We went in to the hospital early on Sunday for an induction (I've had some blood pressure issues), and at that point I was 1cm, 75% effaced. I got started on Cytotec, and by the middle of the day I was still 1cm, 75% effaced. So they let me eat lunch--yum, free hospital food! They also started me on Pitocin. By that time I was having regular contractions, but they were not very strong. I got checked again at 5:30pm, and I was still 1cm, 75% effaced. At this point Mr. Smock and I were feeling somewhat depressed, because we wanted to get things moving and neither of us is very patient! But silver lining--they let me eat dinner!
My doctor came in around 7pm and said that if things were still unchanged after 24 hours they would let me go home, since my bp readings had been fine during the induction, and baby's readings were perfect. So again I was feeling depressed about the lack of progress. But the contractions were definitely starting to get stronger at that stage, to the point where I was even MORE depressed about the lack of progress. The plan was to check my progress again at 9:30pm, but by 8pm I was in enough pain that I didn't think I could wait that long. While Mr. Smock and I debated our painkiller options, suddenly my water broke at 8:30! It was really pretty gross. I had been sitting on a yoga ball and felt it happen, so I jumped up and it splashed all over my feet and kept squirting out for the next few hours.
My nurse was super excited at this point since it meant we were making progress, but I was in too much pain to really be excited. They ordered my epidural and I kept saying "Tell them to bring me my medicine! I need my medicine!" during contractions. I was checked just after 9pm and was already at 6cm! The epi was in by 9:30pm (and it was SO HARD to sit still through very strong contractions and the urge to push!), and by 10pm I was feeling much better. There was still some pain and discomfort with contractions, but the epi made a world of difference.
At just after 10:15pm, suddenly a million people flooded into the room, a light came out of a secret panel in the ceiling, and they told me it was already time to push! Baby's heart rate had dropped slightly, so they gave me an oxygen mask and got everything set up, and I pushed a ton, and at 11:14pm Smocklette popped right out, looking totally gross but very perfect. I was surprised afterwards to realize that the pushing was not the hardest part at all; the contractions before I received the epidural were the most difficult part of labor. Pushing was actually kind of fun, because I knew the end was in sight and the doctors and nurses (and Mr. Smock) were all so encouraging and positive. I felt this amazing sense of accomplishment after pushing her out.
In the end, I was 1cm at 5:30pm, 6cm by 9-ish, 10 cm by 10:15pm, and baby was born at 11:14pm. It felt very fast during the last few hours, especially since by 7pm I thought there was no way she was going to be born on the 1st.
Since then she has been a wonderful baby, I'm feeling much better than I expected, and Mr. Smock is just an amazing dad--a total natural, which is crazy because he has no younger siblings/cousins, and pretty much zero previous experience with babies. Breastfeeding is going much better than I thought it would, and we're off to our first pediatrician appointment in a few hours!
Thanks to all of you GotP ladies for the support and encouragement, and good luck to my other June moms and everyone else!
What a great story - thanks for sharing! You did progress really fast once you got going and I love hearing that pushing wasn't awful - I think your pov on that is great and very motivating!
Glad to hear you're all doing well and I love seeing you back on here so fast. It seems like ppl disappear frequently after the kiddo comes which ways scares me, lol.
Congrats! And thanks for sharing. Sounds like a positive experience. Even though things started off slow, at least you got all of that free hospital food!
Congrats again, smock, and thank you for posting your story! I love reading all the details. It sounds like you had a great experience. So glad to hear smocklette is eating like a champ and that your H is a fantastic dad already. Hope your recovery continues to go well!
Yayyy, congrats Smock (and Smocklette)! When did you get discharged from the hospital?
We were discharged around 7pm on Tuesday; usually they keep you for 48 hours after birth, but we were all doing great and they didn't want to make us leave at 11pm, so they let us go a few hours early.
Congrats! And thanks for sharing. Sounds like a positive experience. Even though things started off slow, at least you got all of that free hospital food!
No joke, one of my favorite parts was ordering hospital food! It was just ridiculously exciting to pick out my allotted 1 entree, 4 sides, and 3 beverages. I snuck lots of good to Mr. Smock, and even though it wasn't super delicious, it tasted pretty amazing at the time! Hospitals make gooood pudding.
Congratulations! I love reading such a successful induction story. Enjoy your new baby girl
Yes, it really did feel like a successful experience--and I had freaked myself out reading induction stories to the point where I was convinced I would go through labor and then need am emergency c-section.
The only thing I would do differently next time (holy shit, I'm already thinking "next time!") is get that epidural sooner! I had no idea what "6 cm" or "8 cm" would feel like, so even after my water broke I though I might only be a few cm dilated since things had gone so slowly. I was definitely not planning to get an epi at 7-8cm (I'm not sure hot far I was, but since I was 6cm at 9-ish and 10cm at 10:15, and the epi was placed at 9:35, I was probably at least 8cm!); my goal was to get it around 5cm.
The epidural was seriously amazing though. I kept yelling out how much I loved it.