We checked into the hospital that night at 6pm for my scheduled induction. The nurse recommended we go eat, as getting everything going would take a long time. We decided not to venture out, and instead grabbed a quick bite in the hospital's cafeteria. When we got back, we settled in. At some point I was examined and had dilated 2cm in two days, and I was also having contractions, so it was possible I was already in early labor. We were elated.. until they later explained the massive amount of fluid was basically causing my contraction to have the effect of squeezing a fully inflated basketball. (No progress.) Normally, contractions are like squeezing a partially deflated basketball. They squeeze the uterus. That was not happening with me.
I had a mini freakout at some point. A doctor checked me on the basis of breaking my water, but Haven wasn't down far enough and there was significant risk of his cord coming out first with the gush of fluid- and that would result in an immediate c section.
So we basically sat around all night, tried to sleep. Which is super fun with nurses coming in every half hour or so. Anyway, around 9am, Haven's head was down far enough that the doctor felt comfortable breaking my water. So that happened. and OMG, ew. I won't go into detail, but Seth looked horrified. So, things progressed from there. I was given Pitocin and about an hour later requested an epidural. Sweet relief, lol. It didn't work with Liam and labor was awful. But this time, I could have cried from the relief.
At around 2pm, the epidural began to wear off and contractions got painful again. The doctor who came in checked my cervix and not only was I at a 7.5, but Haven had flipped sunny side up. By this point, the contractions were unbearable and I asked for the epidural meds to be done again. Before they called the anesthesiologist, they had me roll to my right side and then back to see if Haven would turn. Well, not only did he turn, but that threw me right to a 10 and it was time to push. No more epidural for me.
The room immediately filled with people: 2 doctors, a med student I allowed in, my nurse, and the NICU team. By the time I got to pushing, I basically propelled Haven out in 4 pushes in under 3 minutes. It was absolutely the worst pain I've ever felt, but in a primal way- it was awesome! I could feel my body bringing him out in to the world. And though I'm definitely asking for an epidural if we have more children, it was cool to experience the last part of labor completely raw and unmedicated. His Apgar scores were all 9's and 10's. He was perfect, but really puffy. We got to spend a little bit of time with him before the NICU team took him upstairs to be evaluated. I had a 2nd degree tear, so they repaired that.
Once they were done, and it was just the nurse, Seth and I, a machine blew- arcing in the room, smelling of smoke. So we got moved to a different room to finish up the postpartum care. My blood pressure was a little high but I felt fine otherwise. As soon as they'd take me up, we went to the NICU. Haven's blood sugar was low, so he was looked at until about 7, then brought to my room.
We did a short stay, and went home nearly exactly 24 hours after Haven was born.
Overall, the birth experience wasn't great, but was far better than what I experienced having Liam. All except for one nurse, the staff was fantastic.
Since we've been home, I look like this most of the time:
And Haven looks like this pretty much all the time:
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