Courtney’s Story: A first time mom’s positive induction experience.
Hey Courtney, tell us about your positive induction birth experience!
After almost a year of trying to get pregnant we finally fell pregnant on our 1 year anniversary. I had an amazing pregnancy, little to no sickness, lots of energy, and just overall a great experience. At about 37 weeks my doctor started asking if I had consider induction. Due to family history not one single woman in my family has went into labor naturally, I made it clear I at least wanted to wait until my due date and go from there. I honestly was very nervous about getting induced, everything you read is generally negative and I had people in my life that had horrible inductions that lead to emergency c-sections and I knew I didn’t want that. At 40 weeks we still had no baby and no signs of going into labor anytime soon, I wasn’t dilated at all, I decided to keep waiting because she was healthy and growing still. At 41 weeks we went back in to see my OB and she had asked again how I was feeling, she told me if I wanted an induction that day they would take me because they had the room. I texted my best friend who is a labor and delivery nurse where I was delivering and asked thoughts and if she would be working. She told me with being at 41 weeks I had a better chance of it going well. My husband and I ultimately decided to go in, I hadn’t been sleeping for weeks and was so uncomfortable at that point. We went in on a Monday, and we’re given misoprostol or Cytotec which is just a quick pill I took orally. Throughout that day and night I believe I took 4 rounds of it, I was contracting but I think only due to lack water intake. The plan was to have my water broken at 6am and move into labor and delivery and start on pitocin. We woke up around 5am to get our stuff packed up and get ready, as soon as I stood up my water broke. It felt like I was peeing my pants and honestly at that point I wasn’t sure if I had or not. I told the nurse and she was very casual about it, I then had to ask her for a gown because I was in soaking wet pants. We were quickly moved to L&D and started in pitocin almost immediately. The contraction were rough. My best friend finally got there for the evening and took over as my nurse . She was super helpful with advocating for myself and my husband as we were totally new and honestly I didn’t do a lot of research before hand. She gave me a pain medication into my IV while I was trying to hold out on my epidural. It didn’t really help with pain, however made me very drowsy. After about an hour or 2 it was almost 1pm and I finally asked for the epidural. When they placed it, it did hit a nerve which caused my leg to almost kick my husband who was sitting directly in front of me. It burned slightly but they moved it immediately and I was completely fine at that point. My nurse/friend helped move me into different positions to ensure the epidural was distributed correctly and working right. Unfortunately we spent a little too much time on one side and it stopped working on the other after a couple hours. I told my OB I was starting to feel what felt like everything and she told me I was progressing to fast for them to press the button for more meds. My friend/nurse told her I would be fine and said they were going to press the button. We immediately got moving on distributing it again. I went from a 6 to 10 in about 30 minutes. I was feeling fantastic at that point, I didn’t even know I had progressed to a 10. My nurse checked me and immediately went to call the doctor who was in an emergency c-section. I was at 10 for about 30 minutes before a doctor was able to get to my room. It happened to be right before shift change and the doctor that scheduled my induction to make sure she was there had decided she was not going to deliver me because she didn’t think I would finish in time. The OB that took over was actually my least favorite in the practice, not because she was mean or anything like that but because she just did things differently and more thoughtfully. Looking back it I was crazy to not like her but that was just how I felt. We started doing practice pushes for about 10 minutes and I had her mostly out from that, than we did two big pushes and she was completely out. I felt nothing. While pushing my nurse/friend and I had to each place a hand on my belly to feel if I was contracting or not because I couldn’t feel it. It was honestly amazing and the first thing I said when my daughter came out was “I could definitely do this again!”
What surprised you most about your conception, pregnancy, and/or birth journey?
I was surprised how long it took up to conceive. People don’t talk about how that is actually totally normal for first time parents, and for us it was a shock because everyone around us was getting pregnant so easy. As far as giving birth and being pregnant I was surprised how much I actually enjoyed both parts.
What 3 words best describe birth for you?
Empowering, intense, and truly amazing
What tips or advice would you like to give other Michigan Mamas?
Inductions aren’t always a bad thing, and don’t always end up in c-sections. I definitely think there is a time to actually consider an elective induction, I would never do one prior to 40/41 weeks though unless medically necessary.
Are there any classes, courses, books, or other resources you'd like to recommend that helped you with your experience?
I used nothing, I honestly am thankful I did little research because I didn’t have super high expectations. I never felt let down!
Do you have any postpartum advice for mothers?
Take it slow, don’t try to over-do it because everybody else seems to be. But also don’t close yourself off from people, human interaction is super healing.
What does being a mother mean to you?
I absolutely love being a mom. I have always been a pretty nurturing person and have known I wanted to be a mom my whole life. I was blessed with a child who mimics me in most aspects of her life and it was very trying but so rewarding.
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