I talked to the nurses about my wishes and asked if we could start with breaking my water instead of Pitocin right away. I knew I chose the induction but given my experience with Pitocin with Summer, I wanted to explore my options. We talked about pain relief options too. Because I had scheduled a medical induction, the doctor said we had to use Pitocin too but we could take it really slowly.
At 8am, we began Pitocin at 1 unit/hour. I had already been having contractions on my own but this made them slightly more intense. At 8:30, they bumped it up to 2 units and the doctor came in. (Side note: I thought I would have Dr. DeWitt but apparently she was out that day so I had Dr. VanHeest.) The doctor checked me, still at a 3, and said he would break my water. It took him a couple tries but then I felt a pop and a little hush of water. Contractions picked up after that.
From that point it was about comfort and working through each contraction. I wanted to be mobile so they switched the monitors to a telemetry system so everything was on my IV pole and I could walk around. I got a pair of mesh undies and a pad so my water wouldn’t drip everywhere while I moved.
Mike and I went for a walk around the labor and delivery floor. It was slow going because of the IV pole, baby being so low, and contractions. When we got back to our room I asked for the exercise ball so I could sit on that. I think I spent a couple hours sitting and bouncing and swaying on the ball. Contractions were coming about 2-3 minutes apart at this point and I had to focus on breathing to get through each one. By this time they had bumped the Pitocin up to 4 units. Mike ate lunch at some point and I had some Jello.
By that point the contractions were pretty intense and I was not getting much of a break between each one. I had been focusing on breathing through each contraction but it wasn't enough so I decided that I wanted to give Stadol a try to take the edge off. The nurse checked me while we were waiting for the medication and I was 5cm and 80% effaced. I felt a little frustrated that I'd been laboring for 5 hours and had only dilated 2 more centimeters. At 1pm they gave me Stadol. It made me feel lightheaded and floaty, basically like I'd had a few too many adult beverages. I can't really say that it really helped with the pain, but it made me extremely tired so I felt like I was dozing off between each contraction. (In hindsight, I wish I hadn't used Stadol because it made me so tired for the rest of my labor!)
At some point in there I wanted to get up and get in the tub, but when I got off the exercise ball, I was so tired that I decided to just get in bed for a while instead.
My mom had been teaching that morning but was so excited about a new grandchild that she left work early and came to the hospital. We didn't know she was there until she texted so I let her come in for a little while. I was drifting in and out of sleep at that point so she didn't stay very long.
The nurses would come in occasionally and ask how I was doing. They basically let me labor on my own, which I appreciated, and Mike was by my side holding my hand as needed. The harder the contraction the harder I squeezed his poor hand! He did disappear for about 30 minutes at one point and I found out later he was talking to my mom. I was very happy when he finally came back!
Around 3pm the nurse checked me again and we were all disappointed that I was only at a 6. They said that for a third time mom I should be dilating faster. (We had all hoped to have a baby before lunch time, but obviously that didn't happen!)
I decided to get out of bed and try some movement with the nurse. She had me stand beside the bed and they raised the bed so I could lean on it when I needed to. I would sway my hips in a hula hoop motion between contractions and then lean over the bed during each contraction. The nurse applied counter pressure to the small of my back during the contractions. After watching for a while, Mike asked if he could do the counter pressure. I was so proud of him! That helped a lot, and then the nurse rubbed my back. After a while I started to feel a lot of pressure and wanted to push. It was a little before 4pm at this point and I got back into bed to be checked. Finally, I was at 9cm and we thought it would be soon that I'd be delivering!
It took a while for that last centimeter. I had to bear down like I was pushing but not really push. After a few contractions the nurse would check me again. The next while was a flurry of activity. I was in awe of how flawlessly the nurses and doctors seemed to work together. They had called the doctor over from the office building so he was hanging out in the delivery room for a while. He left to do some other work and then would come back to check in. The nurses quickly got everything ready for delivery. It was a good distraction to watch them work. I continued working through the contractions the same was as I had most of the day, focusing on breathing, squeezing Mike's hand as needed, and moaning (weird that that helped...apparently it's called a labor song?) It felt like it took forever, but I think it was about an hour before she finally announced at 4:35pm, "you're complete, time to push!" They quickly put my legs up in the stirrups and said let's do this.
I pushed and yelled a little (maybe a lot). At one point the nurse told me that in a minute the doctor would say to stop pushing and that I should stop, when that happened, I couldn't stop pushing, my body was doing its own thing. Then I heard "we have a head and shoulders, slow down". I couldn't. I pushed again and let out a loud yell. Next I heard "look down!" I looked down and the doctor was handing me my baby. It was a baby boy! I snuggled him up on my chest and the nurses covered us with blankets. Mike and I couldn't believe it, we had a baby boy!
The nurses took great care of us. One informed me that I was experiencing quite a bit of blood loss and they were monitoring that. I was almost to the point of hemorrhaging so they were squishing down my uterus every 15 minutes or so. After a couple of hours the bleeding slowed down and they were able to stop constantly checking on me.
Mike went out to tell Mom that she had a grandson! This was still during the first hour, so she went back to our house to get Dad and the kids. They brought Summer and Jayden up to meet Dominic. Both kids were immediately in love with their little brother. Mike's parents also came up to the hospital that evening. After a while everyone left and I was left to snuggle my newest baby and reflect on the day. I was so happy with the way everything went!
Our night nurse was also a doula and she was incredible! She even told me that we didn't have to do a bath in the hospital and I was thrilled with that. Dominic did a good job sleeping and eating his first night too.
Dominic was a good nurser and did great eating. He did have a slight tongue tie, but we took him to the pediatrician on Monday and she checked it. When she touched his frenulum, it snapped on its own so she didn't have to do a full frenotomy. We worked hard on his latch and eating and it took a while but eventually he was able to eat without causing me pain!
Once we got home we quickly settled into a routine. It helped that we came home over the weekend so Mike was home and he was off work for a couple days the next week. My recovery was slow and so it definitely helped to have the extra hands around the house. We are now into a good routine and I think we are adjusting well to our new routine and life as a family of 5!
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