Every birth story is different. All four of mine have been at a local hospital. I looked at a birthing center or home birth, but decided the best option for me would be the hospital.
With my first three births, I labored at home naturally for as long as possible, then went to the hospital. My fourth, however, was the opposite of what I expected. I thought I would go into labor before my due date, but my little lady had different plans. After talking with my OB, we decided I would be induced at 41 weeks and one day. I had never been induced, so I talked with my friends about their experiences to gain some reassurance.
I showed up at the hospital at 7:00 a.m., filled out my paperwork and was taken to my room. The nurse eased my mind by explaining how things would go and answering all the questions that I had. At 7:30, I had my IV and started my first round of antibiotics.
My biggest concern with induction was having Pitocin.Pitocin affects everyone differently, and for me, it greatly intensifies my contractions. My nurse understood and said we would start slow and if I was managing, we would slowly increase the Pitocin.
Around 10:00 a.m. I started on Pitocin. I was progressing smoothly and the medical team decided to break my water. Unfortunately, that was unsuccessful, but the Pitocin was doing its job. It did its job so well, in fact, that just as happened in my previous experience with it, I couldn’t take the pain anymore and asked for an epidural. My goal for all my births has been to get through labor without an epidural — however, I have received an epidural for all of them.
My epidural was in and working by noon. My OB came in and checked me, and at that moment, my water broke. My OB suggested I give a small push, just to see if I was ready — then I was immediately told not to push anymore because I was ready. Once the medical team was ready, I gave one more push and my sweet baby girl was born.
My husband and I are always told our kids look just like us. We joke that we have a copy-and-paste method, and sure enough, this little girl fit that pattern. While I enjoyed the sweet newborn snuggles and learned how to re-latch the baby to nurse again, everything was cleaned and prepped for us to move to our new room.
We spent the next 24 hours with lots of visitors to our room. Some were friends and family, and others were staff checking on us, seeing if we needed anything, running tests, and helping us to learn (or relearn, in my case) about all the newborn developments to come. We received such great care, but I was ready to get home to my “big” kids.
We are thriving in our family of six cuddles. I have had good births and healthy babies, and for that I am so grateful!
Halie Campain is enjoying all the newborn snuggles and sibling love.