Part 2 - Induction

So we were scheduled to report to L&D at 5am....I think we checked in around 5:10 and were set up in a room by 6am.   The amount of paperwork they have you complete is insane, and we opted to donate the remaining cord blood after delayed clamping, so that was a 50 question survey.  Thankfully my IV was in my left hand and I'm a rightie, otherwise I might have had to pass on that.   My Group B strep test was negative, so I only needed IV fluids for hydration, and of course pitocen, which they got started around 7am.   Right around this time, the weather decided to take a giant crap on our area, complete with tornado warnings and hail, so both my OB and my MW were running late, but the Dr. who delivered C happened to still be there just in case she was needed.  Around 8am my OB finally made it in to check on me, there wasn't much progress but we discussed getting the epi and I chose to hold off for a bit since contractions were no worse than the ones I've had for the past few weeks.   Our L&D nurse was great and encouraged me to be as mobile as possible while I could, so I walked around the area next to the bed or stood and rocked for about an hour.  About 10:30 my OB came in and checked me again, still only a 4 so she broke my water, which as we had previously discussed was the point I wanted the epi, well actually I had said I wanted it prior to it being broken.  I thought having my water broken would be immediately painful, but it really wasn't.  Just felt like I was repeatedly peeing myself every time I shifted position.  Things did pick up pretty quickly after that, and the 4 contractions I had while the anesthesiologist tried to place the epi (twice, she had to remove the first one and go lower) were pretty rough, mainly just a TON of pressure down.   After that of course I was confined to the bed, and since little girl was still face up the L&D nurse had me lie on my side with one leg raised in a bracket/stirrup thing to optimize pelvic space and get her to flip.   I sort of took a nap for an hour and around 12:30 I was at 10cm and almost ready to push.   I am honestly not sure the exact time I started pushing, but it was insanely fast....they had me flip to my other side and told me to let them know when I felt pressure, which happened almost immediately, then the OB and a resident came in and I pushed through maybe 2 contractions and she was out.   Elizabeth Avery was born at 1:25pm weighing 7lbs8oz and 21 inches long.

We were able to do skin to skin right away, though we did have to cut the standard hour short because she wasn't regulating her body temp enough and needed to go into the warmer.  We had a tiny scare when her initial blood sugar was low (what sent C to the NICU) but the 2nd one came back fine.   It took a little while for us to get moved to postpartum because my OB was very careful in taking extra time for the placenta to come out on its own and then waiting an hour before anesthesia came in to remove the epi so we could be sure there was no sign of retained products like I had with C.   By around 4pm we were all set and heading off to our room.  It was definitely a great feeling to be wheeled into postpartum holding my baby.