Anastasia's birth story

My due date of June 15th (Father's Day) came and went without any signs of labor. So, at my next OB appointment on June 19th (Thursday) I was only 1 cm dilated, but 80% effaced. So, that afternoon my Dr called back to tell me I would be induced on Sunday the 22nd at 5pm. We got lucky because she would be on-call for her group of doctors that weekend and would most likely be there for the delivery.

We arrived at the hospital at 5:00 pm to get checked in. My IV was started and at 7:00 pm the on-call resident doctor checked me and said I was 1 cm dilated but only 50% effaced. Huh? My doctor had said 80% effaced. The resident doctor inserted the first dose of Cytotec to help ripen my cervix and the induction officially began! Next dose of Cytotec would be at 11:00 pm. I had maybe 2 or 3 contractions on the monitor (I didn't feel them) before 11:00 pm, so when 11:00 rolled around, they gave me a bigger dose.

Next dose would be given at 3:00 am. When they checked me before the 3:00 am dose, I was still 1 cm dilated and had had virtually no contractions. But, by about 4:30am, it was obvious that the 3:00 dose was doing something. I was feeling the contractions and not really sleeping. The Dr checked me at 7:00 am and still no cervical change. So, no more Cytotec and the Pitocin was started at 7:30 am. By 8:15 am I was hurting and got a dose of IV Nubain for pain. Then, at 8:30 they broke my water even though I was still 1 cm dilated. The fluid was clear, which is always good.

By about 8:45 am the Nubain was wearing off and they said I could get my epidural. Anesthesia was paged and my epidural was in by 9:20. I can't believe how soon the painful contractions had kicked in once the Pitocin was started and my water had been broken! I felt SO MUCH better once the epidural was in!

They checked me again at 10:00 and I was dilated to 2! Finally some progress! For awhile not a lot was going on, just letting the Pitocin and epidural work and trying to rest before I would have to push later. By 1:30 pm I was dilated 3-4cm. Then, about 2:00 pm or so I was starting to have some pain in the lower right side of my stomach. The nurse working with anesthesia came in the do an "epidural check" and gave me some extra pain medicine through the epidural. It helped for a little while, but by 3:00 pm or so they had to re-do my epidural in an attempt to control my pain. My contractions were coming every 1 1/2 minutes or so while they were putting in the new epidural. It hurt so much!

By 3:30 pm I was dilated 5-6, fully effaced, and felt like we were getting close. That's also about the time I started vomiting. I figured that would happen since I had vomited so much during the pregnancy. Ugh!!! I was pretty miserable. At 4:10 pm they checked me again, and I was 7-8! I was starting to feel a lot of pressure and a few minutes later the nurse said I was like "9 1/2". The pressure was just awful! At 4:30 pm the nurse said I was completely dilated, but the resident on-call came in and said I still had some cervix left. So, for the next hour I had to "labor down". This meant that I would have to just hang out with the baby in the birth canal to help her move down. The epidural does NOTHING for the pressure and I could barely sit still in the bed waiting until I could push!

FINALLY at about 5:40 pm they said I could start pushing. The worst part continued to be the extreme pressure I felt. They thought maybe she was face up and that's why there was so much pressure. Right in the middle of my pushing, my nurse went to lunch and I had another nurse helping me push. She had me pulling on the end of a towel while James had the other end to help focus my efforts. I didn't realize how strong I was and almost pulled James into bed with me! For some reason, the contractions quit showing up on the monitor and I had to guess when to push.

About 7 pm I was getting so tired. James was fanning me and giving me ice chips, and I was getting impatient. The pressure was better and the doctors and nurses realized later that her head had been crooked and that was probably what caused the painful pressure. The pressure got better because she righted herself.

At approximately 7:20 pm my Obstetrician and the resident on-call came into the room to "see if we can't get this baby out" (my Dr's words). She started using mineral oil to stretch things out in an attempt to make more room for the baby. I continued pushing and at 7:38 pm I pushed one last time and felt the pressure change and then we heard "It's a girl!" James and I immediately started crying and he leaned over and hugged me and we cried together. He almost missed cutting the cord because he didn't hear her ask if he wanted to cut it. I didn't hear much crying, but when I looked over I could see Anastasia in the warmer with her eyes wide open and she was perfect! 8 pounds 1 ounce, 19" long! I didn't get to hold her for close to 30 minutes because I had a 3rd degree tear (they use a 1-4 scale with 4 being worst) and they were stitching me up for quite a while. After a miscarriage and 3 years of trying, we finally had our miracle! I have never felt so blessed in all of my life!