaking 9 cm. I was shocked. Here I was laughing and joking around with my sister and my body was actually doing something productive that should feel like the worst pain ever!? My nurse seemed shocked as well and called my OB in. I was told we would start pushing in an hour and my nerves kicked in. 

At 4:00 pm, things got real. It was time to push. My nurse and doctor came in and got my bed in the right position, helped me hold my legs, and told me when I was having a contraction so I could push.

I pushed. And, pushed. And, pushed some more.

Movies lie. You don't push out a baby in 3-4 pushes. I suddenly realized I was starting to feel everything cause.... Guess what. My epidural was starting to wear off. Yep, this happened to me. With the nurses, doctor and my husband assisting, I pushed as hard as I could for about 40 minutes, making slow progress. At around 4:35, all of a sudden, a storm of 5 extra nurses came in to my room. It was like the nurse pep squad - a group of proud mommy cheerleaders coming in to tell me I can do this. They told me to stop screaming and focus that energy on that final push. I wanted to give up, but then at 4:53 that Thursday evening, my sweet boy was born. 

He was here. And he was perfect. I'm not going to try to describe what I felt when they placed my baby on me. For all the mommies out there, you know the feeling is out of this world. 

And there it is. My very long-winded, 26 hour thorough induction story. It can be a scary proposition, but there ARE positive induction stories for first time moms.

Here's a few pictures of my little man, Zidaan!

Tomorrow is my due date and little Z will be 2 weeks old tomorrow. Crazy how everything worked out. 

Thank you for reading and keep us in your prayers!