Our Options: Natural or Cytotec

After it was confirmed we had lost Little Man, my midwife gave us two options for what we could do next.  Our first option was to go to the hospital and be induced and have Little Man within a few days.  The other option was to allow nature to take it's course and allow Little Man to come naturally.  If we allowed him to come naturally, it could take up to several weeks for him to come.  My midwife had a stillborn daughter a few years before and she chose to go naturally.  It took 4 weeks for her daughter to come. 

Since it had been a REALLY harsh winter already (-35 degrees F the weekend before) and several record breaking blizzards hitting within the next few days, Bear and I decided I would be induced.  My midwife sent us home and said she would contact us when she was able to get ahold of the doctor at the hospital.  The doctor called us the next morning (Tuesday February 4, 2014) at 10AM and told us to be at the hospital by 1PM that afternoon.

Bear and I arrive at 1:45 and get checked into the hospital.  The doctor arrives at 4PM and I get started on cytotec.  I am given 50mg for the first dose.  4 hours later I am given 100mg and 4 hours later (and for the rest of my doses) I am given 200mg.  The doctor warned that "with this situation don't be surprised if it takes a very long time for things to start and then once it starts, it will happen super fast."

I am given a dose every 4 hours.  I am also checked for dilation at every dose.  For my first dose, I am 0cm dilated.  For my next dose I measured 1cm.  Contractions start at 9PM Wednesday night (so about 29 hours after I was given my first dose).  I continued to get 200mg cytotec and checked every 4 hours,  My contractions become tear inducing pain at 2AM Thursday morning.  By 5AM I want to scream and 8AM I want to die. 

I, and the nurse, was completely surprised that at my 6AM check I was still only at 1cm dilated.  When my pain became 'I want to die' I convinced the nurse to check me again.  She first timed my contractions at 8:30AM and discovered that they were around 90 seconds apart and lasting for over 1 minute.  She was shocked and quickly checked me.  After checking me, she ran out of the room calling for the intern.  He checked me and he affirmed that I was 10cm and was ready to push. 

I started pushing at 9AM and Little Man was born at 9:56AM on Thursday February 6, 2014 weighing 1lb 4.6oz and was 12 inches long.

So for a timeline of my experience with Cytotec:  It took 29 hours for contractions to start.  I was in labor for another 9-11 hours before I started dilating.  I went from a 1cm dilation at my 6AM check to being a full 10cm by 8:30AM.  I pushed for 1 hour.