Birthing Story🖤 sorry its so long!! But during my pregnancy I had very little problems if any at all. I think maybe I had a uti at one point in my early months, maybe around 5 months. But no other problems. She had perfect heart rates and grew just as she should and I passed every test, no GD and no blood pressure issues. My doctor had decided at my 38 week appointment check that it would be best to induce the following week. He said my pelvis was looking good and a had gotten much wider (I'm a FTM, who is 5" even and my pre pregnancy weight was 90 to 93 pounds), and she had been head down for months, she wasn't dropping at all and I would go in for checks and some times be above 50% effaced. He also didn't want to chance her being more than 8 pounds as I am a petite woman, and her ultrasounds were measuring her at almost 7 and a half. (*I was told the machines are off a bit sometimes*). So to avoid a c section, my husband and I agreed and set the induction for the following week, and were excited to meet our little girl within the next 9 days!! So fast forward and I call to the hospital to check on open beds in labor and delivery to start my induction on wendesday night August 28, just a few days before my actual due date of September 1. We get checked in and to our room. I get hooked up with IVs and blood drawn, and right off the bat I was terrified and excited it was all happening! My nurse came in to start my medication for induction. I can't quite recall the medication name, but it is a pill they give to kick start dilation because they can't administer the pitocin until you are at least 3 cm and your cervix are open. Well, I went in with 0 dilation and closed hard cervix. So this pill basically does in 24 hours what your body does naturally within like a week. They give a half dose at a time and ladies let me tell you how surprised I was when my nurse told me to open my legs haha I thought it was am oral pill🤣🤣 well, that gets started and the waiting game begins. I think it took a total of 4 hours to dilate to a 1 cm. And oh lord the waiting was terrible. My cervix were starting to soften but not much. The next morning I get my second dose of the other half. And 5 hours later I get checked and still, closed soft cervix, baby moved slightly down, and still only 1 cm. So they give me another half of a pill. 4 hours later still no progress but I had gotten to 2 cm. They give me the last half of a dose because they can only administer 4 doses, 2 pills in a 24 hour time period. And can you believe it when I was checked that night I had actually regressed back to 1 cm dilated!! Baby was still moving down and I had begun to start feeling uncomfortable contractions by this time. All the while baby girl was doing great with a fantastic steady heart rate. Oh and let me mention, I was not allowed to eat haha. So at this point we were there for maybe 28 hours with no progress. I was given a few choices. Remain in the hospital with no medication and just monitored, go home and come back on another scheduled day or wait until it happens naturally, or start the pitocin anyways with a 50/50 chance of it not working at all due to lack of dilation and semi closed cervix. So we chose to go home and return on Tuesday if nothing had happened naturally, as Sunday was my technical due date. So we get released at about 1 am. Stop and get food as I'm HANGRY at this point. Get home, love on my doggos and climb in my comfy bed to sleep. About 3 and a half hours later I am jolted awake by the need to pee! So I start climbing down from bed and I realize omg I'm not gonna make it to the toilet in time!! I rush and just in front of the toilet a gush happens!! And I sit and pee and was like wow, I guess I had to go with having 5 IVs hooked into me and only nothing but water to drink. Well, I get up and change my pants and realize, hey my pee is kinda tinted bloody, just slightly. Thinking it was normal as I bleed some in the hospital due to all of the checks I had gone through. Well, as I changed I realized, oh goodness I'm dripping!! I had a steady trickle leaking out of me!! I was confused and unsure if it was my water breaking!!! So I sat on the toilet and let it trickle for about an hour. Put on a pad and decided I would see about it in a few hours after some more sleep. So I climb in bed next to hubby and I start to feel slight contractions. So I pulled out my phone and started tracking on my app. What started off as ok pain with contractions being only about 45 sec long and about 10 to 15 minutes apart, I wasn't worried. And still slept. At about 630 am on Friday morning I wake my hubby up and inform him maybe it's best to go back to the hospital as they progressed into at least 1 min 15 sec long contractions in about 3 to 6 min intervals, with pain increasing. So we get to the hospital and have to wait 45 min in the er waiting room for someone from labor and delivery to take us to triage. All while contractions are getting worse and closer together. A few nurses informed us if needed they have had to deliver babies in the er restroom! 🤣🤣 and kept calling triage to see about where they were in regards to fetching me. A nurse comes and I am in tears from the pain. Ladies, apparently I was told where you have period cramps, is where you will have contraction pains. Well I get bad cramps in my lower back and this was excruciating! My app was still tracking and my contractions were lasting almost 2 minutes long with 45 seconds to 1 minute intervals in between. We get to triage and they swab me to determine if it was my water and to check my cervix. I had to wait 15 minutes for the lab to determine it was my water that had broke and I was so sad when I found out I was still about 80% effaced and only 1.5 cm dilated. I get into a delivery room and am given an oral dose of the same medication I was given the previous day and nights. Contractions start to get irregular, some back to back, some waiting 2 minutes in interval, and they varied from intensity from 6 to 10 on the monitors. Hours later I'm checked again and still 2 cm. Given the second half of a dose of the oral pill and wait some more. It is now Thursday at 1130pm and I am checked with worse contractions, lasting 2 minutes, back to back intervals, and most peak to 11 and beyond on the monitors. Finally I am 4 cm but can easily stretch to 5. Starting on the pitocin. We were making progress!! However with my contractions feeling worse and me having a hard time with the pain, I decided to go ahead and get the epidural then and there. My contraction pain was so bad I was squatting next to my bed resisting the urge to push all the while still leaking fluid. The contractions and trying to resist pushing and or tensing up was putting a damper on my baby girl. Her heart rate started dropping and raising. Right before a contraction it would sky rocket to 180+ or drop to around 120. Along with the epidural, I got a urine catheter and an internal monitor to monitor her better and a second tube to fit beside her head k replace fluid that I had leaked because by this point my water had run out and there was nothing to cushion her head when contractions hit, and with the pitocin being administered it was hitting hard. The epidural helped enough to sleep for about an hour and a half but they stopped the pitocin because of her heart and I couldn't stop the pressure of pushing. She was sitting so low at this point that she was applying so much pressure to the catheter and monitor and tubing. From the time my urine catheter was put in to the time I had baby girl, it was a stinging pressure filled pain. Once they stopped the pitocin I was able to sleep and her heart rate evened back out and held normal. So they did this off and on with the pitocin... and still no progression. Not with my cervix and not with dilation, and her heart rate kept raising and dropping every time the pitocin was resumed. And I started to develop an inconsistent fever. So by this time, it's Friday night at 1150pm and I'm exhausted and worried. I had already gotten a second dose of epidural with no aid to my pain. My husband is just as worried and I could tell by the look on his face he wanted to help in some way but couldn't. My Dr finally comes in and let's us know if this was any other labor and it was actually progressing, he would assume 3 hours later I'd have my baby. However with the problems we were having he wanted to know how we felt about just going through a c section. I am terrified as I have never had any major surgeries, and my mother almost died in hers back in 2002. But of course all I want is my baby girl to be healthy and safe and the road we were going down was neither. So we agreed and within 5 min I have an anesthesiologist come in to administer more epidural, and prep for surgery. 3 minutes after that we are in the surgery room and daddy is getting dressed to sit beside me. I'm just praying, "God don't let then have to put me to sleep!" And I get a fourth dose of epidural total to make sure I am numb for surgery. They test areas and I am good to go. Within 20 minutes I was numbed, opened, baby girl removed and getting stitched back up! She was healthy as can be, 6 pounds 15 oz and 20 inches long. 🖤 my husband and I were worried however because when they pulled her out she didn't cry, she wasn't breathing... They gave her just a little oxygen and she cried out the biggest cry. My husband admits his heart sank and nearly cried until he heard her cry out. It's labor day, September 2 and we were released home today, baby girl has finally finished with her black sticky poops, having normal bowel movements, has had no issues latching from the first try!! All of her tests and blood work have been great and i couldn't be happier to have her 🖤 I know I'll probably forget the pain I've gone through, but I am beyond happy she is in my life 💜