I was diagnosed with preeclampsia today when they found protein in my urine, bp was 150/105, and I had severely swollen feet/ankles/hands.

We are starting Cyotec (not sure on spelling?) right now.. I will update you guys as things progress ☺️ totally nervous but so excited to finally meet our little man.

*Update*

So our sweet boy arrived at 2:18am May 21st. He is 6lbs 6oz of pure sweetness and I never thought I could obsess over another human the way I am him. Literally y’all it is the most amazing feeling in the world. I also loved reading birth stories on here so I decided to go ahead and tell ours ☺️

Sunday night we noticed my feet were severely swollen so I decided to use my parents home machine (Dad is a vet and has high bp so he has a digital) to check it. It was 146/105. I changed the batteries and tried again thinking there was nooo way that was possible. 142/104. Guess it was 🤷🏽‍♀️ We called and the hospital told us to come in ASAP to get checked out.

7pm we arrived and they tested my urine and found protein. They told us we wouldn’t be leaving without a baby 🎉

11pm they gave me my first dose of Cytotec. They said it would be used to thin my cervix since I was still high and barely dilated (I think they said like 1/2cm). I also got some Stadol and y’all, if they offer it- take it! 😂 it made me feel kind of drunk but I knew I wouldn’t sleep otherwise and it was amazing. 4am they gave me my second dose of Cytotec and checked me, not much change. 8:30am my doctor comes in and checks me. We have a real conversation about how this might go down if I don’t progress. He did NOT want to do a c section. I’m so glad he talked me out of it.

I should preface this by saying I have a VERY irritable cervix. When I got checked the first time at my 36 week appt I bled severely and it was the most painful thing I had ever experienced.

So when he came in and checked me for the third time in 12 hours I was already in tears and not handling the idea of a vaginal birth very well. I also just wanted to do what was best for Maverick. He told me we would do more Cytotec at 12pm, but he wouldn’t make me get checked. and then another dose at 4pm along with starting pitocin. I told him that was fine as long as I could get the epidural ASAP rocky when they started the pit and they would wait to check me until it kicked in. He agreed.

So that all went pretty well to plan, and I labored until 4pm bouncing on a ball, playing games, walking, etc.

They gave me my epidural at 4:45 and it was such a weird but cool experience. My husband stayed in the room and the anesthesiologists were great. They explained everything they were doing and were diligent about making sure it did what it was supposed to.

I got checked shortly after and had progressed to 2cm.

Labor was pretty uneventful for the most part. I dozed off and on and people came and went. It is so strange being able to move/wiggle your toes and legs but not feel ANY pain.

They checked me at 10:30pm and I was at 6cm. Around 11:30 I started to get uncomfortable. My back started aching. Within 10 minutes I was breathing heavily but I just didn’t understand why it all hit me suddenly. My mom and husband called the nurse in. She looked at my epidural drip and it had run out 20 minutes prior. She took off out of the room to get the anesthesiologist 😂 I can laugh about it now but I was soooo pissed at the moment. I didn’t want anyone talking to or touching me during the 20 minutes I had to breathe through contractions while it started back up.

My nurse took longer than we thought to come back in, I think they had an emergency.

She came in at 1:30 to check me and she tells me I’m at a 10 and calls the doctor. He heads to the hospital. It takes them about 25 minutes to set things up, get me situated and explain everything about what is going to happen.

At 1:55 she tells me we are going to do some practice pushes and my doctor should be in soon, but to expect to push for about 2-2 1/2 hours. I was not about to push for that long y’all. We took 3 pushes and she yells at me to stop. She says to her other nurse that we need him in there asap because my baby isn’t waiting 😂

At this point I’m laughing (because drugs are a beautiful thing and I realize I’m like 10 minutes from meeting our sweet little boy) and it’s just pushing him further so she tells me to stop 😂

Doc comes in, I push 4 more times and Maverick comes right out.

Y’all I can’t even describe that feeling of awe and wonder when they hold up this little human that has been growing inside if you for almost 10 months. It’s amazing.

I didn’t feel the ring of fire, and all the placenta delivery felt like was just a blob and some pressure.

We did immediate skin to skin and my husband cut the cord after a few minutes.

I did have a 2nd degree tear. Honestly this was one of my biggest fears for a vaginal birth but I didn’t feel any part of it. Even today- 22 hours later- it isn’t nearly as bad as I thought. I haven’t had any issues using the bathroom, just a little sting when I pee but the dermoplast, witch hazel pads, and peri bottle make all of that bearable.

Little man got to come to the room with us and he latched on immediately 🙌🏽 I was so proud.

They took him to do his work up around 8am and his sugar was low..so he’s now in the NICU. Also, a huge fear of mine but totally unfounded because those nurses are amazing!

He’s being weaned off his IV and once he is then he can stay in the room with us until we find out what is causing the sugar issues and treat it. They are pretty sure it’s from a UTI that I had before he was born.

Right now we are feeding every 3 hours and I’m pumping right after. Little man is a champ.

I hope I can give someone a little peace of mind if you’re worried about giving birth..I was one of those that said repeatedly that there is no way my body can handle a vaginal birth. I am all for elective c sections if you want them. But I’m so glad I had people in my corner making me weigh my options and trust my body to do its job. And all the stuff about tearing, bleeding, etc is not anything like I thought it would be. You almost don’t even notice because you’re so busy loving your baby and making sure they’re eating and happy ❤️

Also look at my sweet husband. I have never seen him so happy. He goes to the NICU with me every 3 hours to keep Mav awake while I feed him 🤣 He is already the most wonderful and devoted dad.