At my 36 week appointment I had a membrane sweep and got my medical induction scheduled for the following week. Based on my status, I was to go in the night before for cervical ripening with cytotech and then my OB was going to come in around 8am the next morning to break my water and then we were going to evaluate the need for pitocin from there.

I was told they usually do 3 doses of cytotech (1 every 4 hrs). I got my first at 9pm and mild contractions started coming here and there. At 1am I was about 2cm and got the second dose. By 3am I was getting pretty irritable and basically demanded a break from the mandatory bed rest because there was no way I could continue to labor through the contractions while confined to the bed and on continuous monitoring. They found a mobile monitor for me and I spent some time walking around the room and bouncing on the ball. Meanwhile I’m letting hubby sleep because I knew I was going to need him later on (and of course I thought it was going to be an all day affair). 5am hits, time for my next check. I was 3-4 cm and contractions were coming every 2-3 minutes. My nurse agreed that I was in labor, consulted with my OB and we all agreed I probably didn’t need any more ripening. She was to check me again around 6am and then my OB would probably come break my water and see how things continue to progress.

I was then cleared for intermittent monitoring so I asked to spend some time in the shower to help relax. I got in and breathed through contractions for a little bit and then they got super intense... I was feeling like my pelvis was being ripped in half. I tried to use the breaks between contractions to get myself out of the shower and tried to pee before heading back to the bed.

I quickly realized that my urge to pee was actually an urge to push. I immediately pulled the help cord in the bathroom and screamed for my husband (who came running totally disoriented because he was still asleep). I ran to the bed fully naked and climbed on on all 4s just as my water broke. Baby was crowning as the nurse came in started calling for assistance and everyone was basically yelling at me not to push.

The room started to fill with nurses and the nicu team and they asked me to roll onto my back. Hard no to that! After what seemed like an eternity they finally let me push, 1 push and her head was out, 1 more and she was born at 5:45am!

I then got on my back to deliver the placenta and got my husband to grab a towel to semi cover myself. I had a second degree tear and so the in house doctor started stitching me up (my OB hadn’t gotten there yet). Holy moly, I wanted to kick her away, she did NOT put the lidocaine in the right place, so I could feel all of the stitches 😳

Baby had a short nicu stay due to hdfn but is doing quite well and shocking her doctors with her progress.