expect the unexpected. first pregnancy, 3 weeks early

Goodness guys. I feel like this beautiful adventure has been a dream.

My son was due Aug 15th. Last week my blood pressure was high so I came in at 9am Monday morning to have it checked again and have another NST done, thinking I'd be here for about a half hour...well I haven't been home since and due to my high blood pressure, I was induced and brought my son, Oliver Edwin Hamm, into the world yesterday at 7:21am. He was 6lbs 6oz, 19.5 inches. Very healthy.

Now, nothing went how I had anticipated and I want to share the experience and details of delivery for any first timers...

First off, don't underestimate your capabilities. I've always considered myself to be a strong woman, but boy did I surprise myself. The funny thing is I'm still a baby when it comes to little things such as getting an IV and catheter.

So because my blood pressure was high, they monitored it closely, hooked me up to an IV with magnesium, gave me a catheter (which I cried over and almost refused lol)...they inserted a pill in my cervix to soften it I guess? Sometime Monday evening my doctor broke my water..this was uncomfortable only because I'm not able to leave my bed so I had to lay in it..later on in the night I was given pitocin..things seemed to just go slowly and I felt like I was hardly making process..I felt I was handling the contractions quite well though..I kept saying to myself "you are bigger than this pain..this is only temporary.." and honestly I was also imagining the taste of chocolate and donuts because I was so hungry and couldn't wait to stuff my face lol. It worked as a distraction some of the time...eventually at some point I asked for some kind of pain relief because I was running on a couple hours of sleep and wanted to be able to relax a little. I was given fentanyl. Before I could get it though my cervix had to be checked and it was only 2cm..despite the fact that the fentanyl only lasted about 20 mins, I was able to doze in and out in between contractions..I got 3 doses total of the fentanyl but had to wait an hour before getting the next dose. The 2nd time I was checked, still 2cm. The 3rd time I got up to 3 and around that time things were getting intense..so btw, my plan was to try this naturally, no epidural...well I ended up asking for it but was told I'd have to wait till I was closer to 6cm...I thought this would take forever and the contractions were getting so intense..it got to the point where my lower body was tensing up and I couldn't relax it and it legit felt like I was going to shit myself..and from here on everything happened so quickly... suddenly I was at 6cm, I thought, yay I can get an epidural now and relax..nope. at that point he was already coming...the best way I can describe the feeling was literally like I had to take a giant poop but couldn't control it..it was just coming out..lol. I started to freak and say I can't do this! but my legs were propped up, the contraction came, I pushed, counted to 10...did this 3 times and seriously pushed as hard and fast as I could despite feeling the tearing and burning..after just 3 pushes he was out! I could tell when his head was out and I thought, okay now I need to push his body out but nope, everything just came out at once and I felt it all..I was in such shock and disbelief afterwards..it feels like a dream..my doctor said I made it look easy and I should be proud of myself..and I am..I'm amazed with how strong we can be and what our bodies are capable of. The doctor pushed on my belly to get the placenta out and then stitched me up cause I had quite a bit of tearing. I'm still in the hospital, although my blood pressure has been down but it's still being monitored and I still am hooked up to magnesium and still have a catheter in..probably wont be going home till tomorrow. Mind you I haven't showered since Sunday night and have not been able to get out of bed cause they've had inflatable cuffs on my legs to prevent blood clots cause I can't be on my feet cause of my blood pressure. I feel so gross! And I've only gotten maybe 4 hours of sleep...BUT my son is here and he is healthy and I am blessed.

Good luck to all you new mamas!