Ladies I just want to say don’t be afraid or ashamed of the epidural if you need it!

I originally planned a 100% natural unmedicated birth but my body wouldn’t go into labor fully on its own. I had true contractions for weeks without dilation before consenting to an induction.

At 4pm 10/25 we went in for an induction. Got the foley bulb at 6:30 and went from 2-5cm by 8:30pm. They upped my pitocin and I was able to sleep for 12hrs through the contractions without any sleep aid. At 7:30am on 10/26 they broke my water and let me tell you ladies shit got real and it got real, real quick. My contractions went from me being able to sleep through them to every 2minutes lasting 2minutes each. My body couldn’t relax between them by noon my cervix wasn’t dilating with the contractions so my midwife who knew I absolutely didn’t want an epidural told me it was either I get the epidural so my body can relax and open to let baby out or we get going to the OR. I agreed to the epidural because c section was the absolute resort. At 5:00pm I started feeling pushy. They came in and I was at 9cm! By 5:30pm we were pushing! The anesthesiologist was wonderful he made sure I could still feel and move my feet and ankles and feel when to push! We pushed for 2hours and 10minutes. Because he was so wonderful with the epidural I had full control over pushing and only pushed when I felt I needed to.

At 7:28pm I gave birth to a beautiful 7lb 11ounces baby girl.

Moral of the story: sometimes it’s okay to give in to a little medical help