Its been a month now since my little boy was born and I'm so excited to share his birth story!

So I was scheduled to be induced at 37 weeks due to Cholestasis of pregnancy. We went in in the morning and they start me on cytotec to ripen the cervix because I'm dilated to only a one. Four hours later I'm having pretty regular contractions that are in no way painful but they are regular enough they won't give me another round of cytotec.

So at this point the Dr comes in and asks me what I want to do and lists off the options for helping induce which was awesome. I decided to do a Foley bulb and start the pitocin drip. I wanted to get the show on the road! So I get the bulb inserted which didn't seem like a big deal and the nurse and Dr were amazed at how calm I was through it (luckily they weren't in shift later in the day because they would have seen a different story haha).

The bulb is supposed to fall out on its own once you get between 3-6 cm or they take it out after 12hrs. So we wait and wait and wait my contractions slowly start to get more intense but I wanted to wait to get the epidural because with my first I got it and was totally immobile and I wanted to be able to move around more this time (mistake 1).

So it's been like 10hrs and the bulb hasn't come out and I'm way discouraged but the contractions are intense enough that I need the epidural so I ask for it. The nurse says great but she's going to try pulling out the bulb to see if it'll come out and sure enough it does and I'm at a 5 yay! And they come in and give the epidural and it's super quick and it was easy and pretty painless and then we wait.

Ten minutes go by of me moaning and crying through contractions and nurse asking me over and over if the epidural is working and I keep saying no but they have to wait 15 mini between the high doses of the medicine to make sure your blood pressure doesn't bottom out so I'm getting no relief. meanwhile the Dr comes in to break my water and in the back of my head I think, I should ask them to make sure they epidural is working before they do that but I don't say anything (mistake 2). So they break my water and all you know what breaks loose. the contractions are coming fast and hard, the anesthesiologist comes in two more times giving me higher doses with no effect.

they say the next thing they'll do is replace it. Unfortunately they never get the chance. Finally as I'm writhing on the bed I tell my nurse that I have to push. she checks me and sure enough she says you're having this baby now! I freak out and just keep looking at my husband telling him how scared I am. He was such a good support but so mad and every new person who walked in he would say, "She has no pain meds, she is getting no relief!" like someone would be able to change the fact haha.

So Drs are rushing in and I'm terrifies because I never planned on this but ten minutes of excruciating pushing later and our baby boy was born! It was so hard but so worth it! I went from an 5-10 in forty minutes it was crazy town! but our baby is safe and sound and was very healthy he just had to spend one extra day under the lights in the nursery. You Mamas who go natural by choice are rockstars, you Mamas who get pain relief are rockstars, birth is hard no matter what but so so worth it. Jeremiah Matthew 8lbs 3oz 19.5in long.

t.