Due to complications I had during James’ birth, our OB has been strongly recommending induction since our first appointment with this pregnancy. I’ve been reticent about induction, but she made a strong case and I couldn’t argue with her logic. We agreed to induce at 39 weeks, Wednesday, Sept. 26.
In the weeks leading up to Ellie’s birth, I got more and more nervous. With the other two babes, I dilated and effaced very early - usually starting about 36 weeks. I walked around 4 cm dilated with James for almost a month! With Ellie… nothing. At the 38 week appointment, the doctor found no dilation, no effacement. She asked me to come in on Monday (two days before our scheduled induction) for an additional check so we could decide how best to approach the induction.
I had made a little progress by Monday, but not much. I was now *maybe* 1 cm dilated and 30-40% effaced. I was pretty disappointed to say the least. My OB remained optimistic - I had had two very quick labors before, she expected this one to go quickly as well. She sent me home and said she’d see me bright and early at 6:30 am on Wednesday morning.
Later that evening, I noticed some spotting. I know this is normal after a cervical exam, so at first I wasn’t too worried. But then it just kinda… kept coming. And not to get into too much gross detail, other stuff was coming, too. I even took a disgusting picture to send to my friend the doula to make sure everything was ok. She said it looked like I was losing my mucus plug, which was a good sign! I put on a pad because of all the spotting, but noticed that it was full and WASN’T blood. Sometimes I would stand up and feel a little gush rush out of me, but not even enough to overflow the pad, just fill it. I assumed I was starting to leak some amniotic fluid. At this point it’s maybe 9 pm and I’m thinking… I should go to bed. Because I may not get much sleep tonight. I asked my dad and Hans to give me a blessing and then went upstairs and got ready for bed. I also noticed I wasn’t feeling much movement, and it made me feel very nervous. I drank some juice and changed positions and waited for about an hour before I finally felt her moving again. This put my mind at ease and I was able to lay down and fall asleep around 11.
I woke up about a quarter to 1 due to some strong contractions. I also felt like I needed to poop, but nothing was happening. I started timing the contractions, but they were not at all consistent. Some would be a five minutes apart, but then 13 minutes, then 7, then 9, etc. They were all over the place. I tried to go back to sleep, but they hurt too much to sleep through. This went on for about two hours before we decided we might need to go in. Hans was calling the doctor’s office to make sure and I was standing in a hot shower to ease some of the pain in my back. The doctor confirmed we should head in, so we woke my parents, packed the car, and headed out around 3:30.
Everything changed on the drive to the hospital. I went from being able to walk and talk through the contractions to “HOLY HECK I AM DYING” by the time we got there. I couldn’t walk or talk and it hurt so, so bad. As they took me into the triage room I was already screaming through each contraction and begging for drugs. I remember looking at Hans feeling very confused and scared and saying that it hadn’t been nearly this bad with either of the first two, why was it so bad now??? The nurse told me she’d do my blood work and then get me some IV narcotics. She certainly took her time. I wasn’t very nice to her, but she kinda sucked. The contractions were so bad I was curled up on my side screaming in pain. My water was breaking, but not all at once. Every time I had a contraction, fluid would rush out all around me. I started getting this weird tingling sensation in my head and hands. I thought I was going to black out. I just remember feeling scared - it hurt so much and I felt like she was already crowning. The not-nice nurse told me that I was too far along - 6 cm when she finally checked - and IV narcotics were no longer an option. I wanted to murder her.
They finally wheeled me back to a delivery room. They wanted me to transfer beds, but I couldn’t even do that. I was in too much pain. I kept begging for the epidural and they told me she was “right next door.” At this point it was about 5 am and I’d been in hard labor and transition for about an hour and a half. They finally got the anesthesiologist in and she gave me the blessed, blessed epidural. It took what felt like an eternity to kick in, but the relief was so immense I could cry. The new, wonderful nurse confirmed that I was still having contractions every minute and a half and upon checking me, they found that I was completely dilated and effaced and said I should start pushing. I asked if I could rest for a little bit, and they told me that was ok and I could spend an hour laboring down. They came back and Ellie was still pretty high, so they told me to try some practice pushes. The epidural was really, really good. I felt great, but it wasn’t too much so I could still feel each contraction starting and was able to push on my own. Bless that anesthesiologist. Bless her forever.
It wasn’t our doctor who was on call, it was a Dr. Summers, who I had seen for the post-partum infection after James’ birth. As I was pushing, she discovered that Ellie was occiput posterior, or sunny side up. This explains why the contractions were irregular and so, so painful in my back. Instead of Ellie’s head hitting my cervix with each contraction, the hardest part of her head was hitting the small of my back. It also meant that she couldn’t seem to make progress past my pelvic bones.
Dr. Summers tried having me labor and push laying on either side, trying to convince Ellie to turn. No dice. She asked the nurse if she was comfortable coaching me in a hands and knees position, but the nurse was not. It went like this until 7 am when Dr. Summers’ shift ended and a new doctor, Dr. Esfandiari, and a resident came on duty. Dr. Esfandiari made a little attempt to turn the baby, but didn’t seem very confident. I was pushing and pushing but nothing was happening. I needed oxygen. I was getting scared that after all this hard labor, I was going to have a c-section because they couldn’t get her out. But they were very determined. They kept checking her and thank goodness, her heart rate and oxygen levels were great - she wasn’t getting distressed by the difficult labor. So they kept trying. Finally they brought in a fourth doctor, Dr. Oliver. She was not on duty, just happened to be in the hospital checking another patient. She was in street clothes. And she’s well-known at the office for being the magic baby-turner. She reached in and grabbed Ellie by the head and manually turned her. Even with the epidural, it really hurt. I pushed some more and then that little punk baby turned back to her original position. So Dr. Oliver had to reach in and turn her again. Ow, ow, ow. Dr. Oliver kept one hand on Ellie’s head to prevent her from turning back again and then I was able to push effectively.
I remember looking around at how many faces were around me. There were the three doctors, Hans, my friend Liz, and about 4 nurses. They were also two pediatric nurses just waiting to take and care for Ellie as soon as she came out. The room was so full it was comical. I remember joking about wanting to take a POV picture. I remember Dr. Oliver saying that she was supposed to be at the office seeing patients right then and she really *should* go… but I was SO close she didn’t want to leave. She jokingly made Dr. Esfandiari promise to help see her patients to help her catch up. I remember feeling like everyone was cheering me on, and it really helped! I remember pushing way harder than I remember pushing with the other two. And then finally she was there! Four doctors, three hours of pushing, and two manual turns and out she came.
She weighed in at 8 pounds and 3 ounces and 21.25 inches long. She had a full head of dark, fluffy hair. She looks so much like big sister. It took her a minute to start crying, which scared me a little, but she made up for it by screaming for the next hour solid. She immediately wanted to try nursing and latched on surprisingly easily.
I would say this delivery was easily more painful than the other two combined. But we are still very grateful that it went as well as it did. I am so grateful for the great epidural and for the wonderful expertise of the doctors. I am so glad that Ellie is strong and was able to stand the stress and came out healthy and wonderful. And I’m relieved we didn’t have to be induced after all! And thanks to our induction date being scheduled and planned, we actually were able to have my parents in town to watch the kids. It was SO wonderful not to have to worry about anything that was going on at home and know the kids were good. That part was so much less stressful than last time. We could actually rest and relax in the hospital!
Big brother and big sister love her and want to hold her all the time. We are so in love with this sweet, cuddly girl and still in disbelief that we are a family of 5.
