Writing birth stories can be therapeutic and reading them can be helpful and alleviate anxiety so I thought I would share mine. I had my second child- a girl on March 21. I had gestational diabetes ( both pregnancies) I was on insulin just for fasting. My doctor let me go a little past due date(3/18) but I was induced on the 19th. Started with cervadil but Contractions were too strong they were worried about baby. Next tried just pitiocin and labor picked up a bit. Doctor broke my water to try to get baby to move down. Then just needed to labor down. Baby was up very high at this point still. Tried different techniques and positions. Didn’t get the epidural until I was about a 4 dialated. They recommended it to help me relax and help with contractions. Epidural worked well the first hour, I dilated to an 8. Then it stopped working. I was in so much pain but the nurse didn’t believe me. 😡 My temp was going up and babies heart rate was high. I was put on antibiotics. They checked me and I was complete but baby still felt very high up and in a weird position. So I did some practice pushes. Then the doctor came in and had me push a few times. I didn’t even feel the urge to push but was still having painful contractions. Even though I was complete, they were concerned about my temp and babies heart rate. Doctor didn’t think she was coming out vaginally just because she was still high and in weird position. (not breech) we decided that a csection was the best choice. 😓 So I was prepped and before I knew it, she was here. Csection was scary I’m not going to lie.they had to shave me and wipe my whole body down with a solution. They planned on using my epidural and gave me a bunch more medicine in it but after doing a sensory test (and I was clearly still in a lot of pain) they decided to take it out and do a spinal. I just felt the numbing needle, nothing else. After that I was paralyzed and didn’t feel anything. I didn’t even feel myself breathing which was the scariest part.they gave me oxygen just because I was freaked out and didn’t think I could breath( I could, just couldn’t feel it) almost felt like an elephant sitting on your chest 😳. I felt absolutely nothing. No tugging, no pressure, I didn’t even know they started. Getting her out was fast And I heard her cry and got to see her. My husband held her next to me because I was scared to hold her since I couldn’t feel anything. 😕I had to spell her name to them because he couldn’t think of it 😂 and then I had to ask her weight etc because no one was telling me anything. She was perfect and healthy. 😍He held her next to my face while they stitched me up. It felt like forever but was maybe 20 minutes extra. Then they rolled me onto the bed and my iv came out. 😑 I was really thankful to get a new iv in though it was bothering me because of the position. They put it on my hand and I couldn’t feel it anymore. Then I was getting some great pain meds afterwards through my iv. Weirdly it made my face itch like crazy 🤷‍♀️. I finally got to hold her and just enjoy her. Recovery was different than vaginal but oddly not too bad. Hardest part was not walking right away. The next day was the worst But I managed. Went home two days later and took care of my baby, toddler, and my house. 💪 I probably should have got more rest but I didn’t like sitting around. I felt anxious, I felt like the recovery was better this time with csection. I was able to have relations with my husband after 4 weeks. ( not recommended) 😂 Couldn’t do that with vaginal since I had second degree tear. Overall it’s not what I planned but she’s here and healthy and that’s all that matters. I had a pleasant experience nonetheless. Next time I will schedule my csection. After 2 rough inductions, I will welcome a planned csection! I’m sure everyone is different but I recovered well and quickly. Hopefully my third time will be even smoother. I would do it all over again for her☺️