Mary was put on bed rest at 32 weeks for preterm labor. Being a very active photographer and real estate mogul, this was tough for her. But when she hit 36 weeks, her doctor allowed her up and out of bed. One might think that surely gravity would kick in and this baby would fall out at any minute. One might think that. But as 40 weeks came and passed, Mary was still waiting for her sweet baby. Now she had a completely different concern. No longer tasked with keeping her baby in, now she had to think about ways to get her out.
She and Scott (her husband) got the list of “natural induction techniques” on our website and got to work. Walking, pumping, sexy time, eating so much eggplant she couldn’t stand it, acupuncture, you name it. On Monday, it was induction day. Mary actually would have liked to wait longer than 41weeks2days, but a glitch in the scheduling had her induction appointment booked for Monday morning, so Monday it was.
Mary and Scott worked on laboring together at the hospital, and called me around noon to come support them as the contractions were picking up strength with the pitocin. I joined them and at a cervical check Mary was about a 3-4cm. Still early labor technically, so we decided to do some position changes to encourage her cervix to cooperate with the induction plan. Hands and knees, sitting on the ball, sitting on the toilet, walking, lunging, you name it, Mary was game. She was also starving! She snuck snacks throughout the afternoon. Labor was consistent, but not really picking up in intensity. A cervical exam near 5pm showed that Mary was still around 3-4 cm. At this point Dr. Grogono was ready to offer other intervention options – namely breaking Mary’s bag of water.
Mary didn’t really want to put herself on a “time clock” but rupturing her membranes, so proposed another plan. Go home. Mostly she was starving, and wanted to eat something, and the only way she could eat was to check herself out of the hospital. If labor were to pick up after dinner, she would come back in. But if not, sleeping in her own bed sounded awesome. Dr. Grogono was on board with the discharge plan. She wanted Mary to come in for a Biophysical profile two days later, and since that checkup went well, allowed Mary the full 42 week time to cook that baby.
Flash forward to Saturday, 42 weeks on the nose, and Mary headed back into the hospital. This time her plan was to be more aggressive. At this point this baby had to come out one way or another, so she no longer had the reservations of rupturing her membranes. She started the morning this way, and with a low dose of pitocin, and the contractions immediately became intense, different from the Monday before. I joined her around 10am to see a visibly uncomfortable Mary. I suggested she hop into a hands and knees position so I could put some counter pressure on her hips and lower back. She shared that already she felt much better, and that 5 minutes before I got there was ready for an epidural. But now that I was there, we had a little more time to do some position work to make her more comfortable.
After a good solid hour of strong contractions, Mary was ready for the epidural at 11am. The nurse checked her after the epidural, and Mary was 8-9cm! Awesome! She had made it to transition, and got the epidural right when the most intense part of labor was hitting her. Nurse Shannon also had been turning the pitocin down as Mary progressed, and by the time she was at the epidural it was on the very minimum, and later off completely. By 1pm she was feeling the urge to push. Since she had the epidural on board, she was able to just labor down, let her body continue doing the work while baby moved lower and lower. By 2:30 Mary could no longer just breathe, even with the epidural, the pressure was so intense she had to push. So she did! Scott doted between pushes with cold compresses, ice chips, and lots of encouragement. And Mary moved that baby! Little Lucy Lynne was born 40 minutes later at 3:08.
Mary might tell you that her labor took forever. But I guess it depends where you start counting. At the Collective, we start counting at 4cm. Mary went from 4-10cm in about 2 hours, and pushed for about 40 minutes. That’s record speed for a first time mama (11.5 hours and 2 hours being average). I admire Mary for being patient, in so many ways. It paid off for her in the end, with a smooth and short induction, the best you could ask for. Mary listened to her body. When her body wasn’t ready, Mary knew that, and didn’t push herself down the road of a potential c-section, rather, she gave herself time, something often forgotten on today’s maternity floors. Much love to Mary, Scott and precious Lucy and joy on the new journey. AS.
