May baby born in April 💙

My handsome little man, Emery Graham was born April 26, 2019 at 5lbs 11oz 18in. My mom and I share the same date (14th) and now he and his daddy (my hubby) share the 26th! His due date was May 14. So here we go...

I had protein in my urine for several months during pregnancy but blood pressure was always in the normal (there was 2 times it was high for me but still considered normal). They never seemed concerned. A week before he was born I developed a UTI that got really bad really fast and landed me in the ER with the worst pain I had ever experienced in my life. They’re still unsure if it was kidney stones. So I did a 24 hour urine sample and on Thursday April 25 I had a doctor appointment. By this point, I am feeling normal again. Appointment is short and sweet, baby is head down, off to work I go. Not even 15 minutes later I get a call from the doctor. “I just reviewed the results of your 24 hr urine sample and I need you to head to L&D, we are having this baby today. I was 37 weeks and 2 days at this point. Being induced was not my birth plan but I was very excited to meet my little love. We began induction was afternoon around 12pm with cytotec. I got 3 doses, 4 hours apart. By the third dose I was in so much pain, contractions happening back to back with no real relief or drop in between. It was early morning Friday by this point, I had no sleep since 7:30 am Thursday. I was begging for an epidural but was only 3cm dilated. My nurse said let’s get me to a 4 and had me walk the halls doing lunges. Hardest workout of my life!! She checks me about an hour later and says ok let’s get you that epidural. This is where things get scary. Getting the epidural was not near as scary as I imagined it to be. I was in so much pain that I was like “STICK ME NOW!” I got so much relief and was like ok finally I can relax a little. It gave me the wildest shivers. My whole body was shaking. But my babies heart rate kept dropping low and the nurse and anesthesiologist had to give me iv medication to alter my blood pressure to get babies heart rate normal and keep repositioning me to make him happy. At one point she said “I need you to prepare for this delivery to go natural or csection”. I was terrified that my baby wasn’t handling the epidural well and I was terrified of being cut open. I was so tired and worn down and scared. Thankfully after the epidural I progressed FAST. I went from a 3 to 5 within like 10 minutes then she put the peanut ball between my legs and my water broke and I literally felt him drop in to my birth canal. That was so crazy. I said “I think my water broke” and sure enough it did and she said “ok gonna go calm the doctor” within 20 mins the doctor was there and checked me and said “oh yeah you’re ready to push” but the baby was still in distress so they said they didn’t have time to break down my bed or anything. They literally made me start pushing immediately and he used the vacuum to get him out quickly. About 10 pushes later my baby was born and I was so overwhelmed with love and relief all I could do was cry. He was born at 5:52 am and will be 2 weeks old tomorrow. 💙 I love my little guy.