On the morning of August 29th, I was 4 days past my due date with my son. After I ate breakfast, I immediately had to go to the bathroom because my stomach was upset. Sometimes when I have severe stomach pain, I pass out- not pregnancy related. Unfortunately I passed out in the bathroom, but thankfully didn't fall or hurt myself. My husband is a EMT/firefighter, so he took my blood pressure just after I passed out. To our surprise, it was high even though typically after you pass out it is low. I called my doctor and she wanted to check me out right away.

Once I arrived at my doctor's office, they were concerned because my blood pressure was high. They decided that they needed to induce me and inserted a bulb catheter into my uterus at about 9am to try to force my cervix to start dilating. I was then admitted to the hospital and they started on pitocin shortly after. My contractions started slowly and it was a fairly uneventful afternoon.

At about 6pm, it was like someone flipped a switch. I went from having pretty mild contractions to intense ones all of the sudden. I labored pretty hard for several hours. Finally at about 11pm, I asked for the epidural. The anesthesiologist came in and administered the epidural, but it didn't work! By this point I was in so much pain from the contractions that I couldn't speak and all I could was lay in bed doubled over in pain (pitocin is no joke!). Finally, at about 11:45pm the anesthesiologist came back and readministered the epidural. Thankfully it worked the second time, and I started to feel almost immediate relief. When they checked me I was already about 8 cms dilated. No wonder I was in so much pain! In retrospect, I wish I would have asked for the epidural sooner.

I tried to rest for a little while once the epidural took effect. However, the rest didn't last long. The nurse came in and said that the baby's heart rate was dropping at the end of my contractions and was a sign that my baby could be in distress. They filled my uterus back up with fluid to try to give the baby a chance to reposition himself. They had me lay on my side with the inflatable peanut ball in between my legs. Thankfully it worked and the baby's heart rate was no longer dropping at the end of the contractions. I thought that we had avoided a c-section.

I labored a little longer and then around 4:30am, I was 10 cms dilated and they told me I could start pushing. I pushed for 3 hours giving it everthing I had. However, I just wasn't progressing like we hoped. Toward the end of the 3rd hour, I developed a fever, my blood pressure was already high, and our heart rates were high. The doctor said that they needed to do a c-section to get my son out. At that point, I was disappointed, but I also knew we needed to get him out.

They got me into the OR quickly for an emergency c-section. I was so exhausted at this point that the surgery was a bit of a blur. I remember seeing my son, Dylan, being placed on the table. Thankfully he was perfectly healthy! The surgery was very quick to get him out, it was stitching me back up that seemed to take a while. My husband brought Dylan over to me. I was very drowsy during the surgery and kept nodding off, but I was so happy and relieved. Certainly not the birth experience I hoped for or expected, but I'm so thankful that Dylan was healthy. Dylan was born at 8:34am on August 30th, nearly 24 hours after the start of the induction. Seeing my beautiful, healthy son made all the pain and worry worth it. Thankfully Dylan has been a super chill baby. While I had a crazy birth experience, I'm thankful he's healthy and a chill little dude. 11 weeks now.