Disclaimer: This is not medical advice, only a lady telling the story of her first birth.
I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes during my pregnancy and because of the risks that accompany that me and my doctor decided I should have an induced labor. She said typically women get induced in between 38-40 weeks with gestational diabetes. Knowing this and working around scheduling we decided on July 19th, starting with cervical ripening the evening before.
I checked into the hospital at 7 pm Thursday night through the ER, we got settled in the delivery room had my first cervical exam and I was only dilated to .5 cm. This meant I needed to start on a cervical ripening medication called cytotech before starting pitocin. They administered the cytotech at 8:30 pm, and again at 12:30 am. This medication didn’t feel like it was doing much for me but it was something that worked over time. Over the night I slept like normal and Vincent, my husband, slept next to me in the recliner.
At 4:30 am I was given my first dose of pitocin to induce contractions. So far over the night I felt like I was having regular menstrual cramps and was prepared for it to really start ramping up, it didn’t seem much worse the first dose of pitocin.
Around 7 am I was served breakfast and they increased the dose of my pitocin. They did start getting a little worse but I was still able to sleep through them because I took a couple hour nap.
At about 11 am I had another cervical exam and still had not dilated more than 1 cm. Because of this my doctor suggested a Foley balloon catheter which pressed against my cervix to help it dilate. This procedure was pretty uncomfortable and once it was in my contractions really felt painful and I no longer could get out of bed without help.
I tried to eat lunch after this but only ate a few bites of a sandwich because I was feeling nauseated. They decreased my pitocin levels so the catheter could work better with less contractions interrupting which was good because I was very uncomfortable! I had been on fluids for a straight 8 hours so I felt insanely bloated, my IV sight was bruising and itching along with my stomach which was itching on top of my contractions, then I had five different monitors strapped to me, a catheter taped to my thy and started to vomit. Once I calmed down after getting sick I would walk some laps to get more ice water.
A little before 6 pm they did another cervical exam, removed the balloon catheter and broke my water. This was so much pressure relieved but the pain moved right to my back instead. At that point I was dilated to almost 3.5 cm so I had quite a ways to go, I did a few more laps, tried an exercise ball to take off pressure and then decided I wanted an epidural. Once the anesthesiologist arrived it still took about 30 minutes to set up and get it in place. Finally it was 7:30 pm and I had my epidural. I felt so much better without the pain but sadly some complications came with this.
Right away they noticed my blood pressure drop a tiny bit, but it came back at the normal rate. This is a normal side effect of an epidural but what wasn’t normal was for my baby’s heart rate to drop. It started small right after getting my epidural and kept dropping each time I had a contraction, so they lowered the dose of my pitocin. This went on for about two hours before it was dropping so low that it could be detrimental. At this point they stopped my pitocin completely and called in my doctor.
She arrived at about 10 pm, checked my vitals, did quick exam and then went to look over the heart rate monitor and contraction monitor charts to see what was really happening. After about twenty minutes she came back and informed us that this was becoming to severe and we would have to have a c-section. It would take about 30 minutes for the team to arrive and get the surgical suite ready, get my spinal block done and move our stuff into the recovery room. This time went by so fast, my mother, sister and nephews came back to the hospital to wait to meet Marcel and as they were walking in I was being wheeled off to the surgical suite.
Immediately after being wheeled into the suite the anesthesiologists were placing their monitors, positioning my arms, putting up the privacy sheet and then did their final tests to make sure I was fully numb. My poor husband Vincent was having issues with the sterile suit he had to wear because he was too tall so his entrance was a little delayed. While he was struggling with that my doctor had to make the incision which was so fast. She finished that and they pulled a sheet over me so Vincent couldn’t see, moved him into his seat next to my head and then continued. We were a little distracted from each other because I was being asked so many questions to make sure I couldn’t feel anything and he was super uncomfortable just trying not to pass out from this tiny suit squeezing him along with the surgical mask covering his face. After about 15 minutes they told me I would feel pressure from someone pressing down on my stomach while the doctor pulled out my baby. This feeling was not what I expected and I remember saying out loud “oh yeah I can feel that!” Which that prompted the anesthesiologist to give me more pain medication, I believe demoral. I had informed him before that I was sensitive to all narcotics so I didn’t want anymore than was needed for the spinal block, however I did see why he thought this was needed. Not even a minute after he administered that I felt sick and vomitted. Being pinned down to the surgical table I could only turn my head which made the vomit ooze down the side of my head.
There was an issue getting Marcel out because his umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck three times. This also explained why his heart rate was dropping every time I had a contraction. My doctor got it unwrapped quickly and moved him over with the pediatrician. Vincent was moved over to the warming table with Marcel and the doctor while I was back getting sick. I couldn’t hear him cry at first which for a c-section is normal because he has a lot of fluid in his mouth that had to be suctioned out. Once he was cleared Vincent was able to bring him over to me. He was so much smaller than we expected and just so handsome. I got to snuggle with him skin to skin while the doctor finished closing my incision. I don’t recall what she used to close my uterus but she used surgical glue to close my skin.
Once we were complete I was unhooked from most of the monitors and wheeled to the recovery room while Vincent carried Marcel along behind me. As we were going down the hallway my mother, sister and nephews came running to see our new baby. Tears rolling down my moms face and pure joy coming from my nephews. My sister checked in on me to make sure I was okay and then proceeded to see Marcel and Vincent. Vincent was so proud to show off his son for the first time.
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