My induction process started Thursday May 26 at around 8:30. That gave Luke time to go home to shower, and grab some supper. I believe he brought me some supper too ... but I don't really remember :-)
Now, remember that going into this whole process, my body was basically at zero. I wasn't contracting, I wasn't dilated. Basically, I wasn't ready.
But, my health situation was precarious enough that my doctor felt it was worth going into the induction process. Since we had had a long talk just a couple days before about how I didn't want to be induced, and he was very understanding of that, I trusted that his opinion was valid.
That first night (Thursday) he used Cytotec, which is a pill (ahem. not taken orally) that is supposed to help my body start the process of labor. It took a couple of hours for it to kick in, so we spent the time getting Luke settled for the night. Since we were in the Labor and Delivery room (there is only one at our teeny tiny hospital), they only had a very not sleep friendly chair for him to sit in. After pointing this out to the nurses, they switched the chair out for the one that is in the Recovery room, which was supposedly good for sleeping in. According to my husband, it was not. So, he opted to sleep on the floor.
He fell asleep and I dozed in and out, before the medicine kicked in. And when it kicked in? Well, it felt like I was having my period, which is something I had not missed over the past 9 months. Basically it just gave me terrible, terrible cramps. After trying to make it better by trying different positions, and telling myself to get over it, I finally rang for the nurse and requested to use the whirlpool tub that was next door in the Recovery room. I hobbled next door, and sank into the warm water and enjoyed myself for about 1/2 hr. Then? The nurse made me get out and get hooked back up to the monitor. It was about 2:00 in the morning at this time, so I just sucked it up and tried to get some sleep, which was mostly a failure.
My doctor came around the next morning to check me and found that the medicine had done nothing. Besides keep me up of course.
So, the next medicine of choice was Cervidil. This is a string that has medicine in it, somehow. This one actually started some contractions, so I was hopeful we were getting somewhere. And while yes, I was contracting, it was not as awful as having a little urchin take a pliers and continually squeeze the heck out of my uterus, so there was that.
Guys, I'm not gonna lie. This whole day was a bit of a haze. I didn't get much sleep the night before, and I wasn't feeling the greatest. So I really can't give you a play by play. I do know that I spent most of the day in bed, because I was continually being monitored. And people would come in, look at my sheet, and then leave. Except, they weren't worried about me. They were worried about the babe.
And that? Made me a bit worried as well.
Basically every time I had a contraction, his heart rate would go way way way down. Now, it's normal for them to dip. But I don't think this was quite normal as my doctor was taking my sheets and sending them to Sioux Falls for the perinatologist to consult on (my wee little hospital is part of a bigger hospital system, so you get lots of perks without having to travel! for example, my 20(ish) week ultrasound was sat in via webcam by a perinatologist). The answer was always to wait and continue to monitor the situation, but it added some stress.
Then we hit the 24 hour mark of beginning the induction process. And my body? Wasn't really having none of it. Basically I was at a 2. Maybe a 3?
It was time to take the next step ....
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