My Labor, Induction, and Birth Story

As it got closer and closer to my due date, I scoured the internet for birth stories. I wanted to see how other births went in an attempt to have a better idea of what to expect for my own. And as soon as I found out that I would be induced, I specifically looked for induction stories to try and get as much information as possible. So in an attempt to give other future moms another experience to read, as well as to document my birth, here is our story.

During my 36 week appointment, my blood pressure measured high and I had elevated protein in my urine. I also complained (for the third week in a row) of intense itching so bad that I was making myself bleed by scratching my hands so much at night. My feet itched so bad that I would take off my shoes while driving and scratch them against the brake pedals.

After being sent to labor and delivery triage for monitoring and testing to make sure that the baby was okay, I was diagnosed with Intrahepatic Cholestasis of Pregnancy (ICP), and told that I had indications of preeclampsia. ICP is a condition when liver function is affected, causing the flow of bile to be slowed or blocked. This causes it to flow into your blood stream, which after about 37 weeks of pregnancy increases your odds of fetal distress and still birth. It was decided that I would be induced 4 days later, at 37 weeks and one day.

On the day of induction, we were scheduled to arrive at the hospital at 10PM. We were checked in and sent to our labor room. The nurse asked me an array of questions, had me change into my gown, and hooked me up to an IV and stomach monitoring.

My last belly shot before Elijah was born

A resident came in to check my dilation. This took her two attempts and was painful, as I was not dilated at all and was only effaced about 15%.

Next a pill called Cytotek was inserted vaginally. This is a pill that helps with dilation. I was told that I would have to wait for about 4 hours and then would be checked for progress. The resident warned me that it is fairly common to need a few rounds of this pill, so I was prepping myself for up to 16 hours of this.

Brad and I watched TV and tried to get some sleep. Around 4AM I was checked and found to be dilated to one centimeter. Due to how much I was contracting, they could not insert another pill as they were worried about stimulating me too quickly and being unable to control this medication.

The next step was the foley bulb. Oh my goodness, I swear this may have been one of the worst parts of the labor. I was so glad that the nurse talked me into getting a shot of dilaudid ahead of time. The foley bulb is a balloon attached to the end of a catheter. It was inserted past my cervix so that it was between the baby's head and my cervix. This is supposed to put pressure on my cervix every time I have a contraction, making me dilate more quickly. It took the resident two tries to insert it correctly.
Then the balloon was inflated. The other end of the catheder was attached to my leg.

Due to the pain meds, I easily fell asleep. Occasionally the nurse would come in and pull on the catheter to get the balloon to hit my cervix more intensely. After a few hours of this, the nurse came in again to pull on the catheter and the balloon came out. This was a good sign that I was dilating, so after a bit I was checked again and was dilated to four centimeters.

After that, the Dr. broke my water (which was painless) and contractions started ramping up. Brad was so gentle, supportive, and encouraging during every contraction. I could not have done with without him.

Pitocin was put into my IV, which is a medicine to induce contractions and labor. I also got my epidural at this time. The anesthesiologist took THREE TRIES to get it into the right spot. At this point I was crying (emotional and physical exhaustion at this point). But my wonderful nurse was sensitive and incredible at comforting me as I leaned against her chest, ugly crying. during the insertion.

Once the epidural was complete, only one side of me was fully numb. I was feeling contractions on the left side of my uterus. The nurses tried rolling me back and forth to disperse the medication more. This worked for a bit, but I kept feeling contractions on the left side. And if I was getting an epidural, I wanted to be as comfortable as possible!

The anesthesiologist came in and gave me more medication into my epidural. That did the trick. I would still feel the pressure of the contractions, but not the pain. This allowed me to get some sleep and let the pitocen do it's magic.

My blood pressure did drop some (fairly common with an epidural), so I was given a super cute oxygen mask to rock.

Oxygen mask for the win!

After a few hours I was checked again and had dialed to 8 cm and was 100 effaced! I slept a few more hours, and then when I was checked I was fully dilated. My OB told me that she wanted to wait one more hour to give the baby a chance to move down a little more. I was at a station of 0 at this point, so baby was right at the cervix.

I started getting very shaky and nauseous around this time. I threw up twice and was given a cold wash cloth for my forehead. Once the hour was up, my OB said that the baby had moved down one whole centimeter and that it was time to push!

My OB told Brad to hold one my legs and a nurse to hold the other. I asked Brad if he thought he'd get queasy doing that because I was terrified of him passing out, but he said he was fine and did great. The nurse told me when a contraction was coming on the monitor, and then told me when to push. I could feel the contraction pressure myself, but it was nice to have extra reassurance from the nurse.

My OB was at my feet during the entire time I pushed. She was so encouraging and honestly made me feel like I was the only person in the world that have given birth and that I could do this. She let me know she could see the head, and Brad kept telling me how each push was getting the baby closer and closer.

Although it was encouraging, many people close to me who had their babies heads get to that point ended up needing a c-section. I was still very prepared for that possibility. My mom, her sisters, and my grandma all had c-sections, so I was pretty convinced that that was how the baby would be born. It wasn't until my OB said that I was at the point that if the baby got stuck, she would use forceps before a c-section, that I started getting excited that I might actually birth this baby vaginally! And while there is nothing wrong with a c-section, I felt so empowered that I might be able to have one piece of creating this child and bringing them into the world without so much intervention.

Most notable during my pushing was when my OB informed me that I was crowning, to which I shouted "I KNOW I CAN FEEL IT I CAN FEEL IT!"  After about an hour total of pushing, baby was born at 4:48PM.

Brad announced that the baby was a boy, and he was placed on my chest. I could not believe it! After all of the time, money, stress, appointments, medications, injections, and prayers, our son was here! Elijah Joseph Jordan weighed 8 pounds 5 ounces. I'm extremely glad I ended up needing to be induced early because this baby was a tank!

Elijah Joseph Jordan, 6/6/17, 4:38PM, 8 lb 5 oz

Once the umbilical chord stopped pulsing, Brad cut the chord. During this time, I did about an hour of skin to skin with Elijah and also breastfed him.

Brad cutting the umbilical chord

Skin to skin snuggles with our miracle

There are so many induction horror stories out there. And in some ways, it makes sense. Your body is being induced to do something that it was not ready to do yet. But overall, my induction and birth experience was amazing. I look back on it with nostalgia now, and am so thankful that we were able to get my sweet Elijah out before he was in danger of still birth.

Our first family photo

Brad and Elijah snuggle for the first time

Our sweet boy, swollen and bruised up from the rough ride he just endured

Did you have a positive or negative birth experience? Share your story in the comments, I'm obsessed with birth stories!

Love and Blessings,

Annmarie