Induction and Birth Story

On our due date, I woke up at 3am feeling “funny.” I have always been one to feel my cramps come on before my cycle and to feel the head rush of hormones that would generally accompany the pending cycle. This was what I felt at 3am. I thought to myself today IS the day.

Our little guy is going to make his appearance in the world in perfect timing. I was so overjoyed and spent sometime talking to him quietly. I tried to go back to sleep but felt so many nerves and then felt like I was hungry.

I woke up and ate a granola bar. As I laid there I began to feel cramping and him moving about. Heather woke up and asked if I was ok and I told her I think today is the day, but we are not there yet. She told me she loved me and was excited to hear the good news. We both then laid there with our little man under our hands and went back to sleep.

Our due date progressed but my contractions did not. His scheduled day had come and gone and he was still not here. I was disappointed as I knew that most likely at this point he would not be here for the holiday and that we would most likely be induced.

Throughout my pregnancy we had heard he was measuring on time or ahead of schedule so I had never really mentally prepared for having to be induced. With the exercise, diet and acupuncture I was convinced that he would arrive on time and without assistance.

Well Christmas came and went and we were still pregnant. We got confirmation that we were to arrive at the hospital Tuesday night, Dec 26th at 8pm for our induction.

We got up that morning and had a plan to make sure I ate well and that we rested as we knew it was going to most likely be a long night. We went and had a big breakfast at Cracker Barrel to start the day. Then we went and ran last minute errands at the grocery store and Target before heading back home. Once home, we had a lunch of Christmas Eve leftovers and tried to relax for a little bit on the sofa. We called my best friend and had Christmas with her and her kids on the phone since we were not able to connect with them the day before.

I was super anxious and did not know what to think about the induction and how it would take place. I decided I needed to stay busy because there was no way I was going to be able to lay down for a nap. I packed the diaper bag; got the stroller ready; and made diaper changing and breastfeeding stations for downstairs, our bedroom and the loft. It felt somewhat better to know that we would be a little more organized when did come home with him.

It got closer to dinner time and we decided we would eat the mussels and fries since we did not eat them on Christmas Eve. My wife prepared them and they were great. We were both full of anxiety and not sure about what would happen next but tried to enjoy our last meal as just us.

We gathered all of our things and headed to the hospital.

They checked us in to our labor and delivery room and gave me my official hospital gown. It was go time.

The nurse went through all my vitals and questions regarding the pregnancy. She said that the doctor would assess where we were and what would be our induction plan. She reminded us that this could go quickly or not, and that sometimes inductions take up to three days. Three days?!? What the world!?

We were hoping that since it had been a week since I was checked and experienced a good amount of contractions over the weekend that I would be closer to 3-4 cm dilated. The doctor that came in was of course one of the three doctors we did not meet before our due date at the practice. She checked my cervix and said it was soft but we were still only at 2 cm. Ugh are you kidding me?!? She said they wanted to start my induction with a balloon to open my cervix more. They asked if I wanted pain medications and I told them not at this time as I wanted to try to progress with labor as long as I could naturally. Anesthesiology came by the room to discuss pain med options so that I was aware of them as things progressed.

They inserted the balloon about 10:30pm. The goal of the balloon was to get my body to dilate to at least 4cm and then they could see if I would continue to progress on my own or if we would need to try other methods. Doctor came back around 2am to check on my progress. The balloon was working but still not ready to come out yet. She told me to keep tugging on it as I felt contractions to get them working on opening me up. Around 5am I felt like the balloon could come out. I called the nurse and she was able to pull it out…woohoo we had gotten to 4cm.

The Doctor came back by before shift change and said that the next step would most likely be for them to break my water but that she would let the next Doctor on shift make that call. Of course, our luck the Doctor was the one we had seen previously that told us she could not reach my cervix.

She came in around 10am and checked my dilation. We were still at 4cm, she wanted to go ahead and break my water. She advised me that often things progress pretty quickly once your water is broke and the contractions can get pretty painful so if I wanted an epidural, I should get one now. Being that I had been contracting all night and didn’t really sleep, I was pretty tired at that point. We still had a long way to go to get to 10cm and there was no telling how long I would have to push, so I gave in and got the epidural.

Anesthesiology came in and placed my epidural. Heather kept asking me if it was painful because she could see the needle. It was actually more painful for me to be hunched over as Peanut’s feet were in my ribs.

Doctor came back in around 11am and broke my water. She was amazed by how full my sac was as the water just kept flowing. She was like “no wonder this baby doesn’t want to come out, it is too cozy for him.” They slowly began the Pitocin and waited for my contractions to do the work of dilating me further.

All of our family was now even more anxious since we had been in the hospital for over 12 hours and wanted to come see us and know how I was progressing. We had already told family that we did not want anyone in labor and delivery but Heather and I. Well at 1:30, one of Heather’s sisters decides she is going to bring lunch to Heather as a way to get herself in the room. I was livid! I let Heather eat and take a short nap while she was there and then I made it very clear that I wanted her out of the room. I had enough pressure on myself to get this baby out that I did not need her sitting there looking at me, or hovering over the monitor every 5 minutes to see if I was having a contraction. Heather talked to the nurse and they came up with a plan to relocate her to the waiting room. Shortly after that more of Heather’s family showed up and they were all sitting around in the waiting room come dinner time.

The doctor came back around dinner to check my progress and we were still at 4cm. Ugh here I am confined to this bed with the epidural and still not progressing. This was my worst nightmare. The hours continue to drag on and my contractions intensified with each Pitocin increase. It got to be later in the night and Heather’s family was still in the waiting room. The doctor came in around 9pm and checked and I was at 5cm. I told Heather to go tell her family to head home, it was clear at this point that he was not going to be born on the 27th. They were reluctant to leave but we assured them that if something changed, we would call them but it was best that they go home and get some rest.

Throughout the night, they continued to increase the Pitocin until we got to 6 milliunits and then they noticed they were having a hard time monitoring my contractions and Peanut’s heartrate. So around 10pm they put in an internal contraction monitor and put me in an upright position as they found that when they tried to turn me on my side that they would loose track of Peanut’s heartbeat.

I sat in this upright position all night as they lowered and raised my Pitocin levels. I was so tired, my butt was numb from being in the same position and having constant pressure and I was so ready to meet our son. At 4am, the Dr came in to check my cervix again. We were still at 5cm.

She looked at both of us and was like ladies unfortunately I think we have hit a wall. They had allowed my body to labor for over 24 hours, my water had been broke for more than 12 hours, and my body had not progressed past 5cm and he was still in a -2 position (which meant his head was not in the front of my pelvis). All I could do was start crying, I was so exhausted, I had tried so hard and we still had to have a c-section. The doctor said that she hated to go this route especially with first time moms but we had given it time and options and now they needed to be safe and get him out. Logically I understood this but I was quite disappointed that I was not able to do it naturally.

They said they would prepare for the c-section. They took me back and anesthesiology came in to check my epidural before the surgery. After checking, we came to found out that my epidural was not working on my left side and that at this point they would need to put in a spinal tap to correct it. I knew that with them taking the time to do this, Heather was growing anxious as she waited back in the delivery room for them to come and get her. I was so exhausted and could barely keep my eyes open. The anesthesiologist was like it is ok you can take a catnap as we get ready.

They finally brought Heather back and they had already started cutting me open. I could feel the pressure of the tugging but I was so tired at that point that I Just was ready to meet our little man. The doctor finally got him and they pulled back the curtain for us to see him. The doctor said “Are you ready to meet your toddler? He is so big!” They showed him to us and he was such a big boy. They put him on the scale and found out he weighed 9lbs and 5oz. The doctor was like “Wow, he is a little sumo wrestler. It is a good thing we did do a c-section because he would have probably not fit through your birth canal.” He was finally here…our perfect little boy.. Hawk Daxton Satterfield born one week late on December 28th at 7:04am.

They cleaned him up and Heather got to hold his hand. She was immediately in love. They laid him on my chest but he was so big and heavy that I couldn’t really do skin to skin with him while they had me on the operating table.

They finished closing me up and took us to the recovery room for two hours. It was perfect, only Heather, Hawk and I were allowed in the room. So it allowed us time to do skin to skin, him to breastfeed the first time, bond with him and just be a family before all of our family came in to see him.

So even though our birth plan went out the window, it turned all out for the best in the end, our miracle is here and we are a family.