We went to our doctors appointment on my due date Monday August 20th and I was only 1 cm dilated with no signs of him coming so my doctor decided to set an induction date for the 27th. I was quite disappointed since I wanted to go into labor on my own but I was also relieved to finally have a end in sight.

We had decided to stay with my mom till the baby was born so my husband could help he with some home improvement projects and we could be closer to the hospital. All rolled along as planned but beginning Wednesday I started getting cramps like period cramps (I'd experienced cramping through the majority of my pregnancy and thought nothing of it). We went to bed about 11 and at this point they where uncomfortable enough I couldn't sleep but I still didn't think they where contractions so I got up and took a hot bath and out of curiosity timed them and they were about 7 minutes apart. They started to get more intense so I woke my husband up and told him not to worry but i thought I was contracting and I'd wake him up again if they got worse. He asked how far apart they where and I said 7 minutes but I hadn't timed them in about 45 minutes. He timed one for me and they had gotten to be 4 minutes apart now so we decided to go to the hospital.

When we got there they checked me and I was still only at a 1 but I was now contracting every 2 minutes and they hurt BAD. They considered sending me home and I almost cried because all I wanted was the epidural I was in so much pain. They decided to keep me for another hour to see if I progressed. FINALLY an hour later at a 2 1/2 they admitted me. At this point it was 6:30 and I'd been contracting every two minutes since about 3. They gave me the epidural at 7 and the anesthesiologist was SUPER grumpy but I didn't care because that epidural felt soooo good. I finally was able to catch my breath and relax which seemed to help my progress faster. By about 2:30 pm I was ready to push. Baby's heart rate would drop with every push so they vacuumed him out while I pushed and pulled him out after about 10 minutes of pushing. Turned out the cord was wrapped around his neck twice which was causing the drop every time I pushed. The vacuum left quite a mark on his head but other than that he's ok. He was 7.14 pounds and 19.7 inches. I love him more than words can describe.