Abigail's Birth Story - Edited to add pictures

Ann679

Sorry this has taken so long for me to post.  It?s been a busy but wonderful couple of weeks. 

I was set to be induced on Wednesday, but was having problems with my blood pressure.  My blood pressure was up again on Tuesday and the OB sent me to Labor and Delivery for monitoring.  They decided to keep me start the induction.  I was only at 2cm and 50% effaced so they started with Cervidil to soften my cervix.  That had to be in place for 12 hours.  As the night went on, I started having contractions.  They became more painful as the night went on but they weren?t really consistent.  They were also checking my blood pressure every 15 minutes.  Needless to say, I wasn?t able to get much sleep.   In the morning the Dr came in to remove the Cervidil and break my water.  My fluid levels were pretty low so when she broke my water, nothing came out.  They had to check again a couple of times to make sure she actually did it correctly.  Overnight I had progressed to 3cm and 70% effaced.  The contractions were getting more painful now and the Dr said that if I was going to get an epidural there was no point in waiting.  That was the best decision I made.  The epidural was amazing!!  Shortly after the epidural was placed they started me on a low dose of Pitocin.   The nurse came in to increase the Pitocin.  The baby didn?t like and her heart rate dropped.  I had to quick lay on my side and she put an oxygen mask on me.  When the left side didn?t work she had me switch quick back to the right side.  We were finally able to get her heartbeat back up after a couple of minutes.  Those few minutes felt like forever!  They had to turn off the Pitocin for half an hour and let me continue to contract on my own.  They came back in and started at half the dose they were on.  After a couple of hours they would try to increase the dose again.  Once again, her heart rate dropped.  This sequence happened 4 times throughout the day.  I was starting to get concerned.  I had been stuck at 7cm for a few hours and she wasn?t handling the Pitocin well.  The on call Dr came in and  suggested that we do the c-section because I wasn?t progressing.   My DH and I had talked about having a c-section and I was totally ok with it, but when it came time to actually do it I was freaking out.  DH calmed me down and we agreed to proceed.  I was then wheeled off the OR.  The whole process was really quick.  Next thing I know I?m hearing the most amazing sound of my little girl crying.  They got her all checked out and handed her to DH.  He brought her over so I could see her.  Abigail Faith was born on 8/29 at 8:02pm. She was 8lbs and 21inches long.   DH stayed with me while they stitched me up and my mom follow Abigail to the nursery.  Once I was back in my room they brought Abigail right to me so I could hold her and breast feed her.  We?re so in love.  She?s absolutely amazing. 

We are settling in a home and starting to get a routine down.  So far the most challenging thing has been breast feeding.  It took my milk a week to come in and we?ve been to supplementing with formula. 

I want to thank you all for your support this last year.  I wouldn?t have gotten through all this without you.  I?ll try to keep checking in and see how you are all doing.