Everett’s birth story begins with a condition call preeclampsia. I developed high blood pressure and other preeclampsia symptoms ate 34 weeks. I was then put on bed rest with intense monitoring. At 37 +3 I went for an NST and the doctor on call said my condition had worsened and we need to begin induction that night or the next morning. I had begun having consistent contractions that afternoon so I decided to hold off until the morning holding labor would pick up on it’s own.

The next morning 5-13 I woke up ate a large breakfast and went to the hospital to begin induction. Contractions had stayed consistently at 9-10 mins apart. At 2:15 I was 2 cm dilated, when they started me on Cytotec (a pill form of cervix softener.) By 5:00 contractions were 3-5 minutes and very steady. However at this time my blood pressure took a jump up and began reading 163/110. I was given blood pressure medications for an hour but they weren’t working. After an hour I was declared to have severe preeclampsia and a high stroke risk. They then put me on a magnesium drip, put me on a clear diet, and put in a catheter. I would not be able to leave bed until 24 hrs after the birth of our baby.

After just one dose of Cytotec my body had been responding well so the doctor had decided to hold off on further doses hoping my body would continue to labor on it’s own. However the magnesium given made my body reject the Cytotec and contractions stoped. After finishing all five rounds with no sign of consistent contractions, a folly bulb was placed at 7:15 am (5-14). By 9:00 am contractions were very consistent 3-5 min apart, but still fairly painless, I could feel pressure but could talk easily though all of them. Around 2:00 pm contractions stoped almost completely. At 4:00 pm I was checked, and the folly bulb had fallen out, I was now 5 cm. At 4:40 I began Pitocin. At 8:45 pitocin had been was up to 12 ml, contractions 3 minutes apart, but I still wasn’t feeling any strength. At 8:45 they broke my water and placed an internal monitor because the doctor thought I was having strong contractions, but jus not feeling them as strong as they were . By 9:00 pm contractions became 1-2 minutes, and very strong according to Dr, but I was still talking though them. At some point they began to become progressively stronger. I moved into side relaxation, My husband used a massage vibration on my back, but during contractions he pressed super hard, making the pain more tolerable. During contractions I just breathed, and prayed allowed. At 11:00 pm I felt a need to push. The mid wife came and checked and said I was at 10cm, but that one side of my cervix was swollen to closer to 7cm and I needed to turn to let the other side fully dilate. I continued on the other side trying not to push with each contraction. At 11:20 I told the nurse I couldn’t hold off pushing she checked and I was at a full 10 cm. They broke down the bed putting me on my back because I wasn’t able to labor or deliver in any other positions due to medication. The midwife was in another birth so I began practice pushes. At approximately 11:50 the midwife came and I began pushing, at 11:57 our baby boy was born! I was able to accomplish my goal of a unmediated birth even with induction.

After he was born and all the preliminaries completed. I began bleeding severely. The would press on my stomach and clots and blood would pour out. They gave me medicine to stop it but it wouldn’t stop. I began to loose consciousness. The doctor came in and determined that I wasn’t hemorrhaging, but that an artery near my tear had weakened because of the magnesium causing it to free bleed. The redid all my stitches and closed the artery. At 4 am they tried to move me to postpartum but I passed out. They tried again at 4:30 but again I blacked out this time not regaining consciousness until morning. I ended up loosing so much blood I needed a transfusion.

It was such a wild ride, but so worth it!!

Everett Pierce 6lbs. 8oz. 19.5in.

4days old.