Medication-free Induction Birth Story! (LONG!, oops)

My Lillian Grace was born at 38w2d at 11:38am on May 22, 2018, weight 7lb 10oz and 18.5in long!

Monday morning I was scheduled for a growth scan with the MFM doctor associated with my midwife. Baby has been measuring on the bigger side at our previous scan so they wanted to make sure she wasn’t getting too big. I had just finished up a 24hr urine collection since my blood pressures were running high, though I had no other symptoms. When they took my bp at the scan, it was 140/96. They waited a bit and took it again, 142/104. The doc called my midwife and she said to come in to L&D; and get checked out. My blood pressure chilled out when I laid on my left side, all the blood work looked good, and no other symptoms were present. Everyone expected me to get sent home, but when my urine came back, it was full of protein so my midwife decided it was baby time!

I got to the hospital at 11am, induction was decided at 1pm. I was at 2cm and partially thin, but still very high when she inserted the Cervidil at 2pm. That stayed in for 12 hours, giving me some steady contractions, but nothing that was stopping me from going about my business. They took that out at 2am and decided not to check my cervix until 5am when we agreed to start the pitocin. I tried to eat a little and get some sleep but people were constantly in and out because the monitor wouldn’t stay in place and we kept losing baby’s heartbeat. I finally managed to fall asleep and my boyfriend begged my midwife to give me a little extra time before they started the pitocin. She gave me an extra hour.

6am rolls around and I’m 4cm, thin, but still a little high. After this, everything starts to become a blur. The contractions came on strong quickly. The midwife that had been with me through the beginning was leaving, the next one came in and just so happened to be the only one in the office I hadn’t met yet!

I stayed up pacing in circles, sitting on the birthing ball, on all 4s on the floor, whatever I could possibly do to ease up some of the back pain, until about 8am. By that point, the contractions were so strong and close together all I could stand was laying in bed with the peanut ball. Again, the monitors were giving us a hard time, so I don’t think they could really see how close the contractions were coming. I felt like I had one long contraction for hours. The midwife stayed in the room with us the whole time since I was her only patient, she reminded me to breathe and assured me that I could actually do this when I started crying that I couldn’t take anymore.

8-11 is a giant blur of contractions and an occasional potty trip. The midwife said she was going to check my cervix around 11 just to see where we were. I got up to go to the bathroom just before that and when I sat on the toilet I got the strongest urge to push! I yelled from the bathroom “I feel like I need to push!” My boyfriend echoed me, louder and more panicked, so the nurses in the hallway could hear. My midwife told me to go ahead and try, and it didn’t matter what she said cause my body was already pushing. I waddled back to bed and she checked me and I was at 9.5 with bulging waters. She said she’d break my water and while she got the stuff together to do that, I went to sit back on the toilet because it relieved some pressure. My water broke when I sat back down! My boyfriends face went white 😂. She asked if I felt more or less pressure, and as soon as the next contraction came I screamed “MORE, DEFINITELY MORE!”

If we could have kept the baby on the monitor, I probably would have had her in the bathroom. They called me complete at 11:20. Everyone piled in the room and we got down to business! I tried pushing on my back, that was a big ole NOPE! I tried squatting but couldn’t get a good position in the bed and we didn’t have time fix the bed better. I eventually ended up on my side and pushed for a total of 18 minutes. It would have been shorter if I had been able to figure out how to “yell the right way” and yell the baby out. The midwife let my boyfriend actually deliver her! Neither of us knew that was going to happen, but he gets teary eyed just thinking about the fact that he got to be the first person to lay hands on her, straight from my body!

Induction wasn’t exactly my plan, but I made it through with absolutely no pain medication and I have never felt like such a badass! I had a second degree labial tear because she came out with her hand next to her face. Honestly, the contractions were the worst part. I was up and walking around the room by dinner time, and the next day I felt fine.

Recovery has been pretty easy, and I attribute that not having the epidural or any pain meds. I was able to be completely in tune with my body and not just blindly push. I completely stopped bleeding by 2.5 weeks pp. I couldn’t have asked for a more effortless delivery and recovery!