Labour Story Tristan (3rd Baby)

Third time around I was really hoping baby would come sooner especially since my body has already done it twice and third pregnancy you feel everything so much sooner including those uncomfortable pregnancy symptoms. Of course that wasn’t the case… my babies seem to love staying in utero. I made it too comfortable for them clearly.

At 38 weeks, I asked the OB to check any progress down below and was barely 1cm dilated. My OB was expecting me to be 2-3cm since it was my third baby, but of course I wasn’t. Even though I was very uncomfortable, I opted to hold off on stretch and sweep at 38 weeks since we weren’t necessarily in a rush for baby to come. However, I did opt to do a stretch and sweep at 39 weeks. My OB was saying how unwilling my body was responding to the sweep and she did the best she could. I got some spotting (normal) and 2 days later I got some strong contractions for a couple hours with mucus plug release. But nothing ever came of it.

At 40 weeks on my due date exactly, I went in for an ultrasound followed by an appointment. Baby was doing great, but my fluids were low again (similar to my first). My OB recommended that I be put on induction list that day especially since she was on call that day. I was hesitant because my last induction with Brooklyn was so dramatic and worrisome. Her heart rate kept flunctuating, it was more painful and it was vacuum delivery - all results that can be due to induction. I wanted to give my body a chance to go into labor on its own even if it was only an extra day. So I asked my OB if it was safe for baby to wait another day or so to give my body that chance. She said she would be comfortable waiting another day if I did a monitor test for the baby before leaving hospital - basically just doing the fetal monitor for 20 minutes to analyze babies heart rate. So I opted to try to wait another day with my OB doing another stretch and sweep to increase my chance of going into labor before I was called in for an induction. My OB really went at it for my stretch and sweep aka was quite painful - she literally had her arm up there. She got it open to 2-3cm, but I was still quite posterior (I still had quite a bit of effacement to do). I was dilated for when I had to come in for an induction I could start with water breaking as opposed to cervadil.

After my appointment with my OB, I went to do the fetal monitoring and all was okay with baby. I was actually getting some steady contractions post sweep (3:30 pm) and you could see that the baby was tolerating them very well. By the time I finished at the hospital, I was getting quite steady contractions and was getting a bit worried that I needed to go home asap and not be driving anymore. The contractions continued steady and strong until 6:30pm… and then they stopped. Was quite disappointed!

Stayed home Tuesday waiting for them to call me in for an induction. By late afternoon, I decided to call the hospital since I did not hear from them and they said I was NOT on the list. Are you frickin kidding me? Basically wasted a whole day for nothing. And they were very busy so would probably not hear from them till late into the night or early morning. Couldn’t do much about it. I explained my situation and everything. They said I was first to be called. I started regretting my choice to wait one more day of course since I didn’t go into labor naturally and I missed the chance to have my OB deliver my baby:(
Next morning (July 1st) by 5:30 am I called the hospital again and they said they were just about to call me to come in. Finally! By this time I wasn’t worried about an induction. I just wanted baby to be out safely. By the time I checked in, they monitored me etc., and they performed the water breaking around 8:30am. The resident OB really struggled with my posterior cervix. I could really feel the difference between my OB and a resident at this point. My husband felt bad for both me and the resident who was sweating and had to take a break from trying to reach my waters to break them. I received some pitocin shortly after to help get more regular contractions.

In the meantime I tried to get some rest, watched some TV etc. Contractions were strong but bearable so I held off on an epidural for a bit to get my labour going. My OB was nice enough to come visit even though it was her day off. Close to noon, my contractions were getting quite frequent and painful. The nurse was saying how a lot of inductions were now coming in and it was getting busy. SO I decided to get an epidural. Pretty standard procedure although right after was done I got a crazy drop in blood pressure and felt like I was going to throw up and pass out. Was quite scary but supposively can happen post epidural and it thankfully past after a few minutes.

The epidural gave me some relief, but I always felt some pain in my lower right back. For some reason that spot for me never responds completely to the epidural. I was only 4cm at this point so I wasn’t that hopeful it would happen as fast as they say third time can be. Around 2pm, I kept having to top off my epidural which I was hesitant in doing since I didn’t want to become super numb, but I kept being in significant pain. Like equivalent to the contractions I was getting just before epidural. By 3pm the nurse checked down below and she thought I was fully dilated! WTF?! 3 hrs went from 4cm-> 10cm. Crazy! She suggested to wait a bit for baby to come down birth canal and for the OB to confirm. At 3:30pm, we decided to try a few pushes to see what would happen. They could start seeing the baby so they called all the OB’s (Head OB on call, resident and trainee).

I pushed for the duration of 3 contractions. SO only after a few minutes, baby came out. His shoulder got stuck at the end (just like Brooklyn) and the resident struggled to get him out so the head OB pushed her aside, slid her hands in, turned baby and out he came. He didn’t cry right away which worried me, but I think he was congested since after a few seconds I heard his phlegmy cry and boy did he have some strong lungs! He was born at 3:45pm, a healthy 8lbs 9oz.

I was pregnant and gave birth to our baby boy during the Covid pandemic. By the time it was my due date, the rules were that my husband could stay with me during the duration of my labor and stay at the hospital, but there were no in & out privileges. So that meant once we were admitted into a room, we could not leave the whole time we were there until check out. We had to bring all our supplies and that meant food & drinks for our time there - we weren’t allowed to go to cafeteria. And visitors were not allowed so no one could bring us food which we missed (since we would always get someone to bring us food once the baby came out). I of course packed a bunch of non-perishable food & drinks like granola bars, chocolate, popcorn, gatorade, juice etc. As for our idea for meals, we ordered a party size pizza on induction day so we would have lots of leftovers to bring to hospital. On our way out of the house also sneaked in some other leftovers and fresh fruits.

It was nice not to have visitors honestly since we could have time with each other and baby. Although we really did miss seeing our kids and not having that encounter when they meet their baby brother for the first time. And of course having people bring us hot food! By the end of the stay, we were so anxious to see our girls and to get out of that one room we were quarantined in. I seriously don’t know how people with C -sections panned out - I would be loosing my mind!

During our stay, we also had to wear a mask when other people were in the room such as the nurse, OB etc. But they weren’t strict about it when we would sometimes forget (since we would take it off when people left the room) or when I was doing my first skin to skin with baby I requested to take it off or when I couldn't breath properly when my blood pressure dropped post epidural.