Due to Gestational Diabetes and hypertension I went in on September 25 to be induced. I was zero percent effaced and zero dilated. They started with cytotec to be taken orally to try to ripen my cervix, after two doses of that, 12 hours apart, they decided to use cervidil which was like a sandpaper tampon, that didn’t work either after another 12 hours, they started pitocin. I was having contractions but no pain and the nurse who checked me said I was up to 3 cm, she recommended that I get the epidural then because she figured the midwife would break my water when she came to check on me, so at that recommendation I got the epidural and that was on Saturday afternoon. Shortly after that the midwife came in and said I was only 2 cm and she didn’t like the way the baby was positioned so she wouldn’t break my water. Getting the epidural that soon was where everything started to go down hill I think. I got the shakes from the epidural and spent the next day shivering uncontrollably which was awful. The pain from the epidural wasn’t bad at all. Then they moved on to pitocin, after 24 hours of it, on and off, to see if restarting it would help, I was only at 3 cm. Now I wasn’t in any pain until they started using an internal monitor to measure contractions, it was instantly excruciating. It was annoying when it was in me but when they went to do the cervix checks it was the most pain I’ve ever been in, like I was crying and begging them to stop and the midwife was like oh you can’t feel that and I was like dude obviously I can. My water broke during one of the checks and the clock started for how long we could wait before a c section. Anyway, I got up to 4 cm dilated by Sunday and the monitor started hurting really bad and a new midwife had me try different positions and just nothing was working, but she insisted that we should keep trying and at this point I was so upset because I just wanted it to be over and it kept getting worse and I almost agreed to keep trying because the midwife was insisting it was possible, but as soon as the midwife left the room the nurse looked at me and said “listen, the midwife doesn’t ever want anyone to have a c section and in my professional opinion you need one now” and I agreed. So she called the doctor and at this point it had been 20 hours since my water broke and I was at risk for infection so they gave me heavy antibiotics, the doctor came and agreed it was time to call it and do the c section. But at this point I had had the epidural for more than 24 hours and they were worried it would fail so they removed it and prepared me for a spinal block, also I had pitocin for over 24 hours so I was at risk of hemorrhaging. They wheel me back to the operating room after they sent my husband to go get ready, so I’m sitting on the edge of this cold metal table in this room shivering uncontrollably waiting for them to do the spinal block, at this point I’m absolutely freaking out, I’ve had no sleep in three days, they had to redo my IV because it burst and they were worried i might need a transfusion. They do the spinal block and it doesn’t hurt too much, feels like the epidural does. They lay me down on the table and I’m shivering so much that my jaw locked and it’s just terrible. I’m starting to lose consciousness from the medicine/exhaustion, the doctor came in and they made me confirm what I was there for, the doctor started cutting and I remember that he said “oh, what’s that” which I would have been more concerned about if I wasn’t trying to sleep, they gave me warm blankets and that was super nice. Eventually my husband came in and he sat next to me and then they told me to wake up because the baby was coming out and then they showed him to me and took him over to the baby station and my husband followed, and once I saw my husband holding him I passed out for good, only to be woken up once when I started throwing up, which is super terrible to do when your belly is cut open. So then I wake up in the recovery room and my husband has the baby and everything is okay. They were giving me heavy antibiotics again because of risk of infection, then the doctor comes in and said the most terrifying thing “I’ve seen something in you that I’ve never seen before.” Apparently I was in the middle of having a partial uterine rupture, which can be life threatening to the baby and mother so that’s terrifying, I guess he’d never seen one in the process of happening so that’s why it was weird. He was able to fix it and I can have more children but I’m not allowed to labor again, I’ll have to have a c section if I get pregnant again. It’s super scary to think about what could have happened if I hadn’t gotten the c section when I did. At the end of all of this terrible stuff my son is happy and healthy and that’s all I ever wanted. It was worth it but damn. Recovery was rough and I was not prepared for it. Anyway, that’s my story. Better luck to all of you!