My birth story 1/18/17

M`leesa
Hey everyone! So I thought I'd share my birth story since our baby boy is finally here and we're settled in at home. I got induced at about 8am on 1/17 at 41 weeks exactly. I was able to go natural up until I was 5cm. Labor was so long and painful that it just got to be too much to handle I had hard labor pains for about 12 hours and I just got to where I emotionally and physically couldn't take it. I was running on no sleep since of course the night before I got induced we couldn't sleep so my husband and I were so tired and I was in so much pain. So I decided to get an epidural (my original plan was to go all natural, yes I was a little disappointed but my husband was such a kick butt labor coach and assured me that there's nothing wrong with getting an epidural). Before getting the epidural we did try a bunch of different things. Different positions, breathing techniques, tens unit (this worked the best for me for awhile there), hot shower (that I sat in for 2 hours! It felt really good as well), and nitrous towards the end (this method didn't work for me). Finally I caved and got the epidural at about 11:30pm. Once I got the epidural things started to move really quickly and I was the happiest labor lady ever! It kicked in quickly and my husband and I were finally able to relax and get some sleep. About 20min into getting the epidural at about 11:50pm, baby boy broke my water (it had been leaking since we got there, but very slowly). I got to get a little bit of sleep and then around 2:30am they checked me and I had progressed very quickly. I was 9.5cm dilated. Finally around 3:00am I told my nurse that I felt a lot of pressure and thought that maybe it was time. She checked me again and sure enough I was 10cm and said with my next contraction I can start pushing. I got really lucky and my epidural didn't leave me completely numb. I was able to move my legs and feel the pressure of my contractions (not the pain). I only pushed about 4 or 5 rounds (3 pushes each round) and he was out at 3:54am! I was able to pull him out myself once my midwife got his shoulders loose. It was the most amazing experience I've ever gone through and I wouldn't change any part of it! He is latching like a pro and sleeping like a champ but only during the day lol. He is cluster feeding at night but I also think I was stopping his feeding too quickly so maybe tonight will be better. I feel amazing. Aside from a little nipple soreness and some slight cramping I feel great. I'm able to walk around well and I'm not so as exhausted as I thought I'd be. Here are some great photos that were caught by my birthing photographer ☺️