Because my Dr. considered me High Risk we decided to schedule an induction 3 days before my due date.

They put me in L&D and at about 6pm administered the Cervidil. About 1 hr. later I was having pains every few minutes. I asked the nurse if I was having contractions to my surprise her answer was YES. We were not prepared for contractions, I didn’t know that the Cervidil could even give me contractions.
They later moved me to the maternity ward to get some rest before the big day.
My contractions became worse & worse coming every 4-5 minutes and I was in a lot of pain. I asked for some pain meds & was told I could get morphine. At 1st I decided not to take the shot but after another hour of contractions I couldn’t take it. It was about 1am and I got the shot. It helped me get some sleep maybe a total of 3 hours between the contractions I was still feeling. They did let DH stay with me and at 1 point he even climbed into bed w/ me to get some sleep.
Sometime that night I started vomiting. I’ve always been a puker so I figured I would but it didn’t stop until I delivered!

The next morning at about 5am the morphine was wearing off and I was in pain again.
At 6:30am they moved me back to L&D & removed the Cervidil. They hooked up my IV and gave me ½ dose of morphine until the epidural.
At 8:45 my Dr. broke my water.
The contractions had subsided a bit coming every 7-15 minutes once they took out the Cervidil but were still painful. I was also dry heaving & throwing up about every hour. They gave me something to help the nausea but I didn’t stop puking until she came out.
At 10:05am they gave me the epidural & started the Pitocen.
They did have to do the epi twice because he hit a vain the 1st time and had to go in again. The relief was amazing however it was lop sided. I felt it much more on my left side than my right so they had me on my right side to try & even it out. By 8:40am I was 2cm 80% effaced and at 1:30pm I was 4cm 100% effaced. At 3pm I was having terrible back pain above where the epidural was. I was sooo uncomfortable. All I wanted to do was change positions but between the monitors & my lopsided epi they wouldn’t let me!
Well they checked me and I was 9cm’s. By 3:30pm I was 10cm’s and started pushing at 4:00pm.
After 2 hours my Dr. gave me a pep talk and said I’d better start pushing harder (like I wasn’t already) because he wasn’t going in after her!
My epidural started wearing off and I was so tired. She wasn’t budging, she just wasn’t clearing my pelvis.
Another hour later he came in and said he was going to try to get her out using forceps. If he didn’t get them on just right and on the 1st try I was going to have an emergency C-Section. I was sooooooo exhausted and didn’t care if they ripped her out through my nose at that point.
They hooked up another epi & pushed some more meds. I could not feel anything at all. On one contraction he put in the forceps and on the next with a big push he brought out her out. My DH spoke up just before my dr. cut the cord and got to cut it himself. 2 seconds later she was on my chest and let out 2 small cries.

Just about 24 hours of “labor” with 3 hours of pushing Alexandra Gwen arrived at 6:40pm. 7lbs 9oz – 20”

She was so cute! It was an amazing moment to look up at my DH and realize what we had just done & experienced. They had a neonatalogist look at her right away because I had been pushing so long & because she was delivered w/ forceps. Her apgar score was 9, 9.
She came out as pink as can be. People are constantly commenting on her beautiful color.

I later found out that the nurses had brought my DH out to the hall and explained that there was a 70/30 chance I was going to need the c-section & handed him a gown. He saw everyone scrambling down the hall getting the OR ready for me. He said he was so freaked out.

Recovery: Since I had had another dose of epi meds not so long ago I literally had to be rolled on & off my bed.
They continued the Pitocen throughout the night. I had a rather large episomity because of the forceps so once the epi wore off I was in pain. I was also still having contractions because of the Pitocen & asked for pain meds. They gave me a shot of something and I was able to sleep.
I was lucky enough to get the private room I requested thank God.

All in all it was a long, painful road that I would happily go down all over again.

I want to say that if it wasn’t for my Dr. I know I would have had a C-Section. I can’t begin to thank him enough for the amazing job he did. I can’t even come up with the words to describe how great he was and continues to be. I pray that he delivers all my future children. And anyone delivering in Huntington has nothing to worry about. Every nurse was amazing. They were all helpful, attentive, sweet & caring. The one nurse that was w/ us from 7am-7pm even cried when Ally was born!
I can’t thank everyone enough for all the support & advise. Now it’s off to Parenting!