From the time I found out we were pregnant, I was pretty sure this baby was going to be late, just like the other two. Our due date was June 3rd, but I jokingly told people I should just say my due date was June 10th because my doctor said he wouldn't really let me go longer than 41 weeks. So although I was pretty sure this baby was going to be late, when June 3rd came and went it was pretty disappointing. At 39 weeks, my doctor started asking "Why is this baby still in there?" His guess was as good as mine! At 38 weeks, I was already dilated to a 2 and at 39 weeks I was a 3. My doctor kept asking me why we weren't getting this baby out (inducing) and the only answer I had for him was that I really wanted to go into labor on my own (for once!!). We decided to schedule an induction for my due date, June 3rd. I scheduled the induction but didn't really feel very good about that decision. Not that I felt bad about it, but it just didn't seem right. So the night before, I called the hospital and canceled my induction and decided to just go in for my last appointment. So at 40 weeks I was a 4+ and my water was "bulging." At that appointment my doctor said that if I waited till 41 weeks to induce and my water broke before then, I wouldn't make it in time to get my antibiotics (for being strep positive). So we decided to schedule my induction for that Saturday, June 7th. I didn't want to get induced but this time, scheduling this induction felt right. That really helped me feel a lot better when Saturday came along. We headed in at around 830 and by 9 I had my IV and my antibiotics were started. I was a 5 when I got there, so that was promising!! They also started me on some Pitocin. Inductions really are not all that exciting, so for the first 3 hours, we just kinda hung out. Actually, I sent Ryan out to get me a magazine because we were pretty bored.
We had such a fantastic nurse. She had been an L&D nurse for 40 years and she really knew what she was doing. It was funny, though, because she asked me if I was wanting an epidural. I told her I wanted to see how far I could go and when I didn't want to feel any more, I would get the epidural. She took that as I wanted to try to go naturally. She was totally supportive and I'm kinda glad she thought that because she wasn't asking me every second if I wanted my epidural.
My doctor, Dr. England, came to see me shortly after we got there, checked things out, and said he'd be back to break my water later. He wanted to wait to break my water until after I had 2 doses of the antibiotic. The pitocin started to work and I was feeling more and more contractions, but nothing too bad. At noon, my doctor came back and broke my water and then the labor really started. My water had some meconium in it, which means the baby had a bowel movement in the womb. Because of this, there is increased risk for breathing problems with the baby. It was at this point that I was glad we induced this baby and didn't wait any longer with him in the meconium. After my water was broken, I got pretty uncomfortable laying on the bed with all those monitors attached to me so I got on the birthing ball to get a little more comfortable. That worked for a while but by about 130 I decided I wanted the epidural. My nurse wanted to check me one more time because she thought maybe I was really close and we could have the baby fast enough so I didn't have to get the epidural. She checked me and I was only a 6+ so she called the anesthesiologist. At this point I was on the bed from being checked and it was really uncomfortable so he couldn't have come soon enough. Dr. Rich walked in and was getting ready to do the epidural when he got a call saying that some other lady was still really uncomfortable. He told the other nurse that he would come dose that lady before giving me my epidural. I almost screamed, "no!!!" but kept it together as he walked out. He was probably only gone for like 5 minutes tops but it felt like longer. Ryan kept asking what he could do to help me and I kept saying, get that doctor back here!! haha. He finally came back and did my epidural pretty fast. It kicked in within 10 minutes or so and life was better again. :D After the epidural was in and I wasn't feeling any pain, I tried to just relax while we waited for my body to do it's job. My nurse told me to tell her when I was feeling any pressure or feeling like I needed to push. After an hour or so, I felt a little pressure and so the nurse checked me and said the baby was still pretty high and I wasn't complete yet. She also said that the baby was kind of sideways, instead of completely anterior like he should be. This is when I was so glad for such a great, confident nurse. She was so calm and told me he would turn so confidently that I totally believed her. She said as he would turn and then he will drop. So she had me switching from my left to my right side like every 5 minutes to get the baby moving a little bit. I said, I kinda felt like I had to pee, but I had a catheter in. I didn't feel like my bladder was full but I felt the pressure to pee. She kinda messed with the catheter and then she decided to just take it out. She left and then about 5 minutes later, I was feeling more pressure, but I was feeling kind of stupid because I had already told her like twice I was feeling pressure, and the baby was still really high. So after trying to ignore the pressure for a couple of contractions, I just had to call her because I was feeling a lot of pressure. She came in and said, it can be that fast, so let's see. She checked me and said, oh ya, the baby dropped. She said she thought the bulb from the catheter was somehow blocking the baby from dropping so when she took it out, the baby was able to drop.
The nurse called my doctor to come (he was only like 10 minutes away) but I was really struggling not to push. Even with the epidural, I was feeling so much pressure it was almost impossible to not push. I had to do funny pulse breathing through each contraction to keep me from pushing. The nurse would check me and then tell me, don't worry, as long as you don't push, Dr England will make it in time. And I would think, I really really really want to push!! My doctor finally walked in and so it was time to finally push. It was kinda ironic because while we were waiting for Dr England to get there, I was on my side and it was almost impossible to not push and then when he got there, I went to my back to push and suddenly, I didn't feel so much pressure. I only had to push for like 10 minutes and then our baby boy was here and he was perfect and healthy!!!
On June 7, 2014 at 4:47 pm baby boy Gardner was born! 8 lbs 9 oz, 20.5 inches and cute as can be!!
I was really dreading inducing again, but this experience changed my mind about inductions. It was a great experience and in the end all that really matters is healthy baby, healthy mom.
After delivery, I tried breastfeeding and Wesley latched on immediately and ate for like 20 minutes on each side!! He has always been such a fantastic eater, for which I am totally thankful for! We are totally in love with our little guy!!
Happy Birthday Wesley!!
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