My induction story - Long

My due date was 20th March. I’m 35 and had the easiest pregnancy! I enjoyed every minute of it and knew my labour wouldn’t be so easy, that’s my luck.

So my due date came and went, midwife booked me in for a sweep at 41 weeks, but my cervix was too high. Therefore induction was booked for 1st April.

After a very restless night my SO and I went to the labour ward at 10am for the induction. I had a pessary inserted to soften my cervix and was told to walk about and come back in 4 hours. After another check nothing had happened so another pessary was inserted. I started getting some tightenings so was excited for things to progress.

After another night of no sleep, I was woken at 4am for a check and was told my cervix had softened and was at 1cm. A few hours later the midwife broke my waters. I was so worried for this as had heard a lady in the other cubicle have hers done and boy did she cry and moan! Wasn’t bad at all!

At 10am 2nd April I started Oxytocin. My contractions started and went from 1-100 really quickly! Apparently this is was happens with the synthetic hormone, you don’t get the steady build up. I started on gas and air and after 4 hours it began to make me very sick. I then asked for the epidural. The relief was incredible!!!! I went on to have a further 2 bags of Oxytocin yet I was still only 4cm dilated.

After another sleepless night at 6am 3rd April I had got to 5-6cm dilated. The midwife did a check on the baby and noticed he was back to back or stargazing. His head was also twisted to the side. The Doctor wanted to try and turn him. She suggested I try pushing for an hour and then they would cut me and use forceps to turn. This had a 50% chance of working and if that failed a c section would be needed.

After 3 days of no sleep or food I knew I couldn’t go much longer. Plus the chance of infection was growing as my waters had been broken for over 24hours. I asked the Doctor to skip straight to the c section. She explained there was a risk of blood loss and wasn’t keen on it. I was adamant that I didn’t want him turned.

They finally agreed and at 9am I was taken to surgery. Then there were further complications! My catheter hadn’t been inserted correctly so my bladder was full. This stopped baby from coming out and all hell broke loose in surgery. People were running to the phone and making urgent phone calls. I was totally oblivious! My SO saw that I was losing a lot of blood and did a fantastic job of keeping me distracted.

At 9.46am baby Lenny was delivered! He was a bit bruised and bashed, but weighed a healthy 9lb 10oz, was 58cm long with a head measurement of 38cm! I’m so glad I didn’t push him out!!

I had to stay on my own that night in hospital and found it so difficult to hold and feed him. I just wanted to get home, so left on the Thursday. Since then I’ve tried resting up but am too active. I’ve reopened my cut and it’s got infected 😩

I knew my pregnancy was too easy and that’s the one and only baby I will have!