Amanda’s Induction Birth Story

I hoped so earnestly to go into labor on my own. From 36 weeks on I tried everything: dates, birth ball, acupuncture, raspberry leaf tea, you name it. Around 38 weeks I would start and stop early labor every couple of days. I'd have contractions about 10 minutes apart for a few hours, then they'd completely stop. By the time 40 weeks came and went, I was very much ready to have my baby; the physical toll that late pregnancy was having on my body was overwhelming, adding in the mental toll of starting and stopping early labor was just too much. I arranged to have a balloon placed by my doctor in the clinic to try to kick start labor, then go home for the night. I showed up at the clinic at 12:00 on a Friday to have it done. The placement did not go well, 3 different providers attempted to do it, but eventually we decided it wasn't going to happen. At that point, they gave me two choices: go home, or check in at labor & delivery for an induction. Emotional and exhausted, I marched over to labor & delivery (stopping at the cafeteria first of course) and checked in. The next 24 hours were slow but steady progress, we mostly played Uno and watched Christmas movies, anything to keep us busy and first, and to distract from the pain later. Eventually my labor stalled when I was at 6 cm. I hadn't slept more than a few minutes at a time and I was running out of stamina both physically and mentally, so I decided to have an epidural placed so I could rest. My doctor started talking about doing a C Section, but my baby was doing fine and I knew I just needed some rest, so I declined. Epidural on board I slept a bit and was able to get back into the right mindset. I prioritized changing positions but only ones that would also allow me to rest. I reached 10 cm in a few more hours so we called the doctor back and began pushing. Progress with pushing was slow. The epidural made it so I couldn't feel contractions and the wireless monitor kept losing connection. The nurse had to keep her hands on my stomach to tell me when to push. My eyes were bloodshot and swollen shut from all of the exertion, which I did not know could happen. I tried a variety of positions but actually did end up feeling like I was able to push best on my back, so I did. After 3 hours, I was completely wiped and not sure I'd be able to go on much longer. We decided to have some vacuum assistance. Once the vacuum was in place our son was born in 2 more pushes at 7:00 AM on Sunday. My husband announce to the room that we had a boy made every single second worth it 100 times over. Labor had not gone at all according to the plan I had, but that's okay. I had an amazing support team and we pivoted from the plan when it no longer served my needs in the moment.