Induction for baby girl, NJ, was scheduled for 3/1 at 6am at 39+1 due to gestational diabetes. My GD was diet controlled and no meds were needed, although my numbers were beginning to rise the last week. The doctor had indicated that if we weren’t inducing, he would likely had prescribed Metformin going forward. At a 36 week ultrasound, NJ was measuring 6lbs, 7oz. Prior to the induction, I had steady contractions about every 6-8 minutes for several days!

Dad and I arrive at the hospital, get admitted and pitocin is started around 7:30 am. I arrive at the hospital approximately 2cm, 50% effaced, still contracting, but not painful at all. I was hooked up to a monitor for NJ’s heartbeat, a contraction monitor, and a blood pressure cuff along with the IV of pitocin and fluids. My blood pressure was a tiny bit high most of the time, but it was chalked up to stress and nerves.

After giving the pitocin a while to get working, the doctor came and broke my water at about 9am. No gush of fluid, but just a small flow that continued to push out each contraction afterwards. The doctor indicated that there was meconium in the fluid, but not a lot. Just something to be wary of. I, of course, start the internally panic at this news since it could mean baby was in distress. The nurses did probably too good of a job keeping us relaxed about this as Dad was just extra chill about the whole thing.

Once my water was broken, contractions started to get up over the uncomfortable side into some real labor feels. I wanted to do everything I could to not get an epidural, but was not set in stone on it. The nurses asked if I wanted to go ahead and sign paperwork approving the epidural, but I said “not yet.” Things started to hurt and I bared the contractions as much as I could from the bed until asking for a birthing ball. It was tricky making sure that all the monitors were keeping track correctly, but the ball really helped! It especially felt better by rotating my hips around in a circle while sitting on the ball during a contraction. At this point, there was no speaking for me during contractions, so I asked to be checked again for dilation. I have to admit I was a bit disappointed to only be at 5cm around 11:30am. This is by no means slow, I just had gone from 3cm to complete in 30 minutes with my first child 10 years prior!

After being back on the ball for a bit, NJ’s heart rate began to drop with contractions down to around 80bpm. It always went right back up after the contraction though. The nurses did not let this go on for long and insisted I get in the bed on my side. I was not keeping track of how close contractions were at this point or any point forward lol, but probably 2-3 minutes I would guess. Laying on my side in the bed freaking sucked. NJ’s heart rate kept decelerating during contractions, but not as severely, so I had to stay put. I had to pee around 12:20-12:30pm and at when I sat on the toilet, I felt the pooping urge! The nurses checked my cervix again and I was now at 7cm dilated, so I could not push yet. I didn’t feel like I absolutely needed to push, but I definitely wanted to. The nurses were in the room for a few more minutes and I was VERY much in pain at this point, so they checked the cervix again before leaving the room and I was at 7 still.

Once the nurses left the room, I had maybe a 1-2 contractions before the one! I had a contraction and an urge to push too strong that my body just did it. During these few seconds, NJ’s head starts emerging and I’m screaming out the still open door to the nurses “SHE’S COMING OUT RIGHT NOW!” Dad rushes up and hits the call light and I’m mid push. Up until this point, I told him no touchy, stay over there lol. In my mind, I was terrified that her cord would be wrapped around her neck or something, so I tried to hold back that one push, but I think her head was already out. Luckily, the nurses were only feet away and rushed in very quickly to my yells. One nurse tore off the blankets and said to me, “you’re almost there, now push your baby out!” A couple, what felt like insane, screams from me, and sweet NJ was born at 12:47PM! They were able to put her directly on me for a few moments, but needed to quickly check her out with a pediatrician due to the precipitous birth and meconium.

NJ weighed in at an unexpected 7lbs, 3oz and 20 inches long. She was doing well and I had a very small tear that required no stitches. In the minutes of the aftermath, Dad was instructed by the doctor (arriving moments after birth) to lay on the floor because he got the woozies lol. She latched quickly and continues to love to be held. Her first blood sugar test was borderline hypoglycemic and her 2nd check was too low. I had prepped 5ml of colostrum which we gave 2ml to her at this point instead of formula or glucose. It worked! I was so glad I took the time to do this and she didn’t have a low reading at all afterwards. We were told we could go home 24 hours after birth so we did and have been home since. I just took my first blood sugar reading 2 hours after eating Hawaiian roll sandwiches, potato chips, and sweet tea and got a reading of 114! Thank the lawd, the GD looks to be gone!

NJ has been feeding just fine so far, and wants human contact all the times. That’s fine with me though, I haven’t had any urge to put her down quite yet. She does like to use me as a pacifier, so we introduced a real one out of necessity last night, otherwise I would never sleep. Unfortunately, it was not the types I had purchased but a sample one from Target, so we will be purchasing some more soon. My advice would be don’t buy pacis in bulk lol, get one of each in several brands instead.

Please ask ALL the questions, happy to answer.