Genevieve Jayne’s birth story was quite different than Charlotte Lane’s and not in the best way to be honest. I should preface by saying that in this narrative, I am not being negative, I am truly unbelievably thankful for my healthy baby girl and wouldn’t change a thing. However the truth is the truth and I plan to share what actually happened even if it doesn’t come off in the best light.
We went in for our planned induction a week and one day late on September 28 at around 6:30 PM. When we arrived I was dilated at about 3 centimeters so the doctor stripped my membrane for the second time that day and then we sat and waited until about 9 PM for them to get started. The next step was to insert a balloon into my cervix in order to get it to open up. Luckily the resident couldn’t get it inserted correctly so a second doctor checked and determined I did not in fact need the balloon because I had already dilated to a 5. (This was the first of many mistakes that happened that night). Because I was already dilated, the next step was to start Pitosin. It took some time for the Pitosin to kick in and for my contractions to start, but once they did the nurse stated she was not able to see them on the monitor. This went on throughout the night. If the nurse was in the room and I was contracting, I was sure to tell her but every time she stated she was not able to see them on the monitor, and unfortunately did not do anything about it.
At around 4:45 AM, my contractions went from a pain level of a 6 to a 10 in a matter of minutes. Because the nurse was not “seeing” my contractions, I started timing them myself using my cell phone. They were coming about every 4 minutes so my nurse stated she was going to get a doctor to come check me although she acted like she didn’t believe me, honestly. The doctor checked me and stated I was still at a 5 and that I could get the Epideral if I was ready and I definitely was.
Meanwhile after the nurse and doctor left my room, the TV randomly turned off in my room along with everything else. I notified the nurse and she stated they were doing a generator test and that it should come back on very soon – it didn’t. Because of this mishap, there was absolutely nothing monitoring my contractions or Genevieve’s heart rate. Three different people were in the room at this point trying to get the monitors to work while my husband was tracking my contractions on my cell phone. My contractions were at a pain level of 10 out of 10 and coming every 30 seconds. I had to literally yell at the OB and the nurse to “do something” because I was in so much pain and felt as though something was wrong. Because of this my OB finally decided to turn off the Pitosin due to the lack of electricity to monitor it and asked me if I felt like I needed to push. She told me to lay down so she could check me and all I remember hearing was “This baby is coming now, get the delivery cart. We don’t have time for an Epideral.” My room was then flooded with several nurses and doctors holding their cell phones to provide light for the delivery. Within seconds I was told to start pushing and Genevieve Jayne arrived safe and healthy after about 3 minutes of pushing.
She was so tiny, weighing only 6 pounds, 5 ounces and had a head full of dark hair. Right away my first thought was “Who does she look like?” I honestly thinks she looks a lot different than Charlotte so I am interested to see how she changes and who she will look like in the long run (hopefully me, lol).
Thanks for reading and like I said above, it was not the best birth experience but I am so thankful that we are both safe and healthy. Pregnancy and labor are truly a miracle.
Interested in more posts about baby, read how I prepared for baby number 2 HERE.