We arrived at the hospital at 6.30 am and walked to the maternity ward, this time not staggering in pain but casually and of course a little anxious about what the day would bring…a new baby boy!
We were settled into our birthing suite quite promptly. Our midwife’s name was Melissa, so I think that it was meant to be. She hooked me up to the monitor to see how Squiggle was and to check how I was travelling while we waited for Dr Bopp to come by and get the process started. Charles and I actually recorded Squiggle’s heartbeat on his phone while I was on the monitor. I had read only days earlier about a woman that had done this and got the sound put into a Build a Bear which I thought was a fantastic idea! Once things settle down after the birth I will go into the shop and do the same as a wonderful keepsake from the labour.
Soon they bought in food for Charles and a yogurt, jelly and apple juice for me (the only things I was allowed to have just in case I had to go into theatre). Of course Charles thought this was a hoot and decided to take a photo of our meals to compare them. He also thought it was so funny that when Melissa was trying to put my ID tag on my ankle that it would only fit on my left leg as my right was so swollen, this apparently also warranted having a photo taken! I had a baby brain moment when I was trying to sign my paperwork…I couldn’t remember how to do my signature!!! Goodness knows what name I actually signed but it was not my signature.
Dr Bopp came in to see us sometime after 7 am and looked to see how our stats were. He asked me if I had been feeling anything this morning as the monitor was showing that I had been having some very mild contractions. He said that if we didn’t do the induction today that he thought I would most likely have gone into labour very soon regardless. After last night I thought exactly the same thing!
It was time to start! Dr Bopp did all his checks and then put the gel on to hopefully get labour started. He did warn us that it doesn’t always work first time and some people take more than one application to get things kicked off. Apparently this wasn’t me! Charles and I went over onto the lounge in the birthing suite and sat watching some tv. It wasn’t long and I started to feel contractions. They came strong, hard and fast! What a shock to the system. This was totally different to going into labour naturally. A natural labour slowly progresses and contractions gradually build up getting stronger and closer together. This induced labour for me was very fast, with barely a break between some of the contractions making it very exhausting. I was however managing the pain quite well and my breathing was very good, pushing through the pain of each contraction really well.
I’m not sure of the time frame now, as it all seemed a blur. Eventually Dr Bopp came back in to check on us and see how I was going. Things were moving very fast and Melissa had said “I think we’ll have a baby by lunch time!!” So it was when Dr Bopp checked my cervix (an extremely painful experience that required gas for me to relax enough for him to do it) that I was disappointed to hear I was only 3-4 cms dilated.
It was at this point that I said I think I’m going to need some pain relief knowing that I could be here a little while with these intense contractions. Charles suggested the gas, but after that little taste of it there was no way I was doing that, it made me so funny in the head (this also made me realise that I had not used it properly when I was in labour with Addison the couple of times that I tried). I talked to him and said I think I’m going to have to have the epidural. It was never something I wanted to do but at the time I knew I really needed a break if I was going to be able to push this baby out. This really worried Charles and he kept asking me to make sure I was 100% certain as he knew I was doing really well with my breathing. It wasn’t so much the pain as it was that I knew I would be 100% had it when it came to the pushing stage of labour if I didn’t have a bit of a rest from it all. I also thought about something my friend had said to me along the lines of just do what you have to to get through the pain and if this means pain relief then don’t feel bad for having it.
I promptly requested the epidural (as I knew that it could take some time to get the pain relief). I was in luck, I asked only minutes before another labouring woman in the suite next to me. The anesthetist came in and explained all the finer details of what I had to do and things went perfectly. I was hooked up to everything now and stuck in bed for the rest of my labour. Not long after having the epidural I felt some liquid coming from my body. The midwife checked but said there was nothing to worry about. More came and a little later when Melissa said that she would check my cervix to see how far dilated I was she said that she would also break my waters. When she checked she realised that my waters had broken naturally (the wet feeling I had felt earlier). Once again, a totally different feeling to last time because of the epidural. I was so relieved as I was terrified of them having to break my waters with the needle!!
The epidural had worked quite well but after a little bit I started to feel some pain again. Just as they were considering a top up I let my OB and midwife know that I felt like I was needing to push. (Unfortunately I have no idea on the timing of things, I was not aware of what time it was at all during labour – I actually had to ask what the time was when he was finally born). Things got very intense and very painful once again. In hindsight I really don’t know if the epidural was worth it but I suppose it served it’s purpose. I got the break I needed to have the energy to push out our baby boy.
