Induction

I went to the doctor for my 39-week check-up. She said I was "high and tight" and not dilated at all. Since she thought this baby may not want to come anytime soon, she scheduled an induction for a week after his due date. She thought putting it on the calendar may just make him come on his own. Because an induction was technically scheduled, she wanted me to schedule a series of non-stress tests to check that everything was going well in case I went past my due date.

The following Friday I went in for my first non-stress test. I had to lie down and they would monitor the baby's heart rate for 20 minutes to make sure it would stay stable. About 17 minutes into the test, I had a contraction and his heart rate dropped. Since it took him a minute to recover, she said that I would need longer monitoring and I would be sent to Labor and Delivery. I emailed Conner and let him know, but at this point I was not too concerned. The baby had two more "decels" while I was down there and the nurse said, "Well, it looks like you'll be having your baby today!" I asked her if she was serious and she said that she would show the test strip to the doctor, but she was pretty sure that with the decelerations he was having, I would most likely need to deliver the baby to prevent his heart rate dropping any more. Initially I was excited, then I was nervous that everything would be okay.

The doctor that was on call (my doctor, Dr. Brown, was not on until Sunday) came in and confirmed that I would need to be induced. Oh my goodness! I was NOT expecting THAT! So, she said I could go home, pack my things and come back that afternoon.

I called Conner and told him to meet me at home. We were going to have a baby! Ah, we couldn't believe it. I went home, showered, finished packing, ate a yummy BLT lunch, and we headed back to the hospital.

When we arrived, the nurse started an IV and drew some labs. She then gave me Cytotec- a medication to help ripen the cervix and start contractions. It worked pretty quickly but made my contractions come one after another and the baby's heart rate continued to drop too frequently so they decided not to do another dose.

The red line shows the baby's heart rate dropping. He would always recover nicely, so they felt comfortable continuing the plan to induce a vaginal birth.

Next, they wanted to try Cervadil. This medication would take 12 hours to work and I could just leave it in overnight. So, we settled in for the evening.

I was only allowed to eat clear liquids at this point. Jello never tasted so good!

My dad stopped by on his way home from work and he and Conner gave me a beautiful blessing. I truly knew that everything would be okay. I just didn't know how long it was going to take!

It was getting late so we started a movie and looked forward to a nice sleep while the medication took effect. By 11 pm we were so tired, we turned off the movie and went to bed.

I never went to sleep. Contractions were starting to come fast and they were growing more intense. By 1 am, I was gripping the bed rail with each one. Conner woke up and asked if I was doing okay...I wasn't. The nurse, Erin (who we LOVED), came in to check on me. She said my contractions were coming too fast once again. She said the baby was not allowed enough time to recover in between each one. Neither was I! She checked me (much to my dismay) and said I was a one. A one? Can you get an epidural at a one?! She said I could but she wanted to remove the Cervadil and place a balloon above and below my cervix to manually dilate since I was reacting too quickly to the medications. She placed oxygen on me while we waited for the resident to come place the balloon. The oxygen was to help the baby's heart rate recover faster.

I'm trying to look like I'm not completely uncomfortable. Once the balloon was placed, I was definitely ready for the epidural. Luckily, the anesthesiologist came quick. And, believe it or not I knew him! I played high school tennis with his daughter. Unfortunately, she beat me in the state tournament...however, BHS still took the title!

Then we waited...

And Conner paced. I had never seen him so awake in the middle of the night. By now it was about 3 am. He couldn't sleep. Neither of us could. They told us to try and get some rest. They wouldn't be checking the balloon's progress for a few hours so we were supposed to try and get some sleep.