So my birth story starts out like my other two, heading to the hospital to get induced. I did want to go into labor naturally, but the stress of that happening well Jordan was at work and labor going really fast was enough to push me into accepting the induction. (haha push more like leapt at the idea!) SO... I get to the hospital and they ask me to do the routine pee in a cup, so I do. The nurse comes back shortly after exclaiming, “I’ve never seen this before so I have to show you!” I don’t think anybody wants to hear that when being admitted in the hospital. Now I can't remember exactly what specifically they test for but if positive you have an infection. A positive, appears as a very very very pale (very pale!!) peach, my positive was HOT pink! Eeeck! With that result not only are they positive I have a UTI but they are concerned it is in my kidney’s as well.
Now this wasn’t too surprising to me seeing as I have had a bladder infection for the better part of this pregnancy and after 4 rounds of antibiotics apparently still hadn’t beaten it! So this is where even though I really didn’t want an IV I needed one for the antibiotics. Though I didn’t need to have one the whole time just during antibiotics, as long as I was staying hydrated. So after that shock and some antibiotics, the induction process began. I started at a 0% effaced and 1 cm dilated so I knew this labor was probably going to be a little bit of a slow starter. I got into a groove and wasn’t too uncomfortable. They were just lightly causing discomfort so I could easily manage them. After I went into the shower they picked up and slowly started to increase in strength which was more exciting then painful. After the 6 hour mark the doctor wanted to check me to make sure I was actually in labor because if I wasn’t they would do another round of prostaglandin gel. At this point if I was anything 5cm plus I felt like I could keep pushing through without being disappointed.
I was exactly 5cm and 100% effaced. At this time the nurse also needed to do a shift change and wanted to have me monitored for about 15min so she could get a vibe for the baby for the intermitted heart rate checks. Those 15min were awful, because after the check my contractions picked up in strength again. I wish I had refused but I made it through and was desperate to get unhooked when the 15min were up. I went into the shower again with Jordan’s help and tried my best to get into my zone, but something was feeling off about the contractions. My baby wasn’t back to back and I was emptying my bladder regularly so why was I getting this ache that wouldn’t subside between contractions? I started to hit my wall at this point. My body was entering transition and the contractions I could manage it was this other pain. After I got out of the shower the contractions started to piggy back each other and this all over ache that wasn’t from or connected to my contractions was unbearable. If I drank water it got worse but without water the contractions would come non-stop. I was starting to lose my strength.
At the 7hr mark of labor, I started to make my decision.
I was praying to god about the pain, confused why it felt so different, and looking for wisdom on what to do to get past it. I decided to get checked again because after these kind of contractions I thought maybe I was close and that’s what the extra pain was. The nurse check me and I was for the most part the same. Maybe a little closer to a 6 but still 5cm dilated and baby’s head was still pretty high. As soon as she said that it hit me, my bladder and kidneys! After all the contractions and the infection they were inflamed or irritated and the baby couldn’t move past my bladder! The reason you want to keep emptying your bladder is because it can slow labor down and get in the way, but with me even when empty my bladder was still screaming something’s wrong and was getting in the way. I was in transition I knew these contractions from Ellie’s birth but if I couldn’t find a way to relax my bladder I was going to be fighting an uphill battle. I just knew it.
SO... Here is where I made a decision that I had never even consider during my last labors. With Samuel my labor was 7hrs long and at about 5hrs into it I asked for something to help me relax a little. I was absolutely horrified of the epidural and even though I couldn’t manage the pain anymore it wasn’t even on my radar. After my body relaxed during sam’s labor a couple hours later I had him. Now here I was 7hrs in with this labor only half way and my body was fighting an uphill battle that only took an hour last labor. I was done. With the meds that I got with Samuel’s labor they were burned off before I was even pushing, but I still felt the effects and it was like being on a cloud. I knew I didn’t want to go through that again. Plus I knew that if I could relax my bladder and corresponding muscles I was gunna have this baby quick. So after thinking and praying about all this in super speed in my head all my fear of the epidural was wiped away and I asked for an epidural. The minutes waiting for the epidural my contractions stepped it up a notch again and I was barely holding it together.
My mom who has had 5 spinals for 5 c-sections was the one whom I got to lean on and she couched me through it. Within minutes I felt relieve. I could eat and drink again without being in fear of aggravating my bladder even more. I relaxed ate some salad my step-dad brought for us and started to get settled. After about an hour I started to feel the contractions again. With the accompanying ache of my bladder. The nurse came and said usually at this point that’s normal because it’s time to turn the pump on. If they persist in 5mins to give her a call again she might need to turn it up for me. Well in 5mins they weren’t getting better but worse, so we called her. She suggested that she check me again because sometimes increased pain well on an epidural can mean progress. Okay let’s see if my instinct about needing to relax were right. pfft... was I right? Well with about 4 mins of pushing Jericho Colin Munro was born weighing in at 8lbs 12oz and measuring at 21.2inches. I don’t know if something else could of been done, but I do know that what I did choose to do worked for me. I didn’t tear, still got to hold my baby right away and was probably the most present during birth then either of my two previous labors. I got discharged from the hospital after my second round of antibiotics the next day after lunch.
I think if I didn’t have that bladder infection I probably would’ve been able to push through, but labor is painful enough, when my bladder and kidneys started to add to the pain I just couldn’t cope anymore.
Im proud that I made it through 8 and a half hours of labor (longest labor so far haha) Almost all of it still pain med free. I wouldn’t change anything (except maybe the bladder infection) about this birth, and am very glad that the last hour of my last pregnancy was soooo enjoyable well on the epidural.
