We ended up being induced yesterday at 8am due to concerns for his size. I started the day 80% effaced, 3cm, at a -1 station. We had pitocin until about 7pm and my status had not changed, so we allowed them to break our waters.
That seemed to do the trick and I was fully dilated and effaced by 11pm. I certainly owe the quickness and ease after breaking the waters to hypnobirthing. My husband read the affirmations from the sheet we got at our last class and it was super helpful to be reminded during the surges. He was a wonderful birthing partner.
I did my best to continue to relax into my progress, but unfortunately after a day with no solid food (they don’t allow you to eat anything but clear liquids on pitocin) I hit a wall at about 1am. The pitocin was pretty strong and I just wasn’t getting enough rest in between surges.
They were starting to talk about C-section because his station wasn’t changing and I was unable to breath him down, so we stopped to evaluate our options before moving that direction. We decided that the best thing for us would be to try the epidural, simply to relieve the exhaustion, allowing me to more easily help move him down.
I was given the epidural shortly after 1am and then took a nap once it kicked in – even though this was outside of our plan, I felt very empowered about my decision due to the effort and lengthy discussions I had with my care team using what we learned in class to be our own advocates.
Once we rested, I was able to jump back into hypnobirthing techniques very easily starting at around 3am. The epidural took away the pain, but the pressure was still there and the breathing stages and relaxation still suited our progress.
Eli was born vaginally at 5:09am once I passed his head, he quickly slipped out. He is 8lbs 11oz, 22 inches long, with a 38cm head (apparently that’s a big head!) So not as big as they thought but he’s a good size and pretty tall as well.
He did have meconium in his mouth & nose and the cord was wrapped twice around his neck, so we had to get a little suction help from the NICU team. But they did all that support in our room.
The staff was very respectful of our requests and we were able to follow all of the baby care portion of our birthing preferences. We were skin to skin for two hours before they did his evaluations and he took to the breast very easily.
Despite several interventions outside of our plan, I still feel like our classes with Kadie greatly prepared and empowered us.
I hope you all have a wonderful new year’s and the best birthing day of your own.
