I couldn’t imagine my pregnancy without reading and listening to birth stories. I felt like they prepared me for all the different birth scenarios both beautiful and scary. Because of that I want to pay it forward with my own birth story.

Jackson’s due date was November 23rd, 2018. At about 35 weeks I started to have higher than normal blood pressure readings. I had no other symptoms such as blurred vision, major swelling, or headaches that are associated with preeclampsia. My OB had me start monitoring my blood pressure at home and gave me a range that my blood pressure should be within and outside of that told me to call. At 37 weeks 2 days I woke up with cramps and they continued to last until later in the afternoon. I took my blood pressure in the afternoon and it was high enough for me to call up to Labor and Delivery. They had me come in to be on the safe side. It was a Sunday so I had to go into the ER to be checked in before being sent up. In the ER my blood pressure was a little bit lower than when I took it at home but still high enough for me to call. Once I got up to Labor and Delivery and got into bed my blood pressure was reading perfect so I was sent home and told to call and check in with my OB on Monday.

On Tuesday I had another higher reading so I called and was told to go give a urine sample at the lab. I should mention that I had given a urine sample when I started to have higher readings and it had come back fine and no protein issues. On Wednesday morning I got a call from my OB’s nurse who told me that there was a little protein in the sample I had given so my OB wanted me to do a 24 hour urine sample. I am an attorney and had a jury trial scheduled for Thursday and knew there was no way I was going to be able to do both the collection and the trial as the urine has to be refrigerated. So I started trying to make plans to deal with the trial.

I went home at lunch and took my blood pressure. I had numerous high readings with the most alarming being a systolic (top number) reading of 160. I called and left a message for the nurse telling her my readings I had gotten over lunch.

In between court appearances while at the courthouse I received a call back from the nurse telling me that my OB wanted me to go ahead and be induced based on my continuous high readings. The only time available was for the next day meaning I would have to check in at the hospital that night at 8pm. Holy cow it was baby time! I luckily could be done at work for the day and headed home to get ready. I was going to try and nap but couldn’t so I ended up doing some cleaning and showered.

My Husband and I checked in to the hospital at 8pm on November 7, 2018. At about 10pm Cytotec was placed. I really had no contractions or cramping from it. I slept as much as I could but the delivery room bed was so hard. The cot they had prepared for my husband looked amazing while I was laying in the delivery bed. I took ear plugs and a face mask to help with the hospital noises and lights and I would recommend that to anyone who has to go in and be induced and wants to get any sleep the night before.

I am horrible about remembering the times but I think that Pitocin was started around 6am. I really didn’t feel any painful cramps or contractions at that point. I had come into the hospital at about 2cm dilated. My OB came in around 8am and broke my water. As soon as she broke my water sh*t got real! This was my first pregnancy/delivery and I went into it with an open mind. I had ideas of things I wanted and how I would like to try different things but obviously had no clue what to expect. I had read and listened to so many birth stories and it always seemed that Mom’s who went into delivery dead set on how they wanted the birth to go seemed to look really negatively at the birth if it didn’t end up going according to plan. Because of that I really didn’t want to have firm expectations for Jackson’s birth.

After my water had been broken the contractions came on strong. I was having really strong contractions followed by weaker contractions in between but not any actual break between contractions. I had my mom and my husband with me and helping to remind me to breathe through the contractions. I tried to bounce on the birthing ball but Jackson was low enough that where the monitor had to be to pick up his heart rate it wouldn’t stay put. This was extremely frustrating. I then felt like I needed to go poop so I went to the bathroom and ended up really having to go. When I came out of the bathroom I decided I couldn’t take it anymore. I couldn’t get relief on the ball and laying in bed was not going to work so I asked for the epidural.

I got the epidural around 9am. The relief was instant and amazing! The mamas who do it without an epidural are amazing! Soooo much respect. I was checked after getting the epidural and was 4cm dilated. I hung out for awhile with my mom and sister in the room. We had sent my husband to go get food since we anticipated it being awhile being a first time mom. I started to feel some pressure in my butt but thought that it was from the hard delivery bed. About 45 minutes after getting the epidural the nurses (I had two because one was orientating) came in and put me on my side with a peanut ball because Jackson’s heart rate was showing some distress but as soon as I changed position he was back to normal. I started to feel like I needed to poop as soon as they put me on my side. The nurses asked me if it was a continuance feeling or if it came and went with the contractions. I told them that it seemed worse during the contractions but didn’t go away completely in between. They told me to let them know as soon as it became continuous. After maybe 15 minutes of me complaining of needing to poop my mom asked me if I wanted the nurses to come and check me. I didn’t think there was anyway I was completely dilated but I thought it would help me understand the pressure I was having if I knew for sure that I wasn’t.

The nurses came in and the first nurse checked me and her expression gave nothing away. I must have given her a look like tell me because she said she couldn’t tell me until after the nurse who was orientating checked. The other nurse checked and got this surprised look on her face and said, “Complete?”. I was completely dilated at 10:30am. Jackson wasn’t all the way down yet so my OB told them to have me labor down and she was on her way. My mom began calling my husband telling him to hurry back. He didn’t even finish his breakfast ha. When my OB got there they started getting the bed ready and took the peanut ball out from between my legs. When they moved that ball I could feel Jackson right there ready to come. I started pushing at 11:02am. I pushed as hard as I could through 4 contractions and for 4 minutes. Jackson Alan was born at 11:06am on November 8, 2018 at 37 weeks 6 days. He was 7lbs 12oz and 20 inches long. I had a second degree tear. Overall my postpartum wasn’t bad at all. I started with ice packs right away and mostly just ibuprofen. My bleeding stopped at 2 weeks postpartum. Now I am soaking up my last weeks with my sweet babe before going back to work.