Thursday we get a call bright and early asking us to arrive at 9am rather than 7am for my scheduled induction. I figured sweet...more sleep! Little did I know I would then get a call from the doctor asking if I could switch hospitals because the one I was scheduled to be at ended up full. I agreed as my parents had driven clear from Missouri just to be here for Little Critter's birth!
My induction actually began on Wednesday with a foley bulb. That took me from 1 cm to 3 cm dilated overnight. Yesterday after checking in at the hospital, the doctor came in about 9:45 am and explained she was going to check my progress, break my water and insert an internal monitor. I knew then we were committing to having a baby by the next day at the latest.
Pitocin was started very slowly starting at 2 and increasing to 20 in increments of 2. This was to ensure contractions were not too hard or too fast together as that could cause a uterine rupture due to the previous c-section with RC. So we started off very slow and learning what contractions even felt like! It took me a couple of hours before I really even really felt the contractions. It was pretty easy so far.
At one point I was rechecked and finally had progressed to a 4. I was pretty happy with that even though it seemed to take awhile to get there because the pitocin was started off very slow. Then it became stuck at 4...stuck at 4...stuck at 4 while my contractions were about 2 minutes apart and consistent. They weren't hard, but at a point where I was starting to get bad back pain.
Around 9ish pm I asked my nurse if it was typical to be stuck so long. She said it isn't a good sign but because I wanted to try for labor after c-section my doctor was staying pretty hands off to let me try. In fact she thought it was so important to me she was going to let me labor all through the night. While it was nice that they were really letting me try labor and see how it went, the time came to decide if it was really worth continuing to labor or get a repeat c-section. After discussing all the options and pros/cons of each a repeat c-section was decided upon.
Once I told my nurse my decision, she went to call my doctor and within about 30 minutes everyone needed was called back to the hospital! We were having a baby! Several things I am extremely thankful for with having decided on a c-section.
1. Little Critter turned out that he had to be vacuumed out even for the c-secrion. Had we gone "naturally" he most likely would have gotten stuck and an emergency c-section needed. In fact the nurse from the nursery said based on his size, length, and head size, there was no way he would have been delivered naturally.
2. The doctor found a small tumor on my ovary/fallopian tube during the surgery. She had this removed and it is being sent off for biopsy. Prayerfully it will come back benign as she said 99% of them are. Had it been left, even if benign my doctor said they can grow fairly large and cause issues. I would have had to have another surgery down the road had she not removed it.
3. Recovery. My recovery surprisingly has been better than the first time around. Possibly because I knew what to expect this time around. Had I labored all night though, the recovery process would probably be pretty miserable. Currently, I am not having to take any hard drugs to manage pain, which means I should be up and driving in no time!
For now I am just waiting to take my first shower and fully clean up. I still feel and look far better than I did with RC's birth but I know that can all turn quickly if I push it too hard!
Later I'll update with all the stats and some pictures of Little Critter!
