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Week by Week

Chandler's Birth

My due date was May 26, 1994 and it came and went without any dialation or effacement. My doctor scheduled an induction date of April 5 and on two seperate days I was given prostin gel to try to soften things up. It had no effect.

On April 5 I entered the hospital at 6:00 am, expecting to see my doctor. However, she had a resident or intern start the induction with more prostin gel and having me walk. Apparently she called and talked to a resident around 10 am, because they told me that it was time to start a pitocin drip. It took almost 1 hour for them to get the IV in place and the drip started.

Once the pitocin started I expected things to start moving, I got up and walked hourly, and started having very mild contractions. Just as the drip started I finally saw my doctor for the first time since entering the hospital. Around 3 pm they doubled my pitocin in hopes that things would start happening, I was only dialated to 3cm.

About 7 pm, still at 3cm., the tripled the pitocin drip. At 10 pm, my doctor made her second appearance of the day, to tell me I was being sent home and to come back Friday. Well, this was extremely upsetting to both my husband and I because all day long we'd been hearing we wouldn't be leaving without our baby. She ordered a sonogram to be sure everything was okay. The baby was fine, approximately 7 lbs. The doctor decided that I should come back the following morning.

At 6 am on April 6 I reintered the hospital. Once again greeted by residents. They started my pitocin drip, at the same level that they had left off the previous evening. I walked and walked and walked. About noon one of the residents came in and said that my doctor had called and they were going to break my water. I got up and went for one last walk. I was only dialated to a 4 and wasn't going anywhere fast. Once they broke my water things started moving. I finally started having real contractions and everything was great. I didn't feel the need for medication and my husband and family were being very supportive.

My doctor came for her first visit of the day about 4 pm. She said that I was dialated to 6 and she was gone. I spent the afternoon just wishing for an easy way out. Finally, about 9 pm I knew it was time to do something. A resident checked me, I was fully effaced and fully dialated and they called my doctor. She arrived within minutes and told me to start pushing. However, one of the nurses had turned off the pitocin drip. I didn't feel anything. No more contractions, I couldn't feel to push, I didn't know what was going on.

At this point, she decided that a C-Section was in order. The anesthesiologist came in and after 7 tries managed to get an epidural going. At 3:23 on the morning of April 7 my son was born, weighing 9 lbs. and 11 oz. and 22 inches long. At my two week check up my doctor mentioned how great my episiotomy looked and with that I switched doctors.