Chapter 3.. the induction begins

(My last belly picture)

The morning of the 2nd we had our scheduled induction. We went into the Labor & Delivery area of the hospital and were immediately taken to a L & D room. They checked my cervix again and I was still only dilated to a 1-2 and about 30% effaced, my cervix was also still very high. Since I wasn't dilated hardly at all they wanted to try other methods instead of immediately starting me on Pitocin also known as Oxytocin- (a medicine used to start uterine contractions). The first thing they tried was a vaginal suppository medicine that contained prostaglandins this is commonly used if your cervix is as unfavorable as mine (yes almost every medical personnel that checked me called my cervix unfavorable). My contractions started about 2 hours into the induction, they were painful but made me laugh, I was so excited to get this going and I knew with each contraction I was that much closer to meeting my son. They came and checked me after 4 hours and I was now fully dilated to a 2. Not the progress we were hoping for so we tried the next method, a Foley catheter. This method was really uncomfortable. They inserted an uninflated balloon into my cervix and filled it up with water. When the balloon is inflated with water, it puts pressure on your cervix, stimulating the release of prostaglandins, which cause the cervix to open and soften. When your cervix begins to dilate, the balloon falls out and the catheter is removed. After about 3 hours with that in and being really uncomfortable I went to the restroom and it fell out. I was so happy not only to have it out but having it fall out meant I was making progress. They came and checked me again and I was dilated to a 4. It had been 8 hours. My contractions were hard but I was handling them o.k. The pain however was making my blood pressure go up. Now that I was at a 4 they were confident enough to start the pitocin. Since pitocin makes your uterus contract the stronger the dose they give you the harder the contractions. They started mine out on middle ground. The contractions were intense. After about 4 hours on the pitocin I had dilated to a 5. My blood pressure was getting higher so they brought the anesthesiologist in. I would have to say that Epidurals are by far the greatest friend of a laboring woman. Why I held out for so long I have no clue. After I received my epidural they broke my water.
Ken was a little upset because he had gone down to one of the vending machines to get a snack and they broke my water while he was gone. He was awesome during the whole thing, every time before the epidural that I needed to use the restroom he would unhook everything like they showed him. He would get me ice chips even if my cup was full but the ice had melted a bit so they stuck together. He would change the channel/volume (no remote) on the t.v whenever I asked.

(Ahhh.... Ice chips!!!)

He was just so amazing through it all, holding my hand, and rubbing my back. He wanted to be involved in everything but sadly missed the water breaking. Honestly though it could have been karma for him sneaking in a snack when I was starving lol.
After being in labor for 12 hours I was able to get some sleep, every few hours some one would come in and check me. About 15 hours into it I had dilated to a 6. I still wasn't making the progress we were hoping for. They turned the pitocin up to basically turbo level. They could tell I was contracting and they were long but not how hard. They were going to put in an internal monitor so they could check the strength of the contractions. Before they were able to do this though the baby's heart rate dropped. Most likely caused by the pitocin being too high. They put me on oxygen and turned the pitocin down and waited for his heart rate to come back up. He regulated fairly quickly after they turned it down. About an hour later they turned the pitocin back up and waited an hour before putting the monitor in. The contractions were measuring really hard and should have been making me progress a lot more than I was. They waited a few more hours in between which my epidural was wearing off. I felt like a barbie doll with no legs. My legs were numb but my pelvis and everything in between was not. I was starting to feel my super intense contractions. The anesthesiologist came back in and did a prick and cold test after assuring that yes I was not numb he gave me a different medicine through the Epidural. It worked for about an hour then it wore off again. So he came back in and re-administered more medicine. Immediately after wards the baby's heart rate dropped again. They turned the pitocin down and waited an hour for baby's heart rate to regulate again. After which they checked me. Still a 6. I was so beaten. I felt like a failure, my body which was designed to give birth was not doing what it was supposed to. It was so frustrating. They decided to give the pitocin a couple more hours. Still a 6. At this rate my epidural was wearing off it seemed almost every hour, the baby's heart rate kept dropping which meant we had to stop the pitocin, which is what we needed to keep the labor progressing. I knew at this rate it wasn't going to work. The Dr's were concerned for me and the baby. My blood pressure was getting higher. It just wasn't working. My body couldn't do it. After 23 hours it was decided a C-Section was needed.