Friday morning I arrived at the hospital at 5am for an induction at exactly 38 weeks pregnant due to high blood pressure that was no longer well managed after being in bed rest and labetalol since 33 weeks. By about 6am I was receiving my IV, which was one of the worst parts since my veins blew 3 times before getting a good placement so I was already a little stressed out and almost passed out. I was started on a slow amount of pitocin since I was already dilated to 3cm and 60-70% effaced. By about 8am I was having small but manageable contractions and my OB came by to check me and break my water. I was at about 4cm then. The next couple hours were about riding the contractions. I was able to use rhythmic breathing, music, swaying on a yoga ball, and distractions to help me. I kept mentally telling myself to ride the waves instead of focusing on it being a pain. I decided to ask for the epidural since I knew it would be a while before they got to it. I didn't anticipate it taking as long as it did though because there ended up being several people at once needing the CRNA. The contractions started getting too intense and I was losing control which I knew would be a downward spiral so I requested mild pain relief (fentanyl) to get by. It made me feel pretty drowsy but did help me not mind the pain and was helpful whenever I finally got the epidural. I didn't remember the epidural being quite as painful as it was but with my first I was also more heavily medicated from fentanyl etc. Within a few minutes the epidural kicked in and I felt much better. They were having a hard time keeping my super active baby on the monitor as well as my contractions because I kept switching positions to help progress. After a couple hours I wasn't progressing very fast but still doing well so they didn't want to overdo the pitocin. That's when they brought in what we called the Mr. Peanut ball. It helped keep my legs open to help progress. The doctor checked me around 3pm and I was pretty much completely dilated but baby still wouldn't drop even with practice pushing. That's when they raised my bed almost completely vertical and had me sit in what reminded me of lotus position in yoga but with my feet dropped below me. The bad news was that it made my epidural all drop so now I was feeling a lot of what was happening but I was glad because I knew I'd be able to push better. The CRNA upped my epidural a bit because I was starting to become too much in pain that my blood pressure was getting higher. A few minutes later the doctor checked me and had me do a practice push on a contraction and when I did, he started coming out. I ended up pushing through the next contraction as well since I could feel the urge and Jett Isaac entered the world in about 5 minutes of pushing at 4:27pm. He was 9lbs 7oz, 20.5" long. The first thing the doctor said was "he's a two hander!" and laid him on my chest. He was making little chirping noises like a monkey and was so chunky, I just kept saying "hi buddy!" His apgar score was 8-9 and he latched perfectly. After a more long, complicated induction with his older brother I was afraid to be induced with this big guy but I trusted myself, my doctor, my baby, and my body to do what was best for us all to be healthy and together and allowed myself to birth without fear.