My due date was on July 20th... Which came and went. I was getting very impatient, and very uncomfortable by the day, so I had my induction scheduled for July 27th. I had been 1cm dialated and about 50% effaced since 36 weeks.

On Saturday July 27th at about 3am I woke up to pee, and noticed very mild contractions. I'd had them off and on for about a week, so I didn't get my hopes up. I laid in bed for about an hour, timed them at about 1 min long, 5 min apart... Pain wise was a 2 out of 10, so I just held out at this point. Around 8am, I'd say the pain bumped up to about a 3 out of 10.. but at this point they were about 10 minutes apart. I called my OB, who just said to hold out as I was, and if nothing changes significantly during the day, to just go in for my induction at 8:30pm as scheduled. So that's what I did!

8:30pm check in at the hospital rolls around, I get settled into my room and get monitors set up to me, and my contractions are about a 4 out of 10 pain wise, but back to 5 min apart roughly and lasting 1 min. My nurse checked and I was dilated to 2.5cm and happy with how things were progressing, so they decided to hold off on pitocion and see how my body progresses.

I was able to rest, fairly comfortably until probably about midnight (I started to loose track of time), but then the back labor started to hit. That was rough. I took a long hot bath, until I was sweating and my butt hurt from sitting in the tub.. then back to my bed. They gave me a pain killer of some sort (can't remember the name) through my IV... That helped, but was very short lived. It was about 5am by the time I dialated to 4cm, which is when they called in for the epidural. At this point, I couldn't sleep, contractions still every 5 minutes, but pain level was probably about a 8 out of 10. After the epidural set in, it was instant relief. I was so so thankful. I went back to sleep after this, occasionally waking up when my nurse would come in to check on me. I can't remember the times exactly, but from about 6am to 10am, she checked like 3 or 4 times, and said I was progressing very smoothly. I was 7.5cm dilated when my water broke, but I was so tired and out of it that I hardly recall even getting the bed cleaned up and changed. My legs were completely numb and I couldn't move so my husband helped the nurse pick me up slightly and shift me around to get everything cleaned up. A short while later the OB came in and briefly introduced himself, he seemed very nice and soft spoken, I instantly liked him...but it also probably helped know if the end was near 🤣🤣 my nurse had nothing but great things to say about him, so that was comforting too.

I mentioned that my back labor pains was starting to come back, and the OB and nurse instantly realized that the baby was sunny side up.. unfortunately the night nurse forgot to pass that info along to the day nurse. It is what it is. 🤷

It couldn't have been much longer after that that I was 9cm dialated. My nurse wanted to help the baby turn face down on his own if possible, so she and my husband started having me get into different positions on the bed and start pushing. About this same time, the epidural was wearing down, but because we were moving so much, the monitors on my belly wouldn't stay in place to pick up the contractions. I had to just bear through it to push when a contraction would hit at this point. We did this for about 1.5 hours, and finally my little boy was down below my pelvic bone. There was SO much pressure, it was absolutely unreal. I notice the OB came back in, there is a table full of tools laid out, and another nurse appears ( babies nurse ) and that's when I realize, this is it! We are finally here. I gave probably about 6 more of the biggest pushes I could fathom, and out comes my little boy, to be laid on my chest. 😍😍 Immediate love, instant relief. I looked up at my husband who was in tears. He was the best support and cheerleader I could have ever imagined or needed throughout this entire time. It was pure Bliss. ♥️