Induction due to high BP - easy, pain free labor!

In the last few months of pregnancy, my blood pressure suddenly became high but my blood and urine levels didn’t show preeclampsia, so I was just being monitored closely. I was going to the doctor twice a week for blood pressure checks and blood work. At 38 weeks it seemed like my blood pressure was going down and wouldn’t be a concern anymore. At my 39 week appointment, my blood pressure shot up to the highest it had been and my doctor told me I needed to be induced that night! There were no openings that night, so I was scheduled the next night (Wednesday February 28). At my 39 week appointment I was 50% effaced and not dilated at all, so I was concerned my induction would end in C section since it didn’t seem like my body was ready.

Wednesday, we check in to the hospital at 5:30pm. The nurse checks me and I am 1 centimeter. She inserts cervadil around 7pm (which felt like getting sandpaper shoved inside you). I took a sleeping pill that night and slept well.

The next morning (Thursday March 1) she checks me and I am 2 centimeters and 60% effaced. I get started on pitocin at 7am and immediately my contractions start at 1-2 minutes apart, but I didn’t feel any pain with them, they just felt like Braxton Hicks. The nurse said my body responding so fast meant I was very ready for labor and would have gone into labor on my own that day or the next. I got the epidural around 7:30, which did hurt a little but nothing extreme. The doctor came in and inserted my catheter and broke my water at 8am, which made me feel like I was constantly peeing myself all day. The nurse checked me around 11am and I was at 3-4 centimeters. I was feeling absolutely nothing because of the epidural and the day went by pretty slow. We (my husband, mom, and sister) just sat around and talked and watched HGTV most of the day and I got to nap on and off. I was not allowed to eat once I came in, and was really hungry throughout the day. Twice they let me have apple juice, but both times I threw it up. The doctor checked me at 2pm and I was at 4-5 centimeters. Baby was lower and lower each time they checked. He said he predicted I would be holding my baby by 5pm and we all thought that was a little crazy and that it would be much later in the night. Around 3:30pm I started feeling mildly painful pressure in my tailbone with each contraction. This was the first time I had felt anything all day. The nurse checked me at 3:45pm and I was at 9 centimeters! She said she would be back in 15 minutes to start pushing. She sat me up in bed, which baby did not like. Her heart rate dropped a little so they laid me back down and put me on oxygen. The pressure in my tailbone was getting more intense with each contraction even though I had been pressing my epidural button, so the nurse gave me an extra bolus right before I started pushing. She came in a little after 4 and we started pushing. The nurse was giving me a perineal massage with mineral oil with each push. I could feel pressure and stretching when pushing, but no pain. After 2 sets of pushes, she called the doctor who was at home (he only lived 5 minutes away) and said it was time to come in. After 2 more sets of pushing, she started to look worried and called the doctor again to make sure he was almost here. She was concerned baby would come before he arrived, so she had me skip a few contractions until he got here. Once he arrived, I did 2 more sets of pushing with the doctor and she was born! From the start of pushing until birth was 25 minutes. She was born at 4:37pm and weighed 6 lbs 15 oz, 21 inches long (she had a major cone head, and the nurse said she was probably actually 20 inches). I had a second degree tear which needed a few stitches.

Overall, it was a dream induction experience and a very smooth and pain free labor!