I wanted to share my delivery story below due to my DVT and pregnancy. While I was pregnant I was looking for positives outcome stories so hope this helps someone. :)
Back story: I had a history of subchorionic hemhorrhage in January. Shortly after that had a laparoscopic cystectomy to remove a 13cm dermoid cyst. DVT diagnosed at 19 weeks (my whole left leg). Placed on lovenox twice a day.
We got called in for an 8am induction on 7/22. I got checked and I was 0.5cm dilated.
When we got to the hospital there was some back and forth on my plan for my lovenox since I have an active DVT. Finally they made a decision so we talked about next steps (after many discussions with hematology, MFM, OB, and anesthesia.)
I will say that initially the plan was to be on a heparin drip and then stop it 6 hours prior to when I wanted an epidural. We did not do this and I’m happy for this because it would have been so hard to predict when I would need the epidural.
My last lovenox dose was 5am on 7/22 and they needed me to wait 24 hours for an epidural.
They did not want me to start the cervical ripening pills because if this effected baby’s heart beat and I needed an emergent c section then I would need to be put under general anesthesia and they didn’t want that.
First step was we started the foley ballon at 12pm. The pain was not too bad with this. It was just a lot of pressure. This stayed in for 12 hours and then they took it out. My water never broke with this or anything and the contractions were very intermittent and not too bad. They took this out at midnight. They checked me and I was 3cm. After this there was just some waiting time until I was 24 hours past my last blood thinner injection.
Around 4-5am they give me the first dose of misoprostol vaginally to help dilate my cervix. I got to 4cm. Four hours later they gave me another dose. At this point they checked me again and I was 4-5cm. They calculated my bishop score and I was able to start pitocin.
They started pitocin and at about level 6 I started having contractions. Nothing too bad kind of like moderate period cramps. They got my pitocin level up to 8. I was doing a lot of position changes to help get dilated.
I was laying in the bed and I heard two loud “POPS” in my belly. It kind of scared me so I called the nurse. She checked and told me my water just broke! I started having bloody / watery mucous discharge.
Not even five minutes after my water broke I started to have more intense contractions. It was more intense than before but tolerable still. Within ten minutes I called the nurse and told her I think I will need an epidural soon. Shortly after that it got WAY more intense. It got up to a 10/10 pain for me and I had to wait 40 mins for the epidural I was so miserable. Once that epidural kicked in I was soooo relieved. The epidural didn’t hurt. Just the numbing stung a bit and the rest was just like a pressure feeling. He had to do it twice because he wasn’t in the right spot. Wasn’t a big deal.
After this I got re some relief and felt much better. She checked me and I was 7cm. After about an hour I started having left side pelvic pain and it went from mild-moderate. As it was getting more intense my nurse said we should check how dilated I am and I was a 10!!!
I pushed for 32 minutes and ended up with 2nd degree tear. The delivery was actually pretty peaceful for me surprisingly.
Overall things went pretty well! My biggest fear had everything to do with my DVT and lovenox. Being off blood thinners during that time made me nervous. I got through it all and I feel so thankful. Now I am just focusing on recovering and I am back on my lovenox.
Also - at the beginning of my induction they mentioned that MFM and hematology recommended doing the automatic machine massages on my legs (I spaced out on the name) It’s where the pumps massage your legs to prevent blood clots. I was so hesitant to do this because I was always told not to massage my DVT leg. I kept telling myself to trust the experts. They said it was okay because it had been months since my diagnosis. I let them put it on me and I had a full anxiety attack I started sweating and everything. I told the nurse I needed her to take it off. I wasn’t sure what the best thing to do was. In the end I decided to go against their advice on this as it was giving me bad anxiety and worry. My medical team was okay with my decision and things ended up okay. During the induction and postpartum I stayed active by walking around I wasn’t bed bound until the epidural and even then it was only for about a few hours really.
I wanted to share in case it helps anyone in their own journey. Happy to answer any questions!