Just a joke... nothing happening yet :)
Well, as some of you know the doctor recommended that I get induced on my due date because I was already 3 cm dilated and 80% effaced. He said the risks of waiting longer were minimal, but not zero. As I was more than ready, I decided to go for it. Induction wasn't necessarily my first choice, but I think it worked out well.
So we got there at 6:30am and they broke my water at 8:20am. I asked them if they could hold off on the prolactin (sp?) for a while to see if labor would simply begin on its own and they said they'd give me a half hour :). So, at 9am they gave me a low dose of prolactin and my contractions became a lot stronger and more painful. I asked to have an epidural and had to wait another 1.5 hrs for it (the doctor was tied up), but I was very thankful I got it before it was too late. They weren't horrible, but I could tell I would have a very difficult time with them once they got even stronger.
At 11:30am they gave me the epidural and it was painful and weird... but a huge blessing. I snoozed off for a while and my contractions started to come quite regularly but I wasn't feeling a single thing! At one point they thought they saw meconim in the fluid (sign that the baby had had a bowel movement in the womb which could lead to an infection) and so they called NICU to be there at the birth. It turns out that hadn't happened, but they were there to check it out anyway... oh, and that also got them to move me to a higher dose of prolactin which I fortunately did not have to feel for long.
Whenever they checked me I had progressed very nicely. For some people an epidural will slow things down, but for me it speeded things up as I was able to relax and the contractions were able to do their job. At around 3:40pm the doctor checked me and said I was 10 cms and the baby was in the 2 station (close to crowning). I still wasn't feeling anything. They decided to lower my dose of medication so that might be able to feel the need to push and they said they'd see if my contractions moved him closer to crowning without having me push yet (some doctors do this). So, I continued to lie there (this is when we took the pic of Christian looking like he's delivering the baby). At 4:35pm the nurse came back in and talked me through the process of pushing... which I needed because I never really did regain any feeling down there until after the birth. I pushed for about 15 minutes then she called the doctor and everyone else in. I was crowning and they just had me continue to push (I would feel a slight contraction at the top of my abdomen). The pushing was definitely exhausting and I'm glad I didn't have to do it for long... but, wow, it could have been so much worse! At 4:58pm our baby was born! And the rest is history. I got the baby soon enough (in about 20 mins, due to NICU) and he's been doing wonderfully. He clocked in at 9 lbs 5.5oz... and no one had a clue he'd be that big. "You hid him well," my doctor said.
Bottomline, I'm so glad we delivered when we did and that they didn't know he'd be so huge. I don't think they would have let me attempt a vaginal birth otherwise. I guess big babies may run in my family as my sister had a 9 lbs 10oz baby... and neither of us had gestational diabetes.
Well, that concludes that. Baby calling!
