Went in for a scheduled induction at 10 pm on 12/8. There were no beds available so we had to wait. At 2 am on 12/9 while waiting for a bed, my baby broke my water so they put me in a room and I started laboring there but was only 1.5 cm dilated, and baby was very high. My contractions started right after my water broke and I labored until around 9 am when they started me on pitocin, and I got the walking epidural at that time too.

At my next cervix check, around 10 am, the doctor noted that I hadn’t progressed but he asked if I had a history of abnormal Pap smears and any Leep procedures, which I had, and he asked for permission to rip (?) some of the scar tissue, which I agreed to do. It wasn’t painful, it just felt like the rest of the cervical check, and I went from 2 cm to 6 cm (as in while he was checking me, he changed the numbers he was calling out). I didn’t know that this could impact your ability to dilate, so something to note if you’ve had any treatments for abnormal Pap smears.

At my next cervical check around 1 pm, I was 8 cm. Still feeling great with the walking epidural.

At 5 pm, I was 9 cm and fully effaced but that baby was still very (0 station) so I did a bunch of squats for like 30 minutes.

At 7 pm, my contraction pain was still at 2 out 10, but it moved from feeling like a menstrual cramp to a pain feeling in my vagina. Also around this time the hospital ran out of epidural so I started to feel everything that was happening.

At around 715 my doctor came and I started pushing. Because my epidural was wearing off I started hitting a wall and after an hour and fifteen of pushing I pleaded for someone to find a walking epidural. A doctor came and mixed me a bag, I pushed for another 20 minutes and she was out at 853 pm.

Afterwards, my doctor had difficulty getting my placenta out (I have a history of miscarriage so I have a lot of scar tissue) so he spent about two hours trying to clean out my uterus.

I think the most interesting things from my labor for someone else to take away would be that I was shocked at how well the walking epidural worked. The impression I got at the hospital from the doctor was that it wouldn’t really give me relief, and honestly I had minimal pain. Also, I was SO tired. I basically slept between contractions the entire 15 hours. I could not keep my eyes open. I hadn’t heard anyone else describe a similar feeling. And finally, the abnormal Pap smear thing and knowing to bring that up to your doctor if you’re not progressing.

Good luck everybody!