Induced Oct 11 to C-section Oct 12

I was supposed to be due on Oct 4, but that day came and went with no baby, so I was scheduled to be induced on Oct 11 at 9pm. I showed up at the hospital on time and got checked in and settled. The nurses started me on a half dose of the pill to ripen my cervix because I had started having some contractions, was dilated to a 1, lost my plug and had bloody show. They told me and my husband to hunker down for a long haul and that we may be waiting for progress as long as 36 hours. By 2am my contractions were strong enough that I asked for some kind of pain management and got an excellent IV pain killer! It was great and I got some sleep. By 5am the contractions were overpowering the pain meds and were only a minute apart. The nurses decide I should be moved to a labor and delivery room to be started on Pitocin, but not to get my hopes up for anything happening soon. An hour later the contractions are strong, but irregular and I ask for my epidural. It was a fabulous feeling and I was able to sleep until 8:45ish (no pain and needing to get up to pee because yay! Catheter!). At this time the midwife on duty comes to check my progress (we’ve met before and I’m very happy to see her) and I’m at a 4, 90% effaced, with baby at station -1, and water bag still in tact but I’ve begun leaking a significant amount of fluid. Midwife says she’s going to prick the rest of the bag to fully break my water and see where that goes before upping the Pitocin (i was only being given the smallest amount). I’ve still got the epidural and can’t feel a thing and it seems like everything is going nice and slow. As soon as that bag was broken, baby’s heart rate dropped dramatically and everyone went into emergency mode! My son was quickly outfitted with an internal heart rate monitor which only verified that his heart rate was continuing to plummet, stabilize, plummet again, and so on over the course of two minutes. I was immediately wheeled in to the OR and told that I needed an emergency c-section because they didn’t know what was wrong with baby’s heart. I agreed and signed paperwork and was switched from my epidural to general anesthesia in less than 5 minutes. Last thing I remember was being asked questions about whether or not I could breathe or feel my legs and then I was out like a light. I woke up to see my husband sitting in front of my with our baby in his arms. I asked my husband how long I had been out for (assuming at least an hour) and he tells me that he had just sat down and just been given our son. My entire c-section had gone down and been wrapped up in 15 minutes! I felt a little loopy from the anesthesia but no pain anywhere. My husband handed me our son and he latched on like a champ!

It turned out that my son had started gripping onto the umbilical cord when my water was broken and that was causing his heart rate to drop and spike. He was also much bigger than anticipated; nearly nine pounds! So this kid was coming via c-section no matter what!!

We’ve been doing great these past couple of days and are looking forward to going home! It was so surprising to see everything change and unfold so fast, but it was definitely worth it to meet my sweet Tristan at 8 lbs 14 oz and 20.75 inches long!