1 week PP finally getting around to posting my birth story!!

We found out at our 39 week appt that little man had intrauterine growth restriction. We ended up electing to induce as his umbilical cord was starting to fail.

At 9:45 pm on May 1, induction began. I was only a half centimeter on arrival so they gave me one dose of Cytotec to help dilate me. They anticipated needing about 3 doses but after the first dose, I was already at a 2-3. They said that’s highly unusual and don’t tell my friends lol. PS- cervical checks HURT. I didn’t have any with my midwives before induction so I was not prepared. Honestly that was the worst part of the entire thing.

When I reached 2-3, they began pitocin. I originally wanted an all natural birth so I attempted to go as long as I could without an epidural. We stayed on the pitocin until about 4 am. Baby’s heart rate had been decelerating all night and they were pumping me with fluids & changing my position constantly. Finally at 4, they decided to turn it off & check me. I was at a 4-5 so they let me labor on my own for awhile.

At 7 am, they turned the pitocin back on & baby handled everything well. We continued until the pitocin was at an 11 & I was 6 cm. Up until this point, labor had felt like mild-severe period cramps. I was talking and having a great time. When 6 cm came, active labor hit me hard. I ended up having to be put on oxygen & had a panic attack. I tried really hard to endure the pain but my stress started making the baby’s heart rate decel again. I ended up opting for an epidural because if the baby didn’t recover, they were talking about a c section.

After the epidural, I was at a 9 within the hour & they decided to break my water. At this point, my midwife refused to leave the room because she was concerned about baby’s heart rate with broken water. It did go down tremendously and they had me on a peanut ball on my side. The OB was called & they were pretty much ready to take me to the OR. The midwife decided to check me & I was at a 10 and ready to push.

My contractions were only 4-5 minutes apart because they had shut the pitocin off again. Everyone piled into the room & I was absolutely terrified. I knew things were not good. I was still on oxygen and while I was pushing, the baby was not recovering between contractions so I had to focus on breathing in between for him. The midwife considered vacuum extraction but said we would wait to see. The OB was called back along with NICU. I asked would I be able to do skin to skin afterwards & she said only if baby was breathing & I realized how serious things were.

After 45 mins of pushing though, my baby came out pink & screaming. I bust into tears so happy he was okay & looked at my midwife & said thank you. I was so happy she was patient and allowed me to have the vaginal birth I really wanted. Most OB’s would have taken me to surgery way before then but she gave me and my baby a chance. He had an APGAR score of 9/9 & he is absolutely perfect, no NICU time. I ended up with a pretty bad 2nd degree tear & I was really glad for the epidural for all of the stitches lol. Baby was 5 lb 11 ounces, 18 inches long, born May 2.

I had everything mapped out and planned before my birth and honestly nothing went the way I had set out. I didn’t care anymore about any of it when I realized my baby’s safety was in danger. I would tell any mom, it’s okay if things don’t go according to plan. I cried my entire epidural because I felt like a failure, but I realized afterwards that I saved my baby’s life with that epidural & saved myself a major surgery.