I was scheduled to be induced on Monday morning at seven a.m. By the time I got to the hospital I was having mild contractions between 6-8 minutes apart on my own. We arrived at the hospital at 7:15 and was dilated to a 1-2 when we arrived. They started me on pitocin at 8:30. The contractions started getting stronger very quickly and came about every three minutes. By 11 a.m., the pitocin was up to a 12 and I received my epidural and was dilated to a 3. The contractions were starting to get very uncomfortable so I opted to get it sooner rather than later. Boy am I glad I did. My epidural worked great and really helped with the pain-I now mostly felt pressure. By about 1:30 or 2 Dr. Huggins came in and broke my water. I think I was either dilated to a 3 or 5 at this point. I was still pretty comfortable at this point and we just waited for things to progress. They slowly kept cranking up the pitocin. By about six p.m., the pitocin was at a 20 (which is the highest they can go without Dr approval I guess) and my doc told them to crank it up again. It was at this point that things started to get scary. They turned me up to 22 and Sydnee's heart rate dropped from like 160's to 80's and staying down there for a couple minutes. They put me immediately on oxygen, turned off the pit, and told me if that happens again and couldn't get her heart rate up, then they would have to do an emergency c-section. I was so scared. After one of the most spiritual priesthood blessings of my life, I felt a lot more calm and at peace. The nurse gave me a 30 minute break from the pitocin to see if my body would progress on its own. I was dilated to a 5 at this point. I wasn't making much progress, so they turned the pit back onto 10. Her heart rate started to drop again and turned it off. After around another hour or so they turned it back on and set it at 10, increasing it slowly. Sydnee's heart rate was doing okay at this point. Meanwhile, my epidural started wearing off so the anesthesiologist came to give me a top-off dose. It was about 8:30 and my nurse went to check me saying I was finally 10 cm dilated. She felt for Syd's head and it was already pretty low. She decided to have me "labor down" meaning laying on my side and letting my body and gravity help Syd move down the birth canal so I wouldn't have to push as long. I am so glad I did that, because it really did help things move along. I started to feel a lot of pressure on my pelvis and started feeling the urge to push. I don't think my nurse believed me when I said she is pushing on my pelvis and is ready to come out. She said lets try pushing a couple times to see if anything happens. After two pushes, she said to stop pushing because she still needed to call the doctor. The hardest part was to try to hold her in there while waiting for my doctor to arrive. I swear that was the longest part of labor (the 20 min waiting for her to get here). Once my doctor arrived, I pushed a few times and she was here. I had a mirror which I loved (allowed me to see myself pushing) and Andrew was able to cut her umbilical cord. I did tear a little bit up and down (second degree), but she was all worth it. I never knew how much love I could have for someone I barely met. I would do it all over again and I love my Sydnee so much. We feel lucky and blessed to have her in our family.
