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Week by Week

Baby Bear

First of all I would just like to say that having a girl is wonderful. This is our third child and she is so completely different from our other two boys it is amazing.

We decided to be induced during my 39th week. My husband works approximately 1 1/2 hours away and if he was to get caught in traffic he may never get there on time. Also, having two other children at home and living in a very rural area helped in the decision. I have heard nothing but horror stories about being induced with Pitocin so I was very apprehensive. Reading other birth stories helped but I was still scared.

The day before I went to the hospital I was dialated 1 1/2 centimeters and 50% effaced. The doctor inserted Laminaria and by the time I was admitted the next morning I was already dialated to 3 centimeters with only a minimal amount of cramping the night before. Granted the procedure was not that comfortable, but boy did it help prepare me.

I went into the hospital at 7:00 am and was receiving Pit by 7:30 am. At first the contractions were 2 to 3 minutes apart and even though I felt them I was still walking and talking. Around 10:00 am they started becoming much stronger and I was unable to talk through them. My nurse asked if I wanted anything and I recevied a shot of Nubain. Not bad stuff and it took the edge off. At 10:30 am they were coming stronger and closer together and we discussed an epidural (even though the one I had last time was the most awful experience of my life) these contractions were hurting. Well, I waited a minute too long and the epidural doctor had to perform an emergency C-section so I lost out. By now the contractions were extremely painful and I was already dialated to 6 centimeters. The doctor was called and by the time he got there (10 minutes away) I was ready to push (I was still standing at this point - 11:50 am thinking that gravity would prevail). It took three people to get me to bed because they were so strong and all I wanted to do was push. However, the minute I got into bed they hurt worse and I didn't want to push. But with the encouragement and stubborness of the nurse, three pushes later and our little girl was born at 12:12 pm. I even told the doctor at that point that he was right and that there is no difference between the Pitocin contractions and non-induction contractions with the exception that my first labor was 14 hours, my second was 17 hours and this one was only 4 1/2 hours.

I think that Pitocin is great, you just have to be prepared that the birth comes much quicker if your body lets the drug do its job and you react well.

P.S. During both of my previous labors, the babies D-celled and during this one because it was so quick there was no D-cell in breathing and she came out screaming even though I had the Nubain.

Thanks again for printing birth stories - they really helped ease my mind.