At my next appointment on September 6, 3 days past my due date, my blood pressure was borderline high again. My OB recommended that I go in to be induced, since the baby was now officially late and they were concerned about my blood pressure. So, at 7pm that night, Brian and I checked into the hospital and I began the induction process. Our Adelaide was officially on her way (even though at that point we didn't know she was an Adelaide, as we hadn't found out if we were having a boy or a girl ahead of time)!
By 8:30pm that night, I was on Cervadil, which is a drug that is supposed to prepare the cervix for labor. Sometimes Cervadil can start labor on its own, but in my case, it didn't. At 9:00am the next morning, I was started on Pitocin, which is a drug that induces contractions. I was on Pitocin for about 10 hours, had some regular contractions (but nothing too bad or painful yet) and made a bit of progress - enough that my OB suggested we stop the Pitocin overnight and start it again the next morning. He said he felt that doing this would give us a good chance that I would go into labor and be able to deliver the baby vaginally the next day. So, I was taken off the Pitocin and allowed to eat dinner, and then I got a bit of sleep that night.
The next morning, I was put on Pitocin again and contractions started up again. At around 9:30am, the doctor came in and checked my progress, and he then broke my water to try to speed things up. The nurse warned me at that point that breaking the water usually makes contractions more intense - and she was NOT kidding! Within an hour the contractions were extremely painful and I was ready for an epidural. I had previously been hoping to deliver without pain meds, but after being on and off and back on Pitocin and having my water broken, I was tired - and in pain - and ready for the epidural. So the anesthesiologist came in and put in the epidural, and within about 30 minutes I was feeling much better. Thankfully the epidural went in with no complications and I was able to actually get some sleep during even the most intense contractions (according to the monitor, that is - I felt next to nothing!).
Throughout the day, the OB came in and checked my progress. By 2:30pm, I was only at about 2 centimeters dilated and 75% effaced (for comparison, I was 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced before I got to the hospital), and the baby was still at station negative 3 - meaning she was still not at all low enough. My OB said that he would come back and check in about 2 hours to see if I was any more dilated and if the baby had descended any more; and if not, he said we should prepare for a C-section. Because I had already been going through the induction process for over 24 hours at that point, and because he had broken my water that morning, he said it was important that I deliver that day - and if the baby wasn't ready to come vaginally, that meant a C-section.
However, when he came in at 4:30pm, I had dilated to 5 centimeters! Though the baby was still really high, he said he would give it another 2 hours and check again at that point. However, at 6:30pm when he checked, I was still at 5 centimeters and the baby hadn't budged. So, the decision was made to do the C-section.
Everything with the surgery went really quickly. An anesthesiologist came in to up the dose of my epidural, and I basically went numb from the chest down for the surgery. I could still feel and move my arms, but below that I had no idea what was going on. At one point before they started the surgery, the doctor lightly tickled my stomach with something and asked if I could feel it, and I told him I could feel the tickle. He then told me that he wasn't actually "lightly tickling" me - rather, he was pinching my stomach pretty hard with forceps! So, based on that they knew I was ready for the surgery to start.
Brian was allowed to sit next to me during the C-section, and the two of us talked to the doctors as they were doing the surgery. It went fairly quickly - I want to say I was in the operating room by 7:00pm and Adelaide was born at exactly 7:25pm. When she was almost out, Dr. Torres told Brian, "Stand up and take a look, Dad - tell mom if you have a boy or a girl!" So Brian stood up and looked and then immediately sat back down... he looked at me and said, "I looked too soon - I've seen things I can't un-see." haha... Anyway, Dr. Torres laughed and apologized and a minute later said, "Okay dad, now we're ready - look at your baby!" Brian stood up again and looked and then he said, "It's a... a girl?" Apparently he couldn't tell right away! But Dr. Torres nodded at Brian and mouthed, "Yup," and at that point Brian looked at me and said, "We have our Adelaide." Cue the waterworks from me - I started bawling and was just SO relieved that she was finally here.
I didn't get to hold her immediately, because the NICU had to check her out - because when Dr. Torres broke my water, there was meconium in the amniotic fluid. Thankfully, everything was fine and a few minutes later, I got to hold Adelaide for the first time. After a few minutes of cuddling her and just being in awe that I was actually holding my baby (it was so surreal), Brian went with Adelaide and the nurse to the recovery area while the doctor finished with me.
Once I was done, I was able to join Brian & Adelaide in the recovery area. We took a few pictures, I was able to breastfeed Adelaide for the first time, and then once I was feeling less groggy, we went up to my room. An hour or so later, my family came to visit and we all spent the evening cuddling Adelaide and swooning over how cute and perfect she was! Overall, it was a crazy 48 hour induction process, but she was worth every second of it.
Brian was allowed to sit next to me during the C-section, and the two of us talked to the doctors as they were doing the surgery. It went fairly quickly - I want to say I was in the operating room by 7:00pm and Adelaide was born at exactly 7:25pm. When she was almost out, Dr. Torres told Brian, "Stand up and take a look, Dad - tell mom if you have a boy or a girl!" So Brian stood up and looked and then immediately sat back down... he looked at me and said, "I looked too soon - I've seen things I can't un-see." haha... Anyway, Dr. Torres laughed and apologized and a minute later said, "Okay dad, now we're ready - look at your baby!" Brian stood up again and looked and then he said, "It's a... a girl?" Apparently he couldn't tell right away! But Dr. Torres nodded at Brian and mouthed, "Yup," and at that point Brian looked at me and said, "We have our Adelaide." Cue the waterworks from me - I started bawling and was just SO relieved that she was finally here.
I didn't get to hold her immediately, because the NICU had to check her out - because when Dr. Torres broke my water, there was meconium in the amniotic fluid. Thankfully, everything was fine and a few minutes later, I got to hold Adelaide for the first time. After a few minutes of cuddling her and just being in awe that I was actually holding my baby (it was so surreal), Brian went with Adelaide and the nurse to the recovery area while the doctor finished with me.
Once I was done, I was able to join Brian & Adelaide in the recovery area. We took a few pictures, I was able to breastfeed Adelaide for the first time, and then once I was feeling less groggy, we went up to my room. An hour or so later, my family came to visit and we all spent the evening cuddling Adelaide and swooning over how cute and perfect she was! Overall, it was a crazy 48 hour induction process, but she was worth every second of it.
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