Thursday, November 26th, we headed off to the hospital for induction. After a night of very little sleep and some pain, which I later found out were contractions occurring about ever 6 minutes on my own, we arrived at the hospital at 5 am for our 5:30 am induction.
Our induction was initially set for 7 am, as the 5:30 slot was taken already. However, the hospital called around late in the evening the night before saying my OB had managed to get me into a 5:30 am slot instead. Prior to that call, I had held it together pretty well by just ignoring that I was really about to do this shindig. After speaking with the hospital, playing ignorant wasn’t as easy anymore.
Regardless, I appreciated the 5:30 am induction, as this guaranteed Auggie would be asleep when we left the house. This didn’t stop me from bawling over him at 4 am in the morning as I prepared to say goodbye, but it at least kept him from seeing it.
There were a few things I had really wanted out of this day, the most important being a healthy mom and a healthy baby. But, I had also prayed for a nurse that I trusted and believed to be very capable, the ability to feel contractions and labor to a degree as I didn’t have the opportunity with Auggie, and a vaginal delivery.
Upon arriving at the hospital, we signed in with the receptionist, and she offered to take our picture with the large Christmas Tree in the lobby.
The receptionist then told us to head on up to the second floor where we would wait to be called back and put into a room.
By the time we got off the elevator, our nurse was already waiting for us at the entry door to the labor and delivery unit. She was probably in her thirties with her hair pulled back in a pony tail with a “I’ve done this a million times, relax” smile on her face.
We went through the usual steps of changing to a gown, monitoring the baby for at least 30 minutes, and taking my heath history. She then tried to place an IV in my arm, but things didn’t go so smoothly. She hit a valve, which honestly had me about to pass out, so we switched the placement of the IV into my hand.
It was now close to 6:30 am when we started Pitocin and asked about next steps. Bryson asked about shift change, knowing it was coming at 7, but our nurse responded by staying that she actually specializes in c-sections and, therefore, has a different shift schedule of 5 am to 5 pm. I instantly felt relief to know that God had provided a nurse who was experienced and whom I would get to keep through most of the day. I also was a little skeptical at to whether or not her being specialized in c-sections was an indicator of what may lay ahead for the rest of the day.
At first, I barely felt contractions, but they were coming regularly and had moved me from 1.5 cm upon arrival to a 2 by the time 8 am had rolled around and my OB arrived to break my water.
I remember my water being broken during labor with Auggie, but not to the same degree as with Eloise. It felt like I was peeing the hottest pee imaginable for hours. Every time I moved or contracted, this hot liquid spewed out.
I believe following breaking my water, we turned up Pitocin a bit, as it was still on the lowest setting, and I asked to get out of bed on a birthing ball to see if I could speed up dilation.
It worked a bit, as after an hour on the ball, I reached 3 cm. But, liquid was still draining out and it was a little hard to monitor Eloise’s heart rate while I was bouncing around, so I opted to get back in bed after noticing that her heart rate would drop with contractions a bit.
At this point, I kept asking if the nurse if baby’s heart rate looked okay and was reassured that it did, but I didn’t quite believe her.
I wanted to continue to progress in case my intuition was right, so I asked for the peanut ball while in bed. I was warned that without an epidural and my water already broken that this would likely hurt. It did. It wasn’t pleasant at all, but it did its job.
I had pushed the call button for the nurse to check me at the same time that my OB had requested the same via the phone. In she came to find me at 4 cm.
It was then that I decided to opt for an epidural, similar to as I did with Auggie. I continued to see the small desats on the monitor, and I wasn’t taking chances.
Prior to this point, I had been pretty adamant about at least trying to a natural labor, to feel childbirth as God had intended, to be able to trust in the pain and my body, but there are no awards for a painful childbirth and something was telling me we need to hurry up and get this baby out. The epidural did just that, as it had done in my previous delivery with Auggie.
I was dilating at a pretty rapid pace, but Eloise’s was not tolerating it well. My blood pressure began to drop (to normal pre-pregnancy levels for me, but enough of a drop from what it had been that my nurse began to administer extra fluids) and the contractions were coming back to back. At this point Pitocin was only set to 8, but the nurse actually opted to turn it off completely and call my OB to let him know that we may need to discuss our options (aka c-section), as the baby had been in distress for an hour around 3 pm. My OB said he would see his last patient and head over.
At this point, I was ready to cry. I know that many women have successful c-sections, but having never had a surgery before and knowing the extra risks and pain that a c-section can carry, I wanted no part of it. In my head, I was praying and trying to trust that God would provide as he saw fit. Auggie’s little voice telling me to “Be brave” was on repeat, as I was working to relax my body and just let it be a peace with whatever the outcome.
All the while, my nurse never left my side. She stayed and charted while we accessed the situation. She held casual conversation and comforted me letting me know that my decision to get an epidural was likely not the reason my baby was in distress.
At 4:02 pm, I asked the nurse to check me assuming it would be the last time before my OB showed up, as I was having some pressure in the right of my butt. She checked me letting me know I was mostly effaced and dilated to an 8.5. I just needed to dilate a bit more on my left side, so she rolled me to my left side to see if that would help.
At 4:03 pm, I calmly told her, ” I know you just checked me, but there’s something coming out of my crotch.”
My sister, who was in the room with us, later told me that the nurse rolled her eyes a bit, as if thinking, “Yeah right, lady.” But, well and behold, I was complete!
You could tell by my nurses reaction that this was pretty unexpected, as she frantically got on the phone to call my OB to run over. Meanwhile, I was heavily relieved to know that I had a shot a vaginal delivery again. I was also, however, in quite a bit of pain regardless of the epidural.
At this point, I believe I was screaming letting her know that I was going to push and there wasn’t much she could do about it. She just calmly kept pushing my legs back together, but I noticed she also turned on her delivery light and paged another OB for standby.
My OB arrived at 4:12 pm, which is actually incredibly impressive as he was in an entirely different building across the highway seeing patients in his office, and at 4:31 pm, Eloise Kate Waibel entered the world, purple but screaming.
All of this to say, Eloise Kate has arrived! She was 7 lbs 11 oz and 20 3/4 in at birth. Her brother adores her and is coping well, and her dad and I are over the moon thankful to be parents to two sweet kiddos. Thank you for all your prayers! I know they made a difference.
