Dillon Alfred- a very successful induction!

My angel was born 6:40pm Friday April 23, 2010. I was due on April 18th and my OB, Dr. Prince, said we can induce on the 23rd. I was a fingertip dialed and cervix soft the week before so we decided to go for it. I was of course nervous- what if it doesn't work and I end up needing a c-section after days of labor. I never could have imagined it going the way it did. I arrived at North Shore Manhasset at 6am for a 7am induction. The hospital had 17 women go into labor the night before so there were no L&D rooms available. We were set up in triage- which is a room w/ 2 other beds and one triage nurse. It wasn’t bad though, since we figured it would take awhile for anything to start. The resident came in around 7am and I was 1 cm. and 50% effaced- so a good start! He inserted 1 dose of cidetex (sp?) all the way up in there, lol. This is supposed to soften the cervix, but he said this usually doesn’t do anything and they give a second dose in 3 hours. Thank god we thought to bring the laptop, I decided to nap for the long day ahead and DH played on the laptop. 3 hours later they inserted a double dose of the drug and told us we’ll be checked again in 6 hours! We were like, oh man this is going to go on forever! They told me I was contracting but not regularly- I didn’t feel anything. My OB was checking on me every couple of hours and kept asking if it hurt yet and I kept saying no- he seemed so disappointed lol. However he told me he was going to deliver the baby by 8pm and we didn’t believe it since I hadn’t progressed yet.
Around 3pm I started feeling some light cramping- nothing bad at all though. By 3:30 we were moved to a L&D room that opened up. At 4 pm our long 6 hour wait was up and my OB came in to check on me. He said we’re looking for 2-3 cm. He checked me and said ‘but we’ll take 1-2 cm’. He broke my water and made me 2 cm. Breaking my water hurt so bad I cried. My DH told me he wanted to beat up our OB for hurting me like that, lol. I felt the water come out but didn’t seem like a gush- just a stream. My OB told me the contractions will start coming on stronger now and could get my epi now if I wanted. I didn’t want the epi to slow anything down so I said I would wait it out a bit- my goal was to make it to 5pm. Well the contractions started coming on strong and hard after that. I always got period pain in my back so that’s where the contractions centered. The contractions were 2 min.s apart, lasting close to a minute each. They hurt badly, DH rubbed my back and breathed with me through them, he was a fantastic coach. I was nice to have the break in between- made the pain much more bearable. It was rough though and I could not wait for the epi! Finally it was 5pm and I made it through an hour of hard labor! They checked me and I was only 3 cm, I thought all that work and only 1 cm! Oh well, I wasn’t waiting any longer and I ordered the epi. The epi def hurt going in and it was uncomfortable having to sit still during contractions. But it actually felt good to sit up- with an induction you’re on an IV and have to stay laying down the whole time- which def makes the pain of contractions worse.
So the epi goes in and I instantly feel relief on one side- it took another 15 min.s to get relief on the other side but oh my god what a difference when I did. I didn’t feel any of the contraction pain, but did start feeling pressure down below and thought this must be normal. I told the nurse and she looked at me like you feel pressure already? She said she was wondering why she was seeing deceleration in the baby’s heart rate already- the baby was moving on down! She checked me at 6pm and I was 8 cm dilated!! I was like shut up- lol, I could not believe I had dilated 5 cm in one hour- and on the epi! She said it could take a few hours to go from 8-10. All of a sudden the pressure got really strong, like I could feel the baby’s head down there ready to go. It hurt like hell- I had no idea you could feel all that pain with an epi. It was very painful pressure down below. I give anyone who does this without drugs a ton of credit- I can’t even imagine how painful that is without some drugs. The nurse told me to lay on my side and push however feels naturally. I was so nervous- I couldn’t believe this was happening already. I looked at DH and started to cry- I just never expected to be pushing already. He reassured me and I started to push through the pressure with my legs closed. It did feel somewhat better to push but still hurt. She checked me again around 6:20 pm and started to page the doctor. I remember her setting everything up and thinking- oh my god we’re so close. Then the nurse said she would start pushing with me- she opened my legs and told me to hold my legs and curl over my belly and push while holding my breath. I followed along and pushed- I’m not going to lie, it really hurt- lots of stinging and burning. My OB came in and checked me and said your 10 cm and ready! They put my legs on some stirrup boards and everyone began coaching my through the pushing. I remember grunting and I did a couple of ‘oh F’ at the end of a push- I remember apologizing and the resident was like we’ve heard much worse. 6 coached pushes later and my OB said the head is out- look down. I couldn’t believe it- I looked and saw my lil man’s head sticking out. Than the best part- my OB told me to just gently push however it feels naturally. I gave a couple of easy pushes and Dillon was born! They pulled him out and laid him on my chest. We hung out like this for about 20 mins. in the most amazing blissfulness! They then took him over to the warmer to wash him up and swaddle him and discovered that my lil boy had pooped all over me, LOL. Like an enormous amount of poop! I didn’t care one bit.
My DH had watched the whole delivery and cut the cord (something he said he didn’t want to do going into this)! About a half hour later my DH went out to make the big announcement- It’s a boy! And the whole family came into the room and hung out for a good half hour. It was amazing and I was on the biggest high of my life! I couldn’t believe how amazing I felt, it was the greatest thing I had ever done! They took Dillon about an 1 hr and ½ after he was born to the nursery for the bath and testing. I wasn’t getting him back for 3 hours ?. The high lasted most of that time but I def started crashing towards the end. I did tear but not too badly- I think I heard them say 2nd degree tear. My recovery has been really good except that they put me on a magnesium IV for 24 hours so I couldn’t do much moving around, but we were still released Sunday. So that’s it- a long wait but only 3 hours of labor and I didn't even need pitocin! I feel so lucky to have had such an amazing birth experience!

Dillon Alfred
April 23, 2010
8 lbs.
21 inches

Here are some pics of my lil man (more in album):

Message edited 4/29/2010 1:41:51 PM.

Re: Dillon Alfred- a very successful induction!

awwwww he's so cute!!! congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: Dillon Alfred- a very successful induction!

YAY!!!

Your story is so great, I loved reading it and I am so happy you had a good experience w/induction

Dillon is an absolute angel!! Congratulations

Re: Dillon Alfred- a very successful induction!

Aww so amazing, and makes me not as scared about an induction!!!! Beautiful baby boy!

Re: Dillon Alfred- a very successful induction!

Shiv your story made me cry. You look amazing, your son is BEAUTIFUL as was your labor story. Congrats on your little boy!!!! I am so happy for you!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: Dillon Alfred- a very successful induction!

Yey Congrats!! Hes beautiful.. and born on my birthday April 23rd is a good day

Re: Dillon Alfred- a very successful induction!

Thrilled for you! He's beautiful and you're smile made me cry - sheer joy is written all over your face!!
Congrats!

Re: Dillon Alfred- a very successful induction!

he is PERFECTION awesome birth story, congratulations

Re: Dillon Alfred- a very successful induction!

Shiv-----I loved reading your story! So sorry that breaking your water hurt so bad----i never heard that before.

Your son is beautiful! Hope u r enjoying being a mommy so far!

Re: Dillon Alfred- a very successful induction!

COngratulations Shiv! Boys are awesome! Hope you're doing well and settling in!

Re: Dillon Alfred- a very successful induction!

Congratulations!!! And thanks for sharing your whole story!

Enjoy your DS !

Re: Dillon Alfred- a very successful induction!

So cute!! Congrats!!

Re: Dillon Alfred- a very successful induction!

He is adorable!!
Congrats to you and DH!!!

Re: Dillon Alfred- a very successful induction!

great story! the picture of you holding him..you just went through labor and you look great!!!
congrats!!