Week 38-A Failed Induction

8/16/2013

Dear Brookelynn,

At 38 weeks you are about 6.8 pounds and 19.75 inches long the size of a leek! This week has been the most eventful yet...

Every last detail was ready for your arrival, the floors were mopped, the sheets were washed, the yards were clean, Paisley was sent to GeeGee & Glammy's house, and I was mentally prepared, however, I wasn't prepared to not have you due to a failed induction.  I was so confident that I was already experiencing early labor signs before our planned trip to the hospital. We went to the hospital in Roseville on Saturday (August 10th) at 6:00 PM and by 8:00 PM I was started on an oral medication to help ripen my unfavorable cervix. By this time I was so confident since my pelvic exam went so smoothly (with a male doctor even, a first for me) I just knew with the help of my hypnosis and meditation practice you would be here within 24 hours as the doctor had hoped.  

The nurse suggested that everyone go home to get rest. Your Daddy stayed with me and was pretty miserable, I told him to suck it up since I have been miserable for nine months!  And he did. Glammy was unsure if she should leave me but I wanted everyone to get a good nights rest since nothing exiting was going to happen that night. 

By Midnight when it was time for my second dose of medication I was having consistent contractions (12 per hour), though they were not painful and I only really knew I was having them because of my continuous monitoring. 

My night doctor came in and gave me benedryl through my IV to help me go to sleep it took effect immediately but of course I was uncomfortable with contractions every three minutes, a hard bed, and with nurses checking on me every 30 minutes so I didn't sleep.

It was finally morning and I had to get a blood test, I was extremely nauseated so they gave me Zofran through my IV, I instantly felt better.  At 7:00 AM the nurse gave me my third dose of medication since my contractions were finally slowing down and then that's when things changed...nothing was happening.  

GeeGee, Glammy, Unkie, and Rachelle all came back to the hospital anticipating you would be arriving later that day (the 11th) or early the next morning (the 12th). Glammy & Rachelle decided they better go get lunch (Unkie went along ) and they went to the cupcake shop to get your birthday celebration items leaving me with GeeGee and your Daddy. 

At 2:30 PM a resident came in to check my cervix and that's when I knew the induction wasn't working! The exam was the most painful experience of my life, you had moved and were so far up in my abdomen that the doctor couldn't even feel my cervix, it burned so bad I just wanted to scream but I held it together as best as I could. She said I hadn't dialated at all and my cervix at best had only effaced to 50%. 

Glammy and Rachelle returned and I immediately started crying because I thought it was my fault that the exam didn't go as well as the first.  They said they weren't going to leave me again and would be there for me for the next exam. 

At 4:00 PM my nurse from the night before was back and I told her about my experience and she said that she was going to find the best doctor around when my next exam was needed or she would do it herself because she too knew how well I did with the first exam. She gave me another dose of medication. 

I took a shower, Rachelle gave me an up-do and a foot massage, and I ate a sandwich from Panera.

Around 9:30 PM my nurse asked if I was ready to be necked again although nothing was happening and I was very discouraged. I was scared from the second exam but agreed. And she was right, she found a great doctor (Dr. Hernried) who was able to explain to me that the pain I was feeling was not from my anxiety but because of your position inside me. She checked me and with Glammy and Rachelle I was able to get through it much better even though it still hurt. Your Daddy had to leave the room this time because he felt so bad for the pain I experienced earlier. That's when we had to make the decision to call the induction a failure.  I had been given the maximum dose of medication to ripen the cervix before Pictocin would be given and nothing had changed.  If I choose to continue it would be up to 6 days of unnecessary pain and would end in a c-section. I decided to go home to be comfortable and your Daddy agreed.  We had an ultrasound and got to see you which was very reassuring. 

The good news was after being monitored for two days we learned my preeclampsia was well managed and reduced to a standing of mild. You were also perfect and not even phased by the contractions I had, had. You just were not ready to come out. We made it home and were in bed by early Monday morning around 2:30 AM. 

On Tuesday we went back and saw the specialist in Roseville (The first doctor to check me, Dr. Mentakis...he is a miracle worker in my opinion). My NST showed I was still having consistent contractions.  Dr. Mentokis then checked my cervix via ultrasound and said it was still not dialated and was effacing on its own now...but we were finally told why the medicine didn't work.  As if Mommy didn't have enough problems, my cervix is apparently thicker (much thicker) than average.  On Tuesday it was finally effaced to what the average women starts with. He checked my fluids which are more than enough and then he measured you and found you are in the 78% growth range...now I'm scared to death you may be too big to come out...but we will see at our next appointment on Monday. 

Finally, I had another NST today and there are no contractions. So at this point I am not sure where we stand. I hope there is some improvement before our next attempt but I guess we will learn next week as our adventure continues! 

Dr. Mentokis says with a good epidural I'll be fine and we are going to attempt a vaginal delivery one more time, but at least this time I won't have to do the walk of shame since if it fails I will have a c-section. At least I can leave with more than an arm full of bruises.  In all seriousness though it was a blessing you got to stay in a little bit longer so you were not considered a late preemie. The right time will be here soon-XOX!