Happy Mother’s Day! I hope that all of you mamas are getting spoiled today or at least enjoying something special because you deserve it. My idea of a perfect Mother’s Day consists of coffee, alcohol, and a shower in peace. Since I’m pregnant my day will not involve alcohol but hopefully the other two!

I thought this would be the perfect time to recap Harrison’s birth story. I’ve been meaning to write this down for awhile and I’ve probably already forgotten a lot of details considering its now been over two years 😬. If you’re pregnant with your first child, you may or may not want to keep reading. Sometimes it’s good to just have your own birth story and you don’t need to worry about the what ifs of anyone else’s.

Pregnancy & Birth Plan

My pregnancy was great, very uneventful and no complications. I had Placenta Previa (a condition where the placenta lies low in the uterus and partially or completely covers the cervix) but that resolved on its own. They also discovered a uterine fibroid (noncancerous growth of the uterus that often appears during childbearing years) which resulted in extra monitoring but thankfully it never interfered with baby’s growth.

I didn’t have a formal birth plan. Wasn’t sold on having an epidural but I wasn’t against having one either. One of my doctors really encouraged me to try to go natural because I was in good shape physically but I had no idea what the pain would be like so I hadn’t made up my mind on that. I really enjoy showering (as I mentioned in the beginning of this post haha) so ideally I thought laboring in the shower would help me relax and I planned to hopefully do that.

Diagnosed with Gestational Hypertension

I went in for my 37 week checkup and my blood pressure was through the roof – 175/130 or something close to that. The doctor came in and said, “Wow your blood pressure is impressive today!” I blamed it on being stressed and anxious about the baby coming. I used to get ‘white coat syndrome’, so sometimes I would have to have my blood pressure taken again before I left the office to make sure it had normalized. She then proceeded to tell me that we’ll likely have to induce within the week and that other doctors might have sent me right to labor and delivery that day. This came as a complete shock to me because I had no idea this was a reason that the baby needed to be delivered. I knew what preeclampsia was but I had no other symptoms. No swelling, no protein in my urine.

The following week was such a whirlwind. My doctor advised that I was not to go back to work and sent me for bloodwork to check that my organs were all functioning properly. When I received the call that my bloodwork was normal I said, “yay that means the baby can stay in there right?!” Apparently not, we were still scheduling the induction for 38 weeks. According to the American Pregnancy Association:

Hypertension can prevent the placenta from getting enough blood. If the placenta doesn’t get enough blood, your baby gets less oxygen and food. This can result in low birth weight. Most women still can deliver a healthy baby if hypertension is detected and treated early.

americanpregnancy.org

I was teaching high school math at the time and they hadn’t even found a long term-sub for me yet. This is a whole other post on its own – how to prepare for maternity leave as a teacher 😫. One of my amazing classes threw me a baby shower and it was the most thoughtful, sweetest day ever. They showered me with gifts, decorations, cards and poems. I was blown away and felt so honored to be their teacher.

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Planning for Induction at 38 Weeks

On the day of my induction I tried to keep my mind off of things. Went for a manicure and pedicure with a friend and did some shopping at Target. I had an appointment with the doctor around 4pm. I was not dilated at all. Not a good sign for a first time pregnancy being induced at 38 weeks. I went home, finished writing thank-you notes from my baby shower, ordered pizza and my mom arrived just as we were leaving for the hospital. That’s a bonus of having a planned induction, you can plan for your family to be there. My mom lives in South Carolina so she was able to fly up here.

We were scheduled to arrive at the hospital at 9pm. We got all checked in and into a room, they gave me an IV and then the fun started. Oh I also forgot they did have wireless monitors but the internet wasn’t picking it up, so from square one I was hooked up to an IV and a monitor. No food, just clear liquids. I was excited to be able to have ginger ale, I hardly ever drink soda.

Foley Bulb Induction

The plan was to start with a foley bulb. This is a non medicinal way to induce labor. They insert a balloon, fill it up with saline, and once you’ve dilated to 3cm it’s supposed to fall out. You can read more about it here, but I will spare you most of the details. The doctor that did the procedure said that my cervix was so closed that she wasn’t even sure it was placed correctly. They told us to try and get some rest. My husband Evan was sleeping on a sofa bed type couch and I was in the hospital bed. He can fall asleep at the drop of a hat, and that he did.

The contractions started pretty quickly. The nurse finally comes in and says, “Are you feeling that? You’re having contractions and they’re coming fast, almost every minute.” I was like oh yes I’m feeling that and why are they happening every minute???!! I thought for sure I had learned in my birth class that was supposed to happen in the transition phase 😳. The nurse said she wasn’t sure, it was just my body’s reaction to the foley bulb. So it got pretty bad with what felt like no break between the contractions. I finally woke up my husband. We were up all night working through the contractions. They gave me some pain medication through my IV which helped me to relax a little bit and close my eyes.

The Next Day – March 22, 2017

My doctor arrived around 9am that morning and she really got the ball rolling. It felt like a fresh start. The foley bulb was still in place and she came in, tugged it out and told me to order breakfast and get in the shower. So much relief!! They started me on pitocin. The contractions then spread out to 5 or 6 minutes apart. SO much more manageable. Things were very slow moving. After basically no progress they broke my water around 2pm. Wow painful. I cried and begged them to stop.

Still no progress. I ended up getting the epidural, I was already so exhausted and only 3cm dilated. A resident administered my epidural. Being a teacher myself, I was totally on board with it. The epidural was easy, the hardest part was staying still through the contractions. I was still able to feel my legs and a little bit of pressure during the contractions so I thought this was ideal. I didn’t like the thought of being completely numb.

Failure to Dilate & Planning for a C-Section

I feel like my timing is getting off here but at some point they came in and started talking c-section. They even brought Evan scrubs to put on. I had spiked a fever and the baby was in distress so they basically dropped the pitocin down to nothing. They explained to me what would happen and how the procedure would go down. I felt so defeated at this point. Now about 24 hours into labor, I was just so tired, physically and emotionally. I wasn’t sure how long this was going to go on for and if I would even have the strength to push once the time came. At this point I was still only 3, maybe 4cm dilated.

Around 10pm we decided on the c-section and by 11:46pm on March 22nd Harrison was born, weighing 6 lbs 10 oz. The worst part about the c-section was the uncontrollable shaking, which I guess eventually stopped once I went into the operating room. I kept saying I felt like I was on Grey’s Anatomy as they wheeled me through the halls 🤣. I was also so afraid I was going to throw up, because they told me I might from the medication. The nurses were so incredible through it all. Evan asked to watch, and he did which is insane if you ask me.

I got to kiss and snuggle Harrison as they stitched me up and in no time we were out of there. This part is a little bit of a blur but they brought us to the recovery room and I was able to nurse him for the first time, again with the help of the amazing nurses. And this is where we named him, finally! It was really late at this point, 1:30 or 2am in the morning, so we sent out a couple announcement texts to our close friends and family. My mom was still there so she came to meet him.

We had lots of visitors over the next couple days. First thing I asked was when we were able to go home. Three nights is standard I guess for a c-section and they counted Wednesday so we are able to go home Saturday as long as everyone was healthy. The recovery from the c-section wasn’t terrible. It was hard at first not being able to get out of bed and pick up my baby but Evan was instantly super Dad. You can read more about my experience nursing after a c-section in this post.

Planning for VBAC with Baby #2

So here I am 24 weeks pregnant with our second baby and my goal is for a VBAC. My doctors have me on a daily baby aspirin which will hopefully prevent my blood pressure from rising again. They’ve told me that they won’t induce from square one but if I go into labor that I can have pitocin if necessary. I’m just really hoping I can go into labor naturally and at least see if my body is capable of having this baby! Whatever is best for mama and baby of course I will do but I know that a repeat c-section is not my first choice. I understand that the doctor’s goal is to minimize risks but I’m not 100% convinced that an induction was necessary with Harrison.

Did you develop gestational hypertension and if so, were you induced? I would love to hear your experiences. Especially if you’ve had a successful VBAC 🙌🏻. Again, happy Mother’s Day!