*ANS*: Carter Andrew's induction story

Posted Thursday, October 25, 2007 11:21 PM

Carter Andrew was born on Thursday 8-9-07 at 3:21 p.m. -- exactly 3 weeks early. He was 6 pounds, 10 ounces, and 19 inches long. He came out screaming and completely healthy; we are so completely in love.

The Beginning
On Wednesday I went in for my weekly appointment at 9 a.m. and my BP would not go down. My doctor sent me over to the hospital to be monitored and we spent about 6 hours on the monitors. The baby was doing really well but my BP was just barely going down so my doctor came in and said that Thursday would be the day!

Induction
I stayed the night on Wednesday and they placed cervidil in my cervix to ripen it since I was only a fingertip dilated at my appointment that morning. She also stripped my membranes (OUCH). That next morning at 6 a.m. I was placed on Pitocin and my water was broken. That also hurt like a sonofabitch because I was only 1 cm dilated at that point. That sealed the deal that I would be getting the epi.

The Heavenly Epidural
I started having contractions almost immediately and I have to say I give mad props to anyone that has a baby naturally because they sucked. I lasted about 2 hours before I got the epidural and was in heaven. It didn't hurt at all to get it and I felt immediate relief. I told Hugh I wanted Carter's middle name to be epidural b/c we were still undecided on middle names at that point.

Things Moving Quickly!
At 2:15 I was checked and was only 3 cm. I was a bit frustrated thinking it would take forever to have this baby and sent my Mom and sister out to go shopping thinking it would be a while, plus I wanted to nap. I started feeling him drop down and pressure with contractions after 30 minutes but figured it was just him moving down a bit. At 3:12 my OB came and checked me and almost fainted because I was 10 cenimenters! I went from 3 cm to 10 in an hour.

He's Here!
They had to tell me not to push so they could break down the bed and get things set up. Once they did, I pushed for 9 minutes and Carter was born! It was a lot easier than I was expecting. :-)

Recovery has been awesome, I had one tiny stitch but really no pain down there. I'm really, really tired though. Breastfeeding is actually going pretty well, I'm supplementing until my milk comes in but I think we are close. My hospital does post-natal massages in your room and that was such a treat. My birth experience was so amazing, I actually look forward to doing it all again.