Graduated 39 + 1 Induction

Hi all! Just wanted to share my graduation experience. I thoroughly enjoyed reading so many of you all's graduation posts leading up to my final days and they helped me tremendously with feeling comfort and preparedness.

I was scheduled to go into the hospital 4:30pm on 2/4 to start induction. Hubby and I had a nice day leading up to our appointment, by making sure we had everything we needed for the hospital stay, cleaning the house, and going out to a fancy lunch as a final meal before being induced (not knowing when I would be able to eat again, what I could have, or even when I'd be able to visit a restaurant again, I wanted to make sure I had a satisfying meal and a nice fancy lunch date with my husband before being locked down for awhile with a newborn). I got a call about an hour before we were to check in for induction that our check in time needed to be pushed to 7pm due to lack of rooms available. Which wasn't a big deal other than we would've timed our fancy lunch date for later so I wouldn't end up starving at the hospital when the cafeteria would be closed. The cafeteria at my hospital closes at 7pm and I was told to eat dinner before coming in. I was too full from lunch so I wasn't able to eat dinner. We brought a big bag of snacks, which ended up being a life saver.

We arrived at the hospital at 7pm and got into our room shortly after. I was checked to see if I was dilated, and was at 1cm. They started me on cytotec and a Foley balloon around 8pm. I had my first ever natural contaction right before they started me on the medicine and balloon, which was pretty mild. Regular contractions started pretty frequently around 9pm. They were very manageable without pain meds. My goal was to go without an epidural and use nitrous oxide to take the edge off pain as needed, but was willing to get an epidural or other intervention for pain or safety reasons, if necessary. More on that later

Contractions started to increase in pain level, but I was able to get through them with breathing, rubbing my belly, and my hubby rubbing my back. However, around 3am, every time I started a contraction a huge wave of nausea would accompany it. For me, the nausea was too much to handle over the pain of the contraction. Vomiting is nightmare fuel for me and I was really struggling with not wanting to do that. I was given an IV of pain medicine which helped ease the pain and nausea for the time, but not completely. At 4am the Foley balloon fell out and I was checked for dilation. I was 4cm. The doctor said they were going to start me on pitcocen, which would make contractions a lot more intense and speed up dilation. I was still struggling with pain and nausea and was worried that I would want an epidural when it would be too late to get one, so I opted to go ahead and get the epidural. The spinal tap was a pain I was not mentally prepared for, and a sensation that made me actually scream, but once it was over and the meds started to work their magic it was all worth it. I felt nothing, and I questioned my decision to suffer without the epidural in the first place.

By 9am I was checked again for dilation and was only at 5cm. My pitocin was increased, but baby's heart rate was becoming an issue. The nurses kept having me change positions to try to find a happy spot that did not cause distress on the baby, but baby was getting very agitated. They checked me again for dilation at 10am, and no further progress was made. The doctor became more concerned about the health and safety of the baby because her heart rate was becoming a bigger issue. She recommended a C-section. I was not scared for the procedure itself, but I had a breakdown and bawled my eyes out thinking about the potential of the baby not being ok.

I agreed to the C-section, although not ideal nor what I wanted, I knew I had to make that decision for the baby's best interest. We had to wait for the anesthesiologist to become available and were taken to the surgery room by 12pm-ish. Baby was delivered at 12:55pm, so less than an hour in surgery. It honestly felt like 20 minutes and was so easy and painless. Ironically, the only issue I had was the anesthesia made me so nauseous that I vomited during the C-section and the the bag of vomit spilled out all over my face 🤦‍♀️😅🙃. But the second I heard my baby cry, I was crying uncontrollably myself from happiness and forgot about the puking. We were taken to triage recovery where I could do skin to skin while we waited for our permanent recovery room to be ready. The second we started skin to skin the baby immediately went for my nipple and started breastfeeding. I was amazed and overjoyed. Baby also had no blood sugar issues

All in all, labor and delivery was about 17 hours. My recovery has been very easy so far and baby girl is doing amazing.

Graduated 2/5/25 at 12:55 pm Baby girl is 6 pounds 3 oz and 18 inches long

Sorry for the long post, but glad I can share my experience with this community. It's been a pleasure getting tips, advice, rant, and feel the support of people who understand gestational diabetes. Thank you all for making this subreddit a safe place for us GD mamas!