This story is a little overdue and this was my first baby and I had polyhydraminos (excess amniotic fluids) but everything else was normal. However because of the excess fluid my stomach was BIG. My fundal measurement was 44 weeks at 38 weeks. Due to this, my doctor wanted to induce before I got too big and he was worried about baby switching positions since she still had room to move so we scheduled it for 39 weeks + 5 on Friday, 11/15/19.

Had my 39 week check up on Monday but still not dilated at all. However, on Wednesday 11/13/19 morning around 4 am I lost my mucus plug and was getting contractions. (There was a full moon this night, coincidence?!?) I went into the hospital around 11 AM because I was a paranoid first timer lol and thought maybe my water broke. It didn’t, but they said they were measuring contractions and I was dilated to 1.5 and was probably in the early stages of labor but sent me home.

From there I’m timing contractions all the way until 3 am Thursday morning (so almost a solid 24 hours) to the point where I can’t sleep and are 6 mins or so apart so I wake up hubby to tell him it’s time. Well at the hospital I’m only measuring 3 cm but am now 100% effaced so they admit me.

I decide to get an epidural around 6 am and at 8 am they check me again and I am already at 6 cm and my doc is starting his shift so he comes in to break my water and man was that a gush!! He was not kidding about the excess fluid and he was in the splash zone 🤣

By noon I am fully dilated and it’s time to push! They show me my daughters full head of hair with a mirror and I thought this is it! Little did I know... I’m pushing. And pushing. And pushing. Doc leaves and it’s just one nurse and my husband and me and I’m still pushing. An hour later, Doc calls to see if I’ve made progress. Nurse says I have not. I’m asking if I’m doing something wrong but not getting much advice, I think she is a newer nurse because she calls in another nurse who gives us advice and recommends other positions. However, my left side is beyond numb from the epidural because I had to lay on my left side because they couldn’t pick up my girl’s heart beat while on my right.

Now it’s been two hours of pushing and my doc asks if I’m getting tired yet (at this point I haven’t really slept for 30 hours) and seems to be hinting at a C-section. I do not want this and insist I can keep pushing although I am feeling very exhausted and discouraged. I ask them to lower my epidural dosage. Nurse thinks I’m crazy but does so now I can feel my contractions, however they have slowed down so they have to give me pitocin... I didn’t know this was a thing. My nurse gives me a half hour break from pushing while pitocin kicks in. And back to pushing... for another 2.5 hours!

At this point it’s almost 5 pm and my doctor’s shift is ending and he’s clearly getting impatient but I’ve made enough progress to use a vacuum so one suction and out she came at 4:56 PM, one day before I was supposed to be induced. It was not at all what I expected but my husband (who is squeamish) went above and beyond especially for having to be front row and holding my leg for five hours!

Her head circumference was 95th percentile so I blame her big noggin!

Claire Luna was born 11/14/19 at 4:56 pm and weighed 8 lbs 2 oz after 37 hours of labor