I can’t believe I am getting to tell my story! Yes this is going to be long, but let’s be honest, who doesn’t like the long detailed stories?

My OB had been concerned with how big baby was getting at 35 weeks. I am plus sized but did not have GD and had only gained 17 pounds my entire pregnancy. My husband has a huge head and big babies run in his family. Long story short, he sends me for weekly scans to keep tabs. At 38 weeks the scans are predicting that she is 11 pounds, all of her measurements in the 90th percentile but she’s proportional. I keep waiting to be told it’s for sure a C-section or given an induction date but he was pretty good at just letting me go along. I was feeling great! Only pregnancy complaint was intense carpal tunnel in both hands from 16 weeks on 😭 and I was really wanting to try to deliver vaginally.

At my appointment when I am 39+2 my OB gives me the option to induce the next day or schedule an elective C-Section. I decide I want to at least try to deliver so she puts me on the list for the next day and tells me to expect a call in the morning from the hospital.

Friday, February 7th the hospital calls me to come in for 10:30. We go in, they measure me at 1cm dilated and my cervix 2cm long. They insert Cervadil, monitor me for an hour and send me home with instructions to come back in 24hours or if my water breaks or if I start getting consistent contractions. About 20 min before we leave I can feel what feels like a period cramp starting and assume that’s what’s supposed to happen. We get home and the cramp just keeps getting worse. Doesn’t let up and is consistent lower abdomen and lower back pain for 4 hours. I try every position, yoga ball, shower, heating pad to relieve the pain and nothing works. My husband convinces me to call triage and they tell me to come in right away - that the constant cramp could cause baby distress.

We’re back in by 5:30pm. Baby is doing fine but they take out the cervadil. The pain immediately turns into contractions lasting 30-45 seconds but only a minute apart. I am also now measuring 3cm dilated and 1cm in length. So at least that hell pain did something. I’m officially admitted. I labour med free until 10:30pm, get checked again- no progress- so they break my water. I labour in the shower for a while but the very annoying student nurse is having a panic attack that every time I move she has a hard time getting a reading on the wireless sensors I have on. She keeps coming over to adjust me and is constantly in my space and I’m starting to lose it. I decide to get the epidural at midnight so I can at least lie down...since the cervadil had been placed earlier that day, the only way I could handle the contractions were standing and swaying/ dancing and I was getting tired.

Epidural goes in perfectly. Pure bliss. Highly recommend it. I don’t get checked again until 6am and still no progression even though I am contracting every minute or two for at least a minute long! OB decides to start Oxytocin and this is where I fall apart. Instantly I feel a change. Not necessarily pain but my body is reacting differently. I start puking, I can feel cramping in and around where the catheter is put in, even with the epidural, and overall am just miserable. I communicate that something feels off but they aren’t concerned because baby’s heart rate is fine. So I try to cope. Finally at 10:30am on the 8th, 4 hours with the oxytocin, I’m checked again and still am only at 3cm. OB let’s me make the call to call it quits and I’m wheeled in for an emergency c-section.

Sloane Thérèse was born at 11:58am on February 8th. She weighed 9lbs 11oz and is 21 inches long. The OB tells me as he is sewing me up that a C-section was a good call and that just the way she was positioned, he is not surprised I was not progressing. He had to use forceps in my incision to get her out! I had never heard of that happening! She has some bruises on her face from this but they are already fading well.

Overall, I am at peace with how it went as I tried the natural route but my body told me it just wasn’t happening. Recovery has been pretty easy so far and my incision site is healing perfectly. Listen to your bodies ladies and go with your instincts!