Birth story - Dysha and baby girl

*Trigger warning* - Use of word contraction (didn’t bother me), mention of induction and epidural

Ok so my waters broke around 10 PM while I was cooking dinner. It was not a gush like my previous babies but a trickle. I ate dinner and we packed up and headed to hospital. I put my TENS machine on and I highly recommend this and doing so early. I was scheduled to be induced the next day but I had deferred induction for number of reasons. I am a nurse and I understood the risks and the benefits.

After arriving at hospital baby’s heart rate was monitored and she was doing great. We waited for a few hours and an on call doctor came in and mentioned pitocin as I had Premature rupture of membranes (PROM). I did not want pitocin but considered using BRAIN and eventually started pitocin with the lowest dose.

We got to our room, my husband set up the tea light candles, lavender diffuser, posted affirmations and sprayed room with Mio spray. I got hooked up to a wireless monitor and moved around the room as much as possible. We couldn’t walk the halls due to COVID.

7 hours later the doctor checked and I was still 3cm (same as when I came in). We then had to up the pitocin more to encourage labor. I utilized the Freya app, tens machine, and up breathing the entire time. My husband spent a lot of time rubbing me and being encouraging (in between his few naps lol he had worked 12 hours that day).

When I got up to 14 on pitocin something changed. My surges were coming less than 2 minutes apart. I requested gas and air. I used gas and air for about 15 minutes but I was not a fan of the way it made me feel. It made me feel groggy and I didn’t like that.

Eventually I requested an epidural. At this time I was about 7cm. My nurse was super supportive of my change. I had already had a consult with anesthesiologist during my pregnancy just in case so I was very informed. After getting epidural I used a peanut ball for positioning.

About one and a half hours later I pushed one time and my beautiful baby was here.

We did delayed cord clamping, skin to skin right after delivery, and I breastfed within the first hour. My experience was so great. The techniques I learned utilizing the positive birthing company didn’t only help during labor but helped afterwards when my uterus would contract while breastfeeding. I would not change a thing about our birthing experience. Good luck and God bless to all of you.