I had planned to go into labor naturally if possible, unless I got to 41 weeks. I planned to labor at home as long as possible, not get an epidural or other pain relief. Move around a lot during labor. Oh how it went differently 😂😂😂

At my 39 week appointment I had been having contractions for 2 weeks, random spikes in my blood pressure, still 1 CM, exhausted, and so ready to be done. I was also terrified of having a stillborn after reading stories online about it and the fact that my baby had calmed down a little anyway. So I asked my midwife to induce me, she had no issue with it and scheduled me to be induced that night at 9:30. It was crazy to know that in less than 12 hours they'd be starting my labor! 😳

We got to the hospital, they admitted me and got my IV and everything going by 10:30. Let me rest until 12 when they came to put in a foley bulb to dilate me (I was 1 CM to start with). When the OB went to do it, he broke my water. He said "oh we have a rupture" but because of his Irish accent I didn't understand him and said "huh?" 😂 and he said "I ruptured your water, I hate when that happens but it unfortunately does" and I'm like "well does that change anything?" 😂

So rather than having the cramping and gradually strengthening contractions I would have had with the foley bulb, it went full blown pretty soon after. I was so naive to think I could do it with out drugs 😩 it was awful. So I asked for IV pain meds, they gave me Stadol. It wrecked my mind lol, for about 2 hours I was dreaming/hallucinating but I was able to rest and my body got to relax and I dilated to 5 very quickly. At 5 AM hey wanted to start my pitocin, but my stadol was wearing off and because it makes baby sleepy too I didn't want anymore, who knew if I'd be ready to push in a hour or two, or not. So I asked for an epidural before they started the pitocin. They got that going and started the pitocin. By noon I was 8 cm. 2 PM I was fully dilated and ready to go. They got everything set up and at 2:30 I started pushing. I was so much harder than I imagined and my epidural had worn off some so I felt less pain that otherwise, but a little more than just pressure like they intend. I pushed for what seemed like 5 minutes but was actually an hour and 20 minutes. The last couple contractions the baby was coming really quickly and my midwife was on her way down from upstairs, but I had to stop pushing and hold my legs together so she didn't come on her own 😂 my midwife walked in and saw half the baby's head out and said "oh me!" And jumped over there. I pushed 2 more times and Lily was born! 7 lbs, 4 oz and 19.5" long. A headful of her daddy's dark hair ❤️ It was an amazing experience and I'm still having trouble summarizing in my head how I feel, 5 days later. I'm so glad I chose to be induced early, everyone says induction is awful but my birth was simple and without issues.