I was due 11/10, but had a scheduled induction on 11/3 because the doctor was concerned about my baby being on the small side. This was my 4th baby and I have a history of small babies, but they seemed concerned this time around. I got to the hospital at 3:30pm. I was already 4cm, 60% effaced and baby was stationed at -1 when I arrived. Based on that, the doctor said I'd probably go fast and they'd start me on the lowest dosage of pitocin. The pitocin got started at 5:20 at a level 2. I started having contractions, but I couldn't feel them, so they bumped the dosage to a 4 about 40 mins later. I continued at a level 4 for another hour or so, but still wasn't feeling the contractions (but they could he seen on the monitor, so they bumped up the pitocin to 6). Fast forward to 9:30, nurse checks me and I'm still at a 4cm 😩. I tell the nurse I think I want the doctor to break my water to see if I could get things going. Doctor breaks my water at 10:37 and right away I start feeling the contractions and ask for the epidural before it gets to late. I got the epidural at 11:00. By 11:30, I could still feel the contractions, but my legs and bottom were numb. Anesthesiologist comes back in and gives me a higher dosage of meds, but even after that I could still feel the contractions. The anesthesiologist tells me that more than likely I'm progressing pretty fast and there's not much more he can do. At midnight, the nurse checks me again and I'm still at a 4cm, but I'm now 80% effaced. I was starting to get discouraged by the whole process and felt like I was going to be in labor forever or it was going to end in a c-section. Nurse suggests a peanut ball because one side of my cervix was thicker than the other. I get the peanut ball and am laying on my left side (towards the monitor) and the nurse leaves the room. I'm watching the monitor to see how my baby is handling the contractions because the contractions start coming on hard. Her heart keeps dipping & I start to freak out as a possible c-section comes to mind. Nurse comes in and says she's probably moving the monitor and that's why her heart rate is dipping. As she's moving the monitor around, her heart rate keeps going up and down as the contractions continue to come in strong and painful!! She says let's try to flip you over to the other side and see if that helps. She gets me flipped over and I'm in tears because the contractions aren't letting up. I had epidurals with all my previous labors and never felt the contractions like I did this time around. The nurse calls the doctor and asked that he come in and assess me. She also calls the anesthesiologist back in to give me a higher dosage. Doctor and anesthesiologist get to the room about the same time and to my surprise, the doctor says it's baby time, time to start pushing! I had gone from a 4-10 in 25 mins & that's why I was in so much pain. I pushed for about 5 mins and my beautiful baby was born.

Kendall Grace

Born 12:59am 11/4/17

6lbs 8ozs, 19.5 inches long (doctors estimate was 5lbs 8ozs)