Jack was my most patient or stubborn child, depending on how you look at things. My due date came and went on the 19th, and he wasn't making any progress towards actually making a debut. I was starting to worry about how long it was going to take if left to his own devices, especially since Lyla was starting school exactly one week after Jack's due date. To be safe, I asked my doctor if she would schedule an induction for me the Saturday after his due date. I was surprised that she agreed (usually they are pretty adamant about making you wait at least one week), but since this was my third child and there were no complications I was in the clear. I kept hoping Jack would come on his own anyway, but Saturday came before I knew it.
We officially went into Kaiser for Jack's induction on Saturday, August 22nd at 4pm. We got settled into our delivery room pretty quickly and assessed right away. After discussing my labor options with the doctor, I started on Pitocin at almost exactly 5pm. After about 2.5 hours, a nurse came in and said that my contractions were 2 - 3 minutes apart and she had paged the doctor to go ahead and break my water. That seemed fast to me, as the contractions weren't very painful yet and I knew I probably still had a long way to go in my labor. I went from 1cm dilated when I initially came in to 3cm when they broke my water. After they broke my water and upped the Pitocin a few more times, I started to feel fairly uncomfortable. I waited until about 10:30pm for another doctor to come and check me again, and I was only 4cm dilated, which was pretty close to what I thought I would be. I opted to get an epidural at this point, because I knew it could be quite a few more hours before anything really got rolling. I thought it was pointless to keep being in discomfort for hours to come, so I might as well get numbed up and take a rest while we waited things out. The doctor had estimated that the baby likely wouldn't be ready until Sunday morning, at least.
I cannot say enough good things about anesthesiologists. I had the same one that attempted to give me my epidural when I was in labor with Hank, and I remember him being quite skillful with the needle. He didn't disappoint this time, and I got the medication flowing without too much trouble. I had an epidural with Lyla, but I was way more numb this time around. I got situated at about 11:30pm when the medicine full kicked in and laid down to rest. I told Dustin to try to sleep and I'd wake him up if something important was happening - no need for him to get up every time the nurses and doctors came in and out, right? I was vaguely aware the nurses were switching out shifts, because I asked the new nurse what time it was (12:25am). Within minutes after she left the room, I felt a lot of pressure and a lot of excess fluid coming out. I tried to find the call button to page the nurse, but I couldn't find it in the dark. I didn't want to bug Dustin, but after a few more minutes, I found myself rather hurriedly asking him to wake up and page someone to come help me. When the nurse came in, I explained what I was feeling, she peeked down to take a look, and quickly called the doctor in and for a team to set up a table for delivery. I guess I was ready to push! The doctor came in, verified I was 10cm dilated and ready to go. I guess part of the pressure I was feeling was part of Jack's head. Ah, those epidurals are so magical! I pushed for maybe 10 minutes, and out Jack came! He cried pretty fiercely for awhile, then settled in to sleep for what felt like 12 hours straight.
Upon examining Jack, the nurse got a weird look on her face and informed me that Jack's umbilical cord had a knot in it. Had the knot gotten too tight, it would have cut off his blood supply. I am so grateful Jack was okay, and in a way, glad I didn't know that there was an issue - one more thing to fret over that I couldn't control. Otherwise, Jack was in great health and passed through immunizations/screening tests/circumcision/vital checks with flying colors. I, on the other hand, had a few bumps during recovery. First, I started passing huge fist-sized blood clots and couldn't seem to control them. After a very painful search to make sure there wasn't residual bits of placenta stuck in my uterus, they started me back on Pitocin and an anti-clotting medication. The medicine caused really intense cramping (hello, second labor) and caused my blood pressure to shoot through the roof. They discontinued using the medicine, but then the clots started back up again. They finally got my blood pressure under control with some medication and found a different anti-clotting medication that got the clots and heavy bleeding back under control. The mishaps cost me an extra day in the hospital, though. Dustin and I joked that till the second day, it almost felt like a hotel stay, complete with all-access room service. Lots of movies were watched and lots of time was spent with the kids and Dustin.
Finally, we got released from the hospital on Tuesday midday. I am feeling the best I have after any of my births (after the blood-related issues of course!), and I'm feeling (mostly) ready to get into the very busy fall we have ahead of us (school, ballet, swim classes, soccer practice, etc.). We'll see how well I do when I don't have a second set of adult hands to help me once Dustin goes back to work and my mom goes back to Ohio, but for now, I'd say we're doing as good as one can hope as a family of five!
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