Near the end of my pregnancy, I started having an odd symptom...the soles of my feet and my calves, and the palms of my hands were itching tremendously, especially at night. And there was no rash there, just the itching. I figured it was a normal end-of-pregnancy symptom and didn't mention it to the midwife at first. Then one appointment (a week before my due date), I mentioned it in passing, hoping for some tips on how to relieve it. Concern crossed Marie's face and she excused herself to talk to an OB. She came back and told me that I had to have a blood test done to test my bile salts, because I could have a condition known as Cholestasis. Bile isn't filtered properly and can cause some serious problems, the worst being stillbirth. She urged me to be induced to be on the safe side. That floored me, of course. That's a word that was not in my plan! Induction leads to epidurals, which leads to c-sections, right?
So naturally I said no, and so she ordered me to go to get twice weekly biophysical stress testing at the hospital to keep close tabs on Cassia. So off to the hospital I went for my first appointment. I took my mom with me, because I'll admit I was nervous. This sort of thing didn't happen with Olivia. I just had her after 9 excruciating hours of natural labor. Turns out a stress test is not stressful in the least. They hook you up to a monitor to hear the baby's heartbeat and to detect any contractions, and you lay in a comfy chair for about thirty minutes. The end. So everything looked great the first time, Cassia did what she had to do, and I only had two contractions. That was a Tuesday, June 5th. My next appointment was Thursday, June 7th at 7:30 a.m. I decided to go by myself to this appointment, because it wasn't a big deal. Oooor so I thought.
But Marie was there, and after looking at the activity, which included regular contractions, she again urged me to be induced. She said the risk of stillbirth is serious and it was better to be safe than sorry. Plus, I was due in less than a week. She said she'd talked to another OB, who said he wouldn't have let me leave the previous appointment without being induced. So I called Derek, talked it over with him, and we decided that I would be induced. I called my mom and she came to the hospital. I think I was checked in the room by 10 a.m. or so. Derek came a bit later, because we'd just had windows installed in our upstairs so he had to wait for them to finish. I warned him that he should hurry because the baby could come quick. Ah, little did I know...
At this point, because the contractions were coming on a regular basis, Marie decided not to use any drugs or other methods to induce me. She was thinking I was going into labor naturally. So I breathed through each contraction, and changed positions often. When she came to check me, I was sure that I must be dilated to 4 cm at least. 1 cm. I was dilated 1 cm. She stretched me to 2 cm (ouch!) and stripped my membranes (again, ouch!). The contractions continued. I went online between them, continued to breathe, used a birthing ball to try and widen my pelvis, etc. Next time she checked me I hadn't dilated at all. I was shocked. She stripped my membranes again, and suggested the tub to relax me and hopefully get my cervix dilating. So a nice warm jacuzzi bath for me, complete with pretty glowing lights under the water and relaxing music. The contractions kept coming, every 4 to 5 minutes. When I got out, I was checked again, and had made it to 3 cm. It was getting close to evening at this point, and Marie decided we needed to speed things up a bit.
So onto pitocin I went. The lowest possible dosage, because she said I was already having contractions, we just needed to give them a nudge. So it started at 2. Well three guesses as to whether that worked. Nope, not at all. So slowly over the next several hours, the pitocin dose kept getting bumped up and up and up. 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12. As the amount went up, so did the pain of each contraction. Yet when she checked me again, I had not dilated at all from 3 cm!
On and on this went, upping the pitocin, changing positions, trying to breathe through the contractions. To my credit, Marie & the nurse said I was the most calm person they'd seen with contractions. I was trying to keep everything inside, even though I wanted to scream at points. And to their credit, they did everything in their power to keep me comfortable. Marie was awesome throughout it. I got back massages, foot massages, reassuring pep talks, hand holding, anything I wanted. But each time Marie checked me and I wasn't dilated, my resolve was chipped away more and more. I envisioned each contraction opening up the cervix and pushing Cassia down. I was trying to mentally will it to happen. Unfortunately my mind did not connect with my body. I thought for sure I was going to have Cassia on June 7th, but my mom had said she wanted her born on the 8th. Well, looked like my mom was going to get her wish. Thanks a lot Mamahead! :)
Finally, somewhere around 1:30 or 2:30 a.m., I'd had enough. I had been trying to internally talk myself out of an epidural, but I was done. So after making sure no one in the room saw me as a failure (yes I know that's a ridiculous thing to think, but I was emotional & in pain and nothing was going right), I asked for the epidural. And in walked the man of my dreams. Okay, 2nd man of my dreams. He was upbeat and confident, and assured me that he was going to make me feel great. I was given instructions for how to sit and not to move from a C position (or like a shrimp, which grossed me out to picture), and sent Derek & my mom from the room. Marie ended up having to hold me down because I jerked when he put the needle in my back, so I couldn't be trusted not to move. hehe. 18 hours of contractions and I'm fine, yet one needle in my back and I couldn't handle it!
Let me tell you, when that waterfall of medicine flowed into me, it was heaven. The pain was gone! But relief was brief, because I suddenly felt nauseous and my head started pounding. When I mentioned it, they called the anesthesiologist back and he had to shoot something in my IV to speed up my heart rate. I'm not medical, so I can't remember what it was. But it made my head feel better, which was fine by me.
Finally they let my mom & Derek come back into the room. Odd thing is, when Derek asked why it took so long, no one answered. Everyone got quiet and tried to ignore him. Very strange. He asked again, and after a long pause, the nurse said they had to adjust the meds. I had to fill them in later. Still have no idea why they were all evasive about it. But it was fixed, and I dozed for a couple hours. Next check, I still wasn't dilated, which had me worried about needing a c-section. I started crying at the thought and Marie assured me that as long as Cassia was okay in there, we wouldn't go that route. So next up, breaking my water.
Thank goodness I didn't feel it, because it's a little scary watching a ginormous sewing needle looking thing go into me! At first she could only graze the bags because Cassia's head was right there. But when she tried again a bit later, out came Niagara Falls. hehehe, sorry for the visual. But I think that was the trick to getting things moving, because boy did I dilate super fast after that! Next time she checked I think I was up to 8 cm dilated! At that point, and somewhere around 7 or 7:30 a.m., the pain was back, and bumping the meds wasn't helping. I don't think they would have brought in the anesthesiologist again, but I was in such distress and starting to panic they had another dose put in me. Talk about bad timing. Because right after he put it in, I felt an enormous amount of pressure. I was crying and Marie said to push a little and see if that relieved it. I did, and it did, so she hurried to check me and I was ready to push!
Now with Olivia, pushing was the worst part. Two hours and a dreadful tear later, she was born. So this was the part I was most scared of. But I knew that last time I didn't follow her instructions to a tee and probably caused more tearing than I needed to. So this time when Marie said to push, I pushed, and when she said stop, I used every ounce of will power to stop. I was trying to gear up for a long morning of pushing when Marie told me to look down. And miraculously, after just a few contractions and very well controlled pushes, Cassia's head came out. I couldn't believe it. It gave me renewed strength. Now instead of turning and letting one shoulder come out at a time, Cassia had to be different. She stayed face down and let her shoulders come out like a little linebacker. But out she came, and she was so perfect. I knew her right away. We were all amazed by how big she was too, and the scale said 8 lbs 14 1/2 ounces. At 8:33 a.m., more than 24 hours after I showed up at the hospital, my second daughter was born.
It sure wasn't the way I had envisioned things happening. Especially considering how everyone (except one person) said how 2nd babies come much faster than the first one. I'm expecting Cassia to continue to surprise me for the rest of my life!
