My husband and I walked the halls in the hopes of speeding things along. We were at 8 cm in no time, but stayed there for a couple of hours. My contractions weren't strong enough to get me past 8 cm, so my doctor made the call to hook me up with Pitocin to get things moving.
(Side note: As the nurse was about to put the IV in my hand, I asked her if it was going to hurt. She told me that most women at 8 cm aren't really worried about the pain of a needle in their hand. I had been laughing and joking with my nurse up until that point and just wincing when contractions came on. Both she and my doctor told me that I have a high pain threshold, and I think they might be right.)
The contractions intensified and I was no longer able to talk through them. I reached for the Holy Grail of the laughing gas but the whole putting-it-to-your-face and then taking it away and trying to breathe it in and trying to breathe through contractions saw me finally throwing the mask across the room. It was no help, and incredibly annoying.
Soon it was time to push! I pushed, and I pushed, and I pushed. My baby was not turning his head the right way and he was stuck in my birth canal. My doctor called the anesthetist and OR team, but it was a Sunday, so we had to wait for them to arrive at the hospital. I kept pushing for an hour while we waited, effectively using my baby's head as a battering ram against my pelvis.
Everyone finally arrived and I was wheeled into a larger delivery room. They were pretty certain that I'd need an emergency C-Section, so I was given a full spinal from the anesthetist. "Try to stay still," he said. Oh, ho ho. I did, and the needle made its way into my spine and all of a sudden it was like I could see again. The OR team was to my left on standby, my doctor and nurse were on my right, and the rest of the staff were just there to watch because I was the only woman in labour that day.
Before sending me for a C-Section, my Doctor tried the vacuum. She's a wee thing — 5 foot nothing — and she flew backwards when the suction gave way. Next up, she pulled out some large salad tongs (forceps) and gave me an episiotomy. She told me to keep pushing, and I tried, but I was completely numb and had no idea if it was working. It did, and the tongs did, and I soon heard my baby cry. My husband ran over to count fingers and toes before the pediatrician whisked our son away for an assessment. He wasn't gone long, thankfully, and we were soon reunited.
My son was 9 pounds, 12 ounces on his DUE DATE. I was 9' 15" when I was born, and my husband was 9 pounds. I came out via forceps because I had a big head and my husband came out via forceps because he has broad shoulders. I had joked while pregnant about our baby having both a big head and broad shoulders, and that's exactly what happened. I ended up with a 4th-degree tear (don't Google it) and one nurse told me that my son had a head with a 38 cm circumference. When I told her that I didn't know what that meant she said, "35 cm is considered to be LARGE."
When pregnant with my second child, my doctor brought up the idea of an early induction. Subsequent babies tend to be even bigger, and we could reduce the risk of a C-section or any other complications. She's not one to encourage epidurals, etc. — but she'll honour your requests — so I knew that she was speaking to me from the point of keeping us all safe. The day before my induction I went in to have my membranes stripped, which got some mild contractions started. The next day we arrived at the hospital and three hours and two pushes later, our second son was born and weighed in at 8 pounds, 5 ounces. Ten days early.
Two years later, we were due with our third baby and it all played out almost the same. When my membranes were stripped, I was already 3 cm. The next afternoon, after two pushes, we met our baby girl.
I don't believe that induction is for everyone. For us, it was not a matter of convenience — though knowing when they'd actually be born was nice — but it was a matter of safety. I've talked with women who think that a home birth is the only way to go, but if I'd gone that route with my first pregnancy, things could have gone horribly wrong. We live forty minutes from a hospital that delivers babies and I'm so glad that we were there when things went sideways. Nothing against home births — do what works for you — but it could have been deadly for us. On that same note, people who come out guns blazing about induction get my back up. I birthed my babies as naturally as I could — no painkillers! At all! — but getting them out early (and alive) was medically necessary for me.
Okay, hit me. Have you been induced? Would you be induced if necessary?
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