It's Go Time!

Monday May 28, 2018

My induction began Monday morning at 10:15AM. Cervidil was placed for 12 hours to try to start the beginning stages of labor by softening the cervix. Because pre-eclampsia can get worse during labor and delivery, they had to put me back on the magnesium sulfate drip for the duration of induction, labor, delivery, and 24 hours after. I already knew what to expect this time, which was both a blessing and a curse.
Sometimes ignorance is bliss.

After the 12 hours of Cervidil the doctor checked me, and there was no change in my cervix. This is not uncommon, especially when inducing at 34 weeks when the body knows its not time to have the baby yet.
I don't remember much of that day because the magnesium had me feeling like garbage andI was in and out of sleep and a weird consciousness. I just remember time going really slow, being hot and sweaty and very thirsty. I remember having a really hard time getting comfortable because I was hooked up to an IV in one arm, an automatic blood pressure cuff that went off every 10 minutes on the other arm, a urinary catheter, and baby monitors on my stomach. Every time I would move, they would have to readjust the baby monitors. I remember wondering how I was supposed to keep this up when it had already been over 12 hours stuck in bed and no signs of labor had even started yet.

Pitocin was started at 11:30pm. It was slowly increased and I felt some minor contractions here and there, but nothing regular and nothing unbearable. After a couple of hours (I think it was a couple of hours, I really have no concept of time because my brain was barely working due to the magnesium) the baby's heart rate kept having decelerations when I would have contractions. This can be common if the contractions come on too fast and strong from the pitocin. They stopped the pitocin for a little while, then started it back up again to see how the baby handled the contractions. Once again, his heart rate started decelerating with contractions. They went back and forth a few times with stopping and starting the pitocin to see how the baby responded. The same things kept happening. I think around 4am the doctor checked my cervix to see if I was making any progress. The cervix had not dilated at all.

At this point, a decision had to be made: Do we continue down this same path with the pitocin and trying to induce labor over the next few hours and see if the baby will tolerate it, or do we decide that enough is enough and do a c-section and make sure that he arrives safely now.
My OB doctors could not guarantee that if I needed to have an emergency c-section later that day that they would be able to get there in time to be the ones to do the delivery. I decided that I wanted my doctors that I knew and was comfortable with to do the c-section if that was the direction we were heading anyway, and I was ready to get it over with and to get my baby into the world as safe as possible. The decision was made at 7:45AM to go forward with the c-section. I was taken into the Operating Room at 8:45AM.
It's go time!