Pretty Positive Induction Experience

This is the birth story of the Birth I was Meant to be at.

As a doula I am always a bit wary of inductions.  You just never know how they will go, fast and easy or long and complicated.   I have been to both.  So I was unsure what would happen when Natalie called to tell me she was getting induced that afternoon.  It wasn’t really a surprise as she was past 41 weeks and I knew she was going in for a NST.

They discovered her fluid levels were about 4.  Natalie also had a feeling like it was time for her baby boy Eli to be born, so it was decided to head to the hospital for an induction.

She called me around 3:30 and I said I would be to the hospital by 6. I got there around 5:40 and she was answering TONS of questions.  It seems like they add more each week.  Her first nurse was Pam, mom to 7 kids!

Around 6:30 Natalie started listening to the Fear Clearing CD, the pitocin was on and her Pressure Waves were picking up.

Her pitocin pump started beeping 3 different times and that was distracting.  We finally got that figured out.   Natalie got a new nurse, Tammy at 7:30 and Dr. Tran came in and suggested breaking her water and doing an amnio-infusion, where they pump saline solution into the uterus.

Natalie agreed to that and by  8:30 she was on the birth ball and her pressure waves were getting longer and stonger and closer together.

By 9:00 she asked the pit to be turned down a bit, as the pressure waves were coming about every 2-4 minutes and pretty intense.  Tammy turned it down a explained it may slow things down and they were where they wanted them to be.  We said, “Let’s turn it town and see what happens”  So she turned it down to 4ml.

At 10 Natalie tried hands and knees and then 10:20 she started dancing with Ben through each pressure wave. Her pressure waves had stayed about 4 minutes apart and were still intense.  She asked to have it turned down again at 10:40 and Tammy turned it down to 3ml.  Natalie was doing great, relaxing through the pressure waves!

At 11:15 Natalie wanted to be checked. But she didn’t want to know where she was at.  Tammy checked her and I made the mistake of watching when she typed the info in.  8cm 0 station 90% effaced.  I was thrilled!  Pitocin and all and Natalie was doing great.

Her pressure waves stayed consistent.  She laid on her side for awhile and then started dancing with Ben again.  She also started chanting something through each pressure wave. It was hard to tell what it was.  But Ben finally figured it out.  “Big Warm Hug”

They stated setting the room up and Dr. Tran came.  Natalie asked if I knew where she was at.  I made the mistake of telling her 8cm.

When Natalie still didn’t feel like pushing an hour later, Tammy had someone else check her, because she wasn’t sure if her last check was right.  The new nurse figured she was 5cm.  So Dr. Tran came to check her as she had originally checked her when she started.  Indeed at 12:30 Dr. Tran checked her and found she was 5cm and her cervix was still very posterior.  She tried pulling it forward after she checked her.

When Natalie figured out she was at 5cm.  She lost her focus.  At 12:45 she decided she wanted an epidural. She was very tired and now maybe a bit frustrated as well.   (I really wish I hadn’t of told her she was at an 8)

She got her epidural by 1:10 and we all took a short nap.  She started laying on her left side.  But at some point she was starting to feel uncomfortable and wanted a bolus.  The nurse checked her around 2:00 and she was still at 5cm, but her cervix was anterior!  She decided no bolus yet.

I suggested she lay on her other side, so we switched her to her right side.  About 40 minutes later she asked to be checked again.  2:40 She was complete! Dr. Tran was at a birth at the other hospital, so Natalie tried not to push (she was feeling a lot of pressure) during her pressure waves.  I reassured her there were other Dr’s that could catch so to just let her body do what it knew how to do.

Dr. Tran arrived at 3:10 and Natalie started to push.    Dr. Tran started out with directed pushing, but Natalie told her that she could really feel what was going on, so didn’t want directed pushing.   Natalie would breathe down and out and was making slow and steady progress.  At 3:29 her sweet Eli was born!

(The AWESOME thing is, she had a 4th degree tear with her first baby and that is one reason she wanted to do mother directed pushing, this time she had a 1st degree tear, which was so great!!!)

He had a little trouble breathing at first so they had to take him to the warmer, but once the nurse cleared out his throat he gave some nice big cries.  After a few minutes he was back in his moms arms!  Once Natalie was all situated she started nursing him.  He had a nice latch, on the first side he would latch on and suck a minute and fall asleep.  After about 15 mintues, we switched sides and he got SO mad.  It was like he was saying, “I was comfy and happy, why are you messing with me?”

On the other side he latched on and nursed very consistently for a good 20 minutes.

I am so glad that it worked out that I could be at their birth!   It was lovely and Natalie did awesome!  I really think if she hadn’t had pitocin, she could have done it without an epidural.  Pitocin can make it like you are in Transformation for hours!  However she did awesome and I think that this is one of those times when epidurals can be a good choice.  Let mom rest and gather strength for pushing.  It was a really good epidural, light enough to let her feel to push!