Declan’s Birth Story

24

May

In this series we share birth stories of all kinds from mothers around the globe — with the hope that they inspire, educate and inform expecting mothers. Interested in sharing your birth story? Email us at info@themamanotes.com . Read more birth stories here.  

Mama: Dana
Baby: Declan Timothy
Birth date: August 16, 2016
Birth size: 9lbs 12oz
Birth location: San Francisco, CA

My due date was Friday, August 5th but we scheduled my induction for Saturday, August 13th in case I didn’t go into labor by then. My doctor recommended an induction so I had a definite “end” in sight. The 5th came and went and before I knew it it was Saturday, August 13th, aka my induction date. 

I was admitted at 7pm on the 13th. Upon arrival I was examined and not dilated and only 30% effaced so I knew I had a long way to go. They warned us when we got there that inductions take time, sometimes up to a couple days but we hoped for the best (and shortest) experience. 

That night they started me on Misoprostol (aka Miso) to help thin and open my cervix. I had my first dose at 9pm and thought “OK, let’s do this”! They checked me around 1am (on the 14th) and still had not started to dilate so was given a second dose of Miso. I was examined a few hours later and still showed no signs of dilation so they wanted to insert a foley balloon to help get things started. They advised me that the foley balloon would hopefully take me from a zero to a 3-4. My Doctor tried to get the balloon inside but couldn’t get it in. If you’ve ever had this balloon then you know how painful it can be! The Dr gave up and said they’d try again later. So instead they gave me a third dose of Miso. By this point I had been there over 12 hours. My husband was by my side the entire time and we tried to make the best of the situation. Although, I think reality was starting to sink in that this could take much longer than we hoped…..

By 2:20pm on the 14th they finally got the foley balloon inside. My initial thought was “Alright, this baby will be here soon!”. They said they’d come back in 6 hours to examine me. “What, 6 hours”?!  There is only so much you can do in a hospital to pass the time and we had already been there for almost 24 hours. Within an hour and a half I was in so much pain from the foley balloon that I asked for something to take the edge off. They gave me a ‘morphine sleep’ and I was able to sleep for a few hours. During my next exam there still wasn’t much progress so they gave me my 4th dose of Miso followed by another 6 hour wait. Ugh!! By 8am on the 15th (37 hours later) I was being given my 5th dose of Miso. 

My husband and I sat and watched the monitor as various women came in after me and left before me. There were times when my vitals were the only one on the board. It was very disheartening. 

Finally, around 3pm on the 15th they removed the foley balloon and I was finally dilated to a 4!!! This was HUGE! They wanted to put me on Pitocin so I’d go into active labor. “Woohoo! Let’s do this”

I was officially on Pitocin by 4pm and my water broke at 8pm (49 hours after being admitted). I labored naturally for a couple hours but requested (or demanded?!) an epidural at 10pm because I was in so much pain. They gave me a spinal block so that I’d have instant relief because they saw how much pain I was in at the time. 

They checked me at 12:30am (on the 16th) and I was dilated to a 4.5. In 8 and a half hours I had only gone a half cm more! It was devastating and I wasn’t sure how much longer I’d be able to go on like this. They examined me again at 4:30am and I was now at 6cm! “Getting closer”! However, at 9am I was still at 6cm. 

At this point we’d been in the hospital for 62 hours. “62 HOURS!!!” I was mentally and physically coming to an end. We asked to speak with the new Doctor on staff. Every 8-12 hours we’d get a new team of nurses and doctors as their shifts changed. One nurse came in for her third shift during our visit and it was a running joke that we’d moved in! 

The Doctor came over and we started asking questions about a possible c-section. While this wasn’t our first choice we had reached a point where this was a serious option. She wasn’t a big fan of doing a c-section and really tried to persuade us to keep with the natural birth. We told her that if there as no progression in 3 hours that we’ll then decide if we want to do a c-section. 

While we were cooped up in our hospital room, going on our 4th day, our family and friends had been practically living in the waiting room. Apparently it was rare to see the same family in the L&D waiting room for more than a day or two so on the 4th day the Director of the OBGYN Dept. approached my Dad and asked if everything was ok. He explained our situation to her and within an hour my husband and I were sitting in our hospital room with the Director of OBGYN and the Director of Nurses. They were very compassionate and given all the facts said that they would both move forward with a c-section if in my position but ultimately it was my decision. I wasn’t dead set on going vaginally but I kept thinking that I’ve already given this 64 hours and didn’t want to throw that all away by going with a c-section. 

We met with the current Dr. again and she also said it was my call. They preferred to keep trying naturally but they couldn’t give me any inclination on when the baby might come out. So with that my husband and I decided that a c-section would be the best option for us. We were so ready to meet our baby and had waited long enough. 

51 minutes later our son was born!! He was beautiful and perfect! It was a long experience but just goes to show that anything is possible and it’s good to keep an open mind! 

Motherhood

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