FTM Induction + No Epidural

Hi everyone! I think birth stories were my favorite part of this app during my pregnancy, so I wanted to contribute!

Our rainbow baby was due on February 27, and we were going to be surprised with the gender. My pregnancy went very smoothly and pretty uneventfully, except that I had been dealing with (all day) sickness for the majority of the pregnancy, and had been working a ton, so everyone was guessing that baby was going to come early! Unfortunately, baby had other plans. Once I passed 40 weeks, my doctor wanted to schedule an induction, so on March 7 (41+1!), my husband and I went in to have a baby at 4am. I was nervous about it, because I’d heard and read so many stories about difficult and complicated induction births, and really had been hoping to have a medication-free birth.

I had been dilated at about 3 cm for 2 weeks, and was still there when the l&d nurse (who was incredible!!) checked me. They started me on pitocin and upped the dosage every 15 minutes. I slept for a little while, and then had to go to the bathroom CONSTANTLY. I mean, like every 10 minutes. The poor nurses kept coming in and having to unhook the monitors to let me waddle over to the bathroom.. eventually they just showed my husband what to do!

At around 9 am (by now I’ve had the Pitocin drip going for about 4 hours), my doctor came in to break my water. I had contractions showing on the monitor but I wasn’t feeling them at all. She used a plastic hook (pretty much looked like a crochet hook, if you’re familiar with that) and there was a big gush of surprisingly hot fluid coming out. Within 15 minutes I could finally feel the contractions. About 15 minutes after that, they started to get painful. I would say the comparison to strong period cramps is pretty accurate for what I was feeling. They got closer and closer, and I was doing pretty well breathing through them. They got stronger and closer and it was starting to overwhelm me a little bit. At maybe 10 am, I decided to ask the nurse for a dose of pain medication in my IV. I wanted to try bouncing on the birth ball, but once I got the medication, I had to go back to the bed. It just made me me feel buzzed and I wasn’t quite stable on my feet! Around 10:45 (a little over an hour of feeling contractions) there was barely a break between them and my breathing through it wasn’t working so well. My husband asked if I wanted to think about the epidural, and I decided to ask for it the next time the nurse came. I kept thinking, how do women do this for hours and hours!

Well, the nurse came in and checked me before calling the anesthesiologist, and I was at 9cm! She helped me get through another contraction and I was at 10. No time for the epidural! I felt ok about that knowing that I would be done soon, and kind of glad because I had originally wanted to go without it. The nurse got on the phone right away to make sure my doctor was still at the hospital, because she wasn’t planning on me being ready until dinner time. A few minutes later, my doctor was there and they were getting everything set up. I pushed for about 10 minutes, and at 11:16, my baby was born! We finally got to see who we’d been waiting so long to meet—it was a boy!

He was a little stunned from the fast labor and was pretty purple when he came out. My husband cut the cord, and they took him over to the warmer right away. He wasn’t crying yet, so they had to get him going a little bit. A minute or two passed, and I finally heard him cry! It was such a relief. He was 7 lbs 11 oz and 21 inches long. They brought him over and I was so happy to hold him.

I still had to deliver the placenta, which was pretty uncomfortable. Once that was out, it felt so much better. I did have a little bit of internal tearing, but it was only 3 or 4 stitches. I actually said out loud, that wasn’t that bad. The nurses all laughed at me, but it really wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be! Pushing was easier for me than it was to feel out of control during contractions. I would absolutely do it again without an epidural.

Recovery has been gone well for me, and I feel so fortunate to have had such a smooth experience. Baby Will is 5 weeks old now and doing great! He had a tongue tie which made feeding difficult, but we’re getting that all worked out and now he’s gaining weight like he should. He’s just the best!!

William James - 1 day old! 😍

5 weeks old! ❤️❤️❤️