Yes, we induced… and I ended up having a c-section. We induced on her 40-week due date, I might add that I also induced my son at 40-weeks and we had a wonderful experience so I did not hesitate to induce baby girl!
But here’s a little backstory on this semi-dramatic pregnancy: at our 20-week ultrasound, they told me I had a complete placenta previa that would not resolve on its own and I would have to have a c-section at 36 weeks. You’re welcome to google the alternative outcomes of not having a c-section with a complete previa, but the scary factor was enough for me to schedule that day. I was closely monitored and had multiple ultrasounds throughout the remainder of my pregnancy, all of which confirmed my placenta was still fully covered by my cervix, and in no way would a baby be coming out naturally.
THREE days before my scheduled c-section I had one final ultrasound just to see if anything had changed and my previa was completely gone. The ultrasound tech urgently called in my doctor to confirm and they even sent me to the hospital to get a (seventh) opinion. I was free to go full-term and push out this baby! It was a miracle.
The mental shift of going from KNOWING without question that you’re going to have a c-section on a specific date to being pregnant a month longer than you had planned was definitely a weird one. But we embraced the extra month and I was happy to keep baby girl cooking and to have a natural delivery!
At 40 weeks when I showed no progress it was officially time to induce. I went in with laboring contractions (every 2-3 minutes) but I was only a centimeter dilated… this went on for 14 hours. They gave me a peanut ball and I went from 1 centimeter to four centimeters in an hour, switched sides, and went from 4 to 10 in 20 minutes!
I pushed for 45 minutes and her heart rate was stressing so they told me to “labor down” which is where you don’t push but let the baby descend naturally while we took a break and let us both try and relax before another round of pushing. When it was time to push again the doctor let me know that the baby may be bigger than we thought and if this next round of pushing didn’t work we would have to move forward with a c-section. 20 hours of labor in and this was definitely not what I wanted to hear.
During the c-section we found out she was struggling to descend because she was face-up and the umbilical cord was around her neck. So I’m very grateful for her safe arrival, even if I didn’t get to deliver her the way I had originally planned.
AFTER the c-section they let Nic be with Norah while they stitched me up and I started to have severe anxiety when they left and with the stitching me back up taking so long and apparently I got a little aggressive with the nurses so they had to sedate me… which, I will barely take Tylenol so them giving me a horse tranquilizer, well let’s just say that was not an enjoyable experience and it took me a while to come “back to.”
I will say that the recovery from a c-section, for me, was 10000 times worse than recovery from a vaginal birth with my son. I was not prepared for that… but she is the sweetest baby and we are so happy to have her complete our family. I already cannot remember life without her, it’s like we’ve known her forever.
