I was scheduled to be induced on July 22.
On July 18, I woke up at about 8 am and got out of bed. I felt a trickle/small gush and thought my water had broken. I called into the triage as I was also having strong BH. They said I should come in. We went into triage at about 10 am and got checked. My water was not broken and I was at 4 cm, 70% effaced (which was weird because at my last appointment 3 days before I was 95% effaced). We walked around the unit a bit and then the contractions really started hurting. I got checked again and was still the same but the nurse said I was beginning active labor and it was up to me if I wanted to get admitted or go home. I was pretty hungry and wanted to labor at home as long as possible, so we went home about 1 pm.
At this point, contractions were very painful and obviously different than BH. I always wondered when people said "you just know" when you are in labor, and I know it is different for everyone, but the difference between BH (a tightening of my whole stomach, sometimes pretty uncomfortable) and actual contractions (very, very strong cramps low-down) was obvious.
We got home and I ate and tried to lay down and breathe through the contrax. That worked for a while, then I wanted to try the tub. The tub was nice for about 45 minutes, then it stopped helping. I sat on my birthing ball and focused on a spot on the wall. That was the most helpful. About 5 we decided to go back in. By this time, my mom and sister were almost at the hospital (they drove 2.5 hours). We called DH's parents and let them know to head up from Omaha.
Got checked at about 6 pm and I was still 4 cm but 90%. I was pretty disappointed that I hadn't dilated more but the nurse said that it was good change and the baby had moved from -2 station to -1. There was no L&D nurse available for me so I had to stay in triage until 7:30. I just swayed and breathed through contractions during this time. They asked if I wanted to walk around, but I didn't think I could. I moved into my room at 7:30 and tried the birthing ball again but it wasn't helping. My mom and sister came in while DH got our bags from the car. I decided to try the tub and that worked okay for a bit but then my contrax started coming right on top of one another, so strong I couldn't even get out of the tub. I finally managed to get out and they checked me again. This was at about 8:30. I was at 7 cm and starting transition. At this point, I decided to ask for the epi. I had planned on seeing if I could do it naturally, but to not feel bad if I couldn't. Got the IV going and got the epi around 9:15 or 9:30. I was so happy I decided to get it. It was definitely the right choice for me. I was able to relax and talk to my family and enjoy the last few hours of labor.
I got checked again at about 10:30 or 11. They said I was 9-10 cm and just had a little lip. I was told they could break my water any time or I could wait to see if it broke on its own. I decided to wait until DH's parents got to the hospital (they were about 20 minutes away). His parents got there and we all chatted for a bit.
At about 12:15 I kicked everyone except DH out and the resident broke my bag of waters. There was very light meconium in the water, so I would not get skin to skin immediately after birth, becasue they would need to take her to the warmer and check her airways. I was sad, but understood. We waited about 10 minutes to see if the baby would descend on her own. We started "practice" pushes at 12:41. My practice pushes moved her down and after 8 pushes, her head started to come out. I reached down and felt it - very cool! The team was called in and 2 more pushes and she was out! I pushed for a total of 16 minutes.
Agatha Rowan was born at 12:57 on July 19th. She weighed 7 lbs 4 oz and was 20.5 inches long. She was nice and pink and yelling when she came out so they did not have to take her away and I did end up getting immediate skin to skin with her. What an absolutely amazing moment!
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