Short version
Started process at 2:40pm on 1/28 with cervidil and was about 1cm dilated, baby was still very high.
Lots of mild contraptions and a few hours later, was still only at 2cm, so they started pitocin.
Still lots of contractions, no real progress for hours and hours and hours...
Around 3am, was still 2cm but baby dropped a bit so they broke my water and then I was about 3cm.
At 5am, contractions were strong enough to where I was finally requesting an epidural, which I got at 6am and was 5-6cm dilated.
Around 10:30am-ish I started feeling contractions on my left side, so they gave me meds through my epidural to help with the pain. Right after, they went to check dilation and I felt the pressure of needing to push; baby was right there and I was 10cm.
Penelope Joanne was born 1/29/14 at 11:00am, weighing 5lbs, 3.2oz, and 18.5inches. No medical issues what-so-ever and was able to come home the next day.
Long version
We had another growth scan of the baby of the baby on 1/28 and the baby's stomach was measuring at less then 5% and the overall size was measuring at less then 9%. That, on top of my high blood pressure issues I was having in the beginning, was reason enough to induce that day. Matt and I left for about 2 hours to go get one last big meal before we checked into Labor and Delivery.
At 2:40pm they inserted the cervidil (tiny pill inserted into me to help soften my cervix). Within a half hour I started having mild contractions. I was only about 1cm dilated at this time and baby was very high up (I think station 3?) Also got hooked up to an IV of fluids as well as my first round of antibiotics (I was group strep b positive). I got the antibiotics every 4hours while in labor and IV fluids whenever the bag emptied.
The contractions were coming anywhere between every 3-5 minutes and with my history of Rose coming so fast, the day nurse was betting I'd be having the baby by 10pm. At 6pm, I got checked and I was only at 2cm (I was so bummed). Definitely no baby coming that night! They started pitocin at that point and we basically just waited around. We rented a few movies from Redbox and then watched a lot of HGTV haha.
They checked me every 4 hours without much progress happening. At 3am, I was still at 2cm, but the baby dropped to station 2, so they decided to go ahead and break my water. Within about 10 minutes the baby's heart-rate dropped quite a bit. They had me change positions on the bed a few times until the heart-rate went back up and baby settled down. They also stopped the pitocin for a while to give the baby a break. After about a half hour, they started the pitocin up again. At this point, almost every time I had a contraction, the baby's heart-rate would drop a bit, but would then go back up. Sometimes it didnt go back up and nurses would come and reposition me until the baby cooperated. It was a long night.
Around 5am, the contractions were finally getting painful enough (and still coming about every 3 minutes) that I finally caved and asked for the epidural. I was pretty proud that I lasted as long I did without the epi but my body was tired and I was hungry and just needed a break.
The anesthesiologist wasn't able to come until about 6am (by that time, I was in a LOT of pain and kept asking the nurse where the guy was at). Once I got the epidural, I was still feeling pressure in my tailbone and they were wondering if maybe the baby was close, but when they checked me I was only about 5, almost 6cm dilated. From 6am till about 10am there was a lot of repositioning me to get baby's heart-rate to cooperate because it kept dropping and staying low. They ended up putting in an internal heart-rate monitor (it attaches to the baby's head) as well as an internal contrition monitor.
Around 9am I started getting really antsy and uncomfortable and had the feeling of restlessness. I wanted to be able to move and I couldn't because of the epidural and also because the baby's heart-rate kept dropping, I had to stay put until the baby decided it didnt like it anymore and had to be repositioned.
Around 10ish I started feeling the contractions again, though it wasn't painful. I think it was around 10:45ish I was really starting to feel them though, mostly on my left side. They brought in an anesthesiologist and she added medicine into my epidural to give the pain meds an extra little boost. Right after she was done, the nurse was moving the bed down to check my dilation progress when I felt tons of pressure and the urge to push. She called the OB in who checked me and announced that I was 10cm and baby was right there. They prepped the room and had me push. One contraction and three pushes later, Penelope Joanne was born at 11:00am. The cord was wrapped around her neck twice (which explained why her heart-rate dropped at every contraction) and she was a lovely shade of purple. After a few minutes though she started pinking up. Since the gender was kept a surprise, once she was born I asked what the gender was and they had Matt announce that the baby was a girl.
Even though she was 3 weeks early, she was perfectly healthy. She didnt have to have any extra oxygen or go into the NICU or anything. She weighed 5lbs, 3.2oz and was 18.5 inches long.
