Rainbow Baby Birth -Induction for pre-eclampsia

My husband and I had a miscarriage of twins early September 2021. Years later December of 2023 we found out that we were expecting. Our daughter Kenzie was born August 22nd 2024. (37 weeks 0 days gestation). Crazy enough our daughter was born on national rainbow baby day. 

Earlier in pregnancy on August 6th I was diagnosed with preeclampsia. After that day we knew she would be coming early. The question we could not answer was how early she would be. 

For two weeks I sought out help for anything that could possibly help to give her more time in utero. Working alongside my chiropractor, physical therapist, doula and OB I needed to rest not just my body but my mind. Every day I religiously did exercises, stretches and breathing exercises to take care of my body. 

Our goal was 36 weeks. If we could make it to 36 weeks the risks of her needing NICU care would decrease significantly. People often told me that what I was doing was excessive and unnecessary. Though looking back on everything I am certain that every little thing I chose to do helped us reach 37 weeks. 

Since 30 weeks I had been struggling with severe sciatica. The chiropractor and physical therapist helped me maintain mobility in the last 7 weeks of my pregnancy. With the support from my doula I was taking care of my mind, practicing breathing exercises and learning more about pregnancy, labor and delivery. With the support from my husband I felt loved and knew that no matter how hard this experience was getting, it was an experience that we were meant to have. 

On August 21st I woke up at 7am and my mother inlaw took me to check in with my OB first thing in the morning. After checking in with my OB I was admitted to the hospital at 11:00am for an induction. I was administered Cervadil at 12:30pm to soften my cervix. My husband, mom and mother-in-law were all with me. Later that evening my doula came to visit. We played cards until the contractions started to get uncomfortable. My doula then helped me try different positions and taught my husband how to apply counter pressure and acupressure. I was having a lot of back labor until my doula used the rebozo to help shift the baby. Very late that night I completed the Miles Circuit.

August 22nd at 1:00 am my Cervadil was removed and I was only dilated to 1 cm. I felt very discouraged. After twelve and a half hours and the contractions I was having I had made very little progress. At 1:30 am I was administered Cytotec to continue to ripening my cervix. I was able to get some sleep until my water broke at 4:30am. After my water broke the contractions started picking up fast. My doula arrived at 5:15am and started helping provide comfort and encouragement right away. She helped teach my mom and my mother-in-law how to do counter pressure and acupressure. Which came in handy when my contractions were very intense.

By 7:00am a lot was going on. I was dilated to a 3.5 cm and 80% effaced. I was getting so nauseous that I was administered Zofran and administered Penicillin for Strep B. My contractions at this point were 30-40 seconds long and only 40-50 seconds apart. I thought for sure we would be meeting our baby girl very soon. I was able to take deep breaths and work through the contractions with everyone stepping up to help. Everyone was hands on deck at this point, applying counter pressure and acupuncture, offering a hand to squeeze and helping me breathe through contractions. After almost 2 hours of the contractions continuing this pattern, the pain was unbearable, my body was shaking uncontrollably and I decided to get the epidural. 

Epidural was placed at 8:40am and at 9:00am I was dilated to 5cm and was 90% effaced and -1 station. With the epidural placed I was able to get some rest until 11:30am. At this point I was 6cm and 0 station. 1:00pm I was 7cm and 1 station. At 2:35pm I was 9cm 95% effaced and 1 station. Things felt like they were moving so slow! My epidural was helping, though I wanted to keep the dose light so that I could feel the contractions, just not as intense as they were earlier in the morning. I wanted to be able to feel the contractions when I needed to push. Finally at 4:40pm I was fully dilated!

My Dad arrived at 5:20pm just in time to say hello and give me a hug before I started pushing. He headed to the waiting room and I started pushing at 5:25pm. My doctor arrived at 6:10pm. After pushing for some time my daughter's heart rate was dropping. My doctor looked at me and said “Alright Mom. You’ve got two pushes.” He took a deep breath with me and two pushes later, our baby girl arrived at 7:19pm. 

After 31 hours of labor. EVERY single moment about this experience was worth it. Every single person that was involved was so important to have to create this experience for my husband and I. Our birth story is exactly what it was meant to be.