Margot's Positive Induction Story
Wednesday, October 4, 2023
_We got this note and birth story from our amazing client, Margot. When we asked for permission to share it, she wrote: "For almost my whole pregnancy I wanted to avoid an induction so if this can help anyone see that inductions can still be really beautiful and positive experiences I'd be so happy." _
While Ruby is napping I wanted to share more about her arrival story.
I had no signs of labor coming, and had gotten a membrane sweep at 40+3 but Ruby was pretty comfy inside so I ended up getting induced at 41 weeks.
I would describe the experience as so surreal, extremely intense, empowering, and magical. It was definitely the most difficult thing I've done – emotionally and physically but I also felt pretty prepared, mostly because of the time we spent with you!
I feel so lucky we had the experience that we did, and really would not change a thing, despite almost nothing from our birth "plan" happening 😂.
The overnight team wanted to start me on misoprostol and a cooke balloon at the same time – we asked them to do one at a time to see what would happen with the miso first. They (sort of begrudgingly) agreed to delay the balloon by an hour. Even though it wasn't much of a delay, I felt really good about making that request.
The balloon was pretty unpleasant, and soon after I started having contractions, but they were manageable. A few hours later they started pitocin and my contractions picked up. The day team was amazing, and we were lucky to get assigned a nurse who was also a midwife because they knew I wanted to try and go without an epidural.
Despite that they also sent in an anesthesiologist at one point who announced he was there to administer my epidural and I politely said no thank you. My water broke on its own at 8am – what a weird feeling!! I was so happy this happened, and then my contractions really picked up more. When I was 4-5cm dilated I started questioning my decision not to get an epidural, but the nurse told me she thought my contractions were at the intensity level they'd stay at, just get more frequent, so I held off. My blood pressure started to increase and stayed consistently high so first they gave me hydralazine, and eventually a magnesium drip (side note, I don't know how anyone's blood pressure doesn't increase during labor!!).
After I was at 9cm they said they'd come back in an hour to check me again, and about 40 minutes later I really felt the urge to push, and they checked me and it was showtime! I pushed for under an hour, and honestly pushing felt like more of a relief because it was something I could do for the contractions, not just have to endure them. It also meant our baby was coming soon and the next adventure was starting! The day team was so encouraging and cheering me on the whole time. Colin never left my side and was the best water boy, logistics manager, alpha breather, and keeper of oxytocin- which he continues to do. The team had me feel her head coming out, and once she was out they had Colin announce "it's a Ruby" since we didn't know the sex yet. From the start of the first medication to Ruby's arrival it was 17 hours, but maybe 4-5 hours of active labor.
We sent Ruby to the nursery to get a little rest and ended up not changing a diaper until we got home – we had a lot to learn. The first 1-2 days at home were a little tricky with latching, but after Ruby cluster fed for about 3 days, she was past her birth weight and a latching pro.
We had done so much reading and prepping for this, but nothing could have prepared us more than our weekend with you. Thank you so much for sharing your experiences, knowledge, and support!!
I'm still processing the whole experience and every so often find myself asking Colin about a detail, I think to stay connected to it. Thank you again!!!
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