My birth story didn’t go quite how I envisioned. On Monday August 12th I had my normal prenatal appointment but I had high blood pressure and protein in my urine. My doctor asked me to return the next day to repeat the tests.

On Tuesday August 13th we went back to the doctor. Big surprise, same results. The doctor told me I needed to have this baby in the next two days to avoid complications with preeclampsia.

We went to labor and delivery on Wednesday August 14th to begin the induction process. I was pretty nervous about having him at 37 weeks but everyone assured me he would be fine.

They started me on cytotec at 2PM. First dose did nothing. They inserted a second dose vaginally at 6PM and that started some contractions. At 10 PM they started me on pitocin and that really ramped things up.

I had my epidural at 3 AM Thursday. I wasn’t in a lot of pain but I couldn’t stand lying in the bed anymore and they wouldn’t let me up because I was high risk and they needed constant monitoring on my baby.

I spent all day Thursday trying to sleep with my husband, mother in law, and both of my patents in the room afraid they would miss something.

The doctor came in multiple times to threaten a c section if I didn’t progress but every time she came back I was right where she said I needed to be. At about 10 PM Thursday night my epidural wore off on my left side. Everyone but my husband had gone home for the night and I labored in a good amount of pain until they checked me at 4 AM and I was finally fully dilated.

They had me sit up until 5AM to labor down. That gave us some time for the moms to get back to the hospital.

I started pushing at five and the nurse told me at 6 I’d have the baby by 6:30. But that wasn’t meant to be. At about 7 the doctor came in and started threatening a c section again.

They told me they were going to have to use the vacuum to extract him but I wasn’t about to let that happen. Then my doctor made a last minute decision to try an episiotomy first. After that Jacob was out in three pushes! I guess I just needed a little help.

I was so excited when they put him on my chest I was crying and so was my husband. It was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life and I love this little boy more than I ever thought possible.

Jacob Alexander Grissom was born at 7:57AM weight 7 lbs 13 ounces and 19 3/4 inches long!

He’s two months old now and the cutest baby ever (I may be biased though)!

The recovery process was far worse than birth even with only half an epidural. My episiotomy is still causing my problems and I had to have it treated yesterday with silver nitrate because it has a skin flap and granular tissue over the scar causing irritation. I can’t wait for that to be on the mend but he is 100% worth it! I’m so proud of my little family!