rexandbrooke: Kylie's Induction Birth Story
Posted
Thursday, September 09, 2010 12:14 PM
"My hubby was great throughout the process, holding on to my arm and holding up one of my legs the whole time. I hadn't thought that I would want anyone touching me, but it was so comforting knowing he was right there."
Past due
My due date came and went so I was scheduled for an induction on August 3rd, 2010. We checked in at 1:15 pm and I was taken to triage so I could get undressed, answer a million questions, and have the doctor check to see if I had made any progress since my last appointment. The last time around I had been 3 cm dilated and 70% effaced and now I was about 5 cm dilated and 80% effaced and baby girl was at 0 station! I was so happy that I had made more progress and hoped that this would mean a faster labor. They then took us to the birthing suite and got me settled in and had me started on Pitocin around 3:30 pm. By 6 pm they had upped my dosage three times and I was still at 5 cm. The contractions were getting stronger and closer together and I felt crampy but no pain just yet...
At 8 pm the doctor checked in on me and since I was still at 5 cm she decided to manually break my water. Well, my water did NOT want to break. It took the doctor almost a minute to do that, which was a tad uncomfortable to say the least. However, breaking my water did the trick - my contractions started to get stronger and more painful. I was trying to make it as long as I could without an epidural. I gave in at 9:30 pm and requested it. My pain level was probably at a 7 on a 1-10 scale. The contractions felt like the worst constipation EVER! The anethesioligist came in at 10 pm and started the process of putting the epidural in.. taking 40 minutes to do so! It didn't hurt when she was putting it in; it was just really uncomfortable hunching my back and trying to stay still during the contractions. It was a very strange feeling when she started the pain medication because I could feel the coldness running down my back. Luckily the epidural worked perfectly. In about 10 minutes, I couldn't feel any pain just pressure, and I was still able to move the lower half of my body. The nurse then inserted the catheter and checked my progress, and I was at 8 cm! My hubby got to come back in and we relaxed for a little while, since I was much more pleasant to talk to after the drugs. At midnight I had made it to 9 cm, and my hubby and I were able to sleep on and off for awhile. The contractions had slowed down even though they had upped the pitocin, so this part went really slowly. At this point,I had watched enough Hannah Montana, iCarly, and Suite Life on Deck to last a lifetime, since the Disney channel was the best option out of the channels the hospital had.
Get the show on the road!
At 4 am the doctor came in and checked my progress stating, "You're fully dilated and effaced! Time to push!". This threw hubby and I for a loop because one minute we were sleeping and the next minute, five people were in the room with us telling us we were about to have a baby! I was really lucky to have two nice young women doctors, the head nurse, and a great pedi nurse in the room while I giving birth. They had me start pushing after telling me that it could take a couple of hours since it's my first baby. My hubby was great throughout the process, holding on to my arm and holding up one of my legs the whole time. I hadn't thought that I would want anyone touching me, but it was so comforting knowing he was right there. Throughout my pregnancy he had told me that he was going to watch the entire birth, but it turns out a couple glances were just fine with him.
Here comes Kylie
Less than 20 minutes later at 4:38 am, Kylie Louise was born and put directly on my chest. It was an out of body experience, seeing her there, realizing that this was the little person that was inside of me for 9 months. She didn't cry right away so the nurse took her and cleared out her lungs and then she started this little squeaky cry and was quiet again. My hubby was with her the whole time as she was weighed, measured, cleaned up, given eye drops and shots. Kylie weighed 6 lbs 15 oz and was 19 3/4 inches long. I ended up needing just two small stiches put in, the doctor said it was a small labial tear, not even considered a 1st degree tear so I really lucked out big time with that. Then we were taken to the recovery room...
Recovering & feeling blessed
My recovery has gone very well, and besides some major issues with breastfeeding because of low supply, everything has gone fairly smoothly. Nobody tells you how HARD breastfeeding is! Don't give up though, I'm glad I didn't. Just set short term goals for yourself like, "I will breastfeed for one more day," it really helps!
I feel truly blessed to have such a great birthing experience, such a great hubby, a wonderful medical staff, and a beautiful baby girl!
> Want to share your birth story? Email it now to Bump Eileen at echu@theknot.com.