I was scheduled to be induced at 39 weeks on July 11th. As with my other 3 pregnancies, I had been having consistent contractions for weeks but never anything to push my body into full blown labor. I was supposed to be called into the hospital at 6:30 am but it was a popular day to have a baby and my time kept getting pushed back later and later. My husband and I tried to keep ourselves distracted and take advantage of the extra sans kids and went shopping and to dinner.
It sounds silly now, but not being able to go into the hospital first thing in the morning was so hard for me mentally and as the day went on, I got grumpier and grumpier. Around 6 pm they called and let us know we could come to the hospital. FINALLY.
I got checked in, pitocin started and water broken fairly quickly. Contractions picked up and I asked for the epidural. After a few hours of hard, consistent contractions, I still wasn’t dilating as much as they had hoped because the baby was still too high. The nurse suggested trying the peanut ball (which I had never heard of before or used) to help the baby move down lower. She helped me into position and before she had time to walk out the door I felt him move down and felt intense pressure. I knew the pressure meant I was dilated and ready to push but at the same time, I thought there was no way it could have happened that fast. The nurse immediately turned around and checked me and confirmed it was go time.
However, almost just as fast, the monitors started going crazy and baby’s heart rate dropped dramatically. Immediately, the Dr rushed in along with more nurses and the Dr said we needed to get baby out now. I couldn’t see the monitors and was still in shock by how quick this was all going, that I didn’t catch on to the severity of what was happening, but my husband did and he was panicked. I pushed once or twice but baby’s heart rate was still dangerously low so the Dr asked if he could do an episiotomy and told me I needed me to get him out on the next push. My sweet baby boy came out seconds later with a freakishly long umbilical cord that was wrapped around his neck AND leg. So every time a contraction would try and push him down the birth canal, the cord was synching him back up. When he dropped super quick after the peanut ball, the cord tightened around his neck and caused his heart rate to plummet which is why everyone started to panic.
It was a whirlwind of a delivery and my fastest by far. I am so grateful he made it safely and that the Drs and nurses reacted so quickly!
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