Symptoms from week 39 include contractions and soreness in the pelvic area, including groin muscles and lower back. I felt like I could do more walking, but I was so sleepy. Naps were my jam.
The feeling I had in my body was similar to food poisoning. There were waves of nausea, trembling, weakness, shortness of breath. But then things went back to normal, my appetite returned and the contractions stopped. My body was gearing up gradually to active labor.
Thursday (3/12) at my OB appt, we scheduled the induction. At 1pm on Friday (3/13) oral Cytotec (misoprostol aka miso) was used to ripen the cervix. I tested positive for GBS so the IV was placed immediately. Dilated 1 cm. Bishop score = 3
4pm Fri (3/13) On an ultrasound, they saw a problem with Albert's abdominal wall. They told us that his intestines might be spilling out of his body cavity. It was so frightening to think he might be born and then sent for immediate surgery.
6pm Pitocin, 7pm second ultrasound, 8pm balloon in, 9pm Epidural, 11:30pm balloon fell out. Dilation 5 cm. Bishop score 8. They broke my water and it was full of meconium. I knew this meant bad news, which stressed me out more.
"Baby Bath" After the amniotic fluid came out dirty, they set up some pump that sent fluid up into my uterus to clean the baby and then back out into a bucket. It was absolutely disgusting and distressing to see the nurses take that bucket to empty it out. Also, the catheter fluid they collected was an alarming shade of brown and they said that means I have a baby pushing on my kidneys/bladder and pushing blood into my urine. Who knows? It was gross. There were so many things hanging out of my vagina (1) catheter (2) baby bath (3) sensor for baby, it was really awkward to change positions in bed. Plus there was an IV attached to my arm. It felt very unnatural.
3am serious pain, tremors, 6am oxygen. In order to get all the pictures they needed on the ultrasound (earlier), they ended up rotating baby into a bad birthing position, and we could never get him back to a good position. I got stuck at 8 cm dilated. 7am Sat (3/14) My cervix was ripe in a manner which was uneven (asymmetrical) which my OB thought was due to a LEEP surgery that I had in 2003 (causing some scar tissue that wouldn't ripen). Every cervical check was extremely painful because they kept trying to manually stretch it out.
At this point I had some visitors and listened to some music, it was really nice to have a break from the pain and pass some hours singing (and crying). 10am Sat (3/14) Eventually, I did have a bloody show. But never got to 10 cm. Baby never dropped past -2 station. I was on oxygen due to baby's heart rate dropping during contractions. We tried laboring in a few key positions. Side laying with peanut ball, in a sort of child's pose, in a "throne" position, nothing would get the cervix to dilate further than 8 cm. It was really discouraging. I had my mom timing the 18 minutes between doses of pain medication so that I could push the button only when it would actually deliver the drugs, instead of pushing it like a maniac at every moment when I was in pain. Unfortunately, it took until this point to learn that that's how it worked.
1pm Sat (3/14) c-section. Couldn't stop shaking during surgery. They thought it was because I was scared or cold. I was mentally resigned and at peace with the decision, but my body wasn't cooperating. Albert is filling diapers but he has an inguinal hernia. His intestines are in his scrotum. It's considered 'elective' surgery to fix. If poop gets trapped in there, it could go from fine to NOT FINE so it's better to fix it. It's possible now to gently massage the intestines back up into his abdomen like squeezing a tube of toothpaste. Lots of hospitals will not do this surgery so it is causing more stress. Some of this drama is caused by COVID-19 overwhelming the health care system. We are in process of getting it done though, with the help of lots of doctors.
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