On July 26th I was finishing putting some of the last touches on my son’s and baby girl’s room because we had just moved into our new apartment. I had a midwife appointment and I had a feeling that my blood pressure was high and I thought they would probably just keep me to monitor me. I left my husband at home with our son and went to my midwife with my sister in law. The nurse took my blood pressure and she said it was up there but that the midwife might just have her retake it. She takes me back to the exam room and leaves. My midwife comes in and the first thing she says is “So, how do we feel about having a baby today?”. I was completely overwhelmed. She told me she was afraid that my high blood pressure could turn into preeclampsia and that she thought it would be safer for me to be induced. I was 37 weeks and 5 days. We discussed it for a little bit because my main concern was the induction leading to a c-section and the fact I wasn’t expecting to have my baby that day. She checked me and I was 4 cm dilated and almost 70% effaced. On my way to labor and delivery I call my husband to tell him I’m being induced. Once over at L&D they put an IV in me and because how swollen I was I had to be poked multiple times. Once the IV started it burned because I also had to be given antibiotics due to being Group Strep B positive. They started pitocin and it took awhile but I started feeling mild contractions that weren’t consistent at all. Once my husband got there the contractions even started to slow down and it was around this time I was told I actually did have preeclampsia and that it was good I was being induced. After hours of being there my midwife offered to break my water to get things going. She checked me and I was at a 5 and she broke my water. As soon as my water broke my contractions were instantly stronger and consistent. This is where I would consider true labor started. The contractions were tolerable. I was able to breathe my way through them. Even though my contractions were tolerable I decided to get the epidural because I was told it could take hours and I didn’t want to be in pain all day and night. They come in and give me the epidural and after the anesthesiologist left I felt like the epidural wasn’t working but I was told it would take some time. A few minutes later and I’m still feeling everything and I’m feeling my contractions pick up and I’m feeling a lot of pain in my hips. About 30 minutes later I’m still complaining of the epidural not working and that I was still feeling everything and that it really felt like I had to push. I was in denial that the epidural wasn’t working and kept asking them why it wasn’t and that it should be and that I couldn’t do it and all I wanted to do was take a nap. A little while later I started yelling how badly I had to push and they checked me and I was at a 9 and the midwife left to get ready. I was screaming at this point because it hurt so bad to not follow my body’s natural instinct to push. It was honestly one of the hardest things to fight. My midwife comes back and I’m given the okay to start pushing. I was screaming bloody murder. My husband says he never heard anything so scary 😂 I was told to focus all my screaming on pushing and that’s exactly what I did. I still can’t believe I felt everything because I got the epidural with my first and felt nothing but pressure. The ring of fire is no joke. Feeling the head come out was probably the worst of it and just feeling myself stretch to that point. I pushed for about 10 minutes end Evangeline Alaura was born at 7:36 pm. This all happened within two hours of my water being broken. I never expected it all to happen so fast and I didn’t expect to feel it all. Not going to lie though it feels kind of empowering that I felt it all and I felt kind of like super woman but it also would’ve been nice for the epidural to work considering I went through getting a needle in the back to get it and had a sore back for a few days because of it.