Warning: it’s a LONG one...but it’s so beautiful.

On December 17, 2019 Cody and I excitedly and anxiously arrived at Jefferson Hospital to begin the process to meet our baby girl. I had to be induced at 37 weeks due to gestational hypertension. I was induced with cervidil (vaginal insert known to help ripen the cervix) at 9pm. I was only 1cm and 50% effaced at that time. The cervidil had to remain in your cervix for 12 hours. I already knew we had a long night ahead of us. At about 10:00pm my contractions started. Cervidil will sometimes kickstart your labor with contractions, and let me tell you mine were intense and frequent. When you are induced with cervidil you aren’t allowed any meds to help with the pain so you just have to breathe through it. The worst part of being in labor for me was getting up to go pee every 30 minutes. I also was constipated and had a small hemorrhoid that made it impossible to get comfortable on those terrible hospital beds. I labored with strong contractions that were sometimes a minutes apart and sometimes 4-5 minutes apart until 9:15am when the nurse came in and took out the cervidil! The doctor came in and checked my cervix at 9:45. I was 3cm and 60% effaced. She said they’d be back in a few to put the pitocin on and give me the epidural. I was so happy because at this point they said they’d start me on pitocin and we’d get this show on the road! Well I was wrong! The doctors and PA’s were insanely busy all morning with multiple emergency c-sections so I labored on my own until about 12:30. I was in pain from 10pm until 12:30 pm! It was rough. At 12:30 the nurses came in and hooked me up to pitocin. I immediately asked for an epidural due to the pain I had for the past 15 hours. The anesthesiologists came in and gave me the epidural and it was HEAVEN instantly... and to think I didn’t even want one at first... I am so glad I got one because my contractions were a minute apart the entire rest of my labor. I didn’t feel a thing. The best part of the epidural was getting a catheter so I no longer had to keep getting up to pee. It was glorious. Around 3:15 my doctor came in to check my progress and I was 4cm and 60% effaced. I was warned that this process is going to take a long time... but I never imagined it’d be this long... I wanted to take a nap but couldn’t because I was just so excited to meet baby girl. My mom came to sit with Cody and I around 8am and my dad joined her around 11am. They didn’t want to leave and I was happy they were there to keep Cody company. Codys mom also joined us in the room around 12:45. The support was welcomed! At 4:30 my doctor came in and broke my water. Hallelujah! I was hoping this would make it go faster. At that point I was only 4cm still. At 6:00 they came in and checked me and I was 5cm and 90% effaced. It was progress but it was SLOW and still wasn’t even considered active labor. Around 6:30pm I started having bad pressure pain and they came in and gave me a little more epidural to help. That instantly made me sick and light headed. My blood pressure dropped and Grace’s heart rate declined. They nurses came in and flipped me over and put oxygen on my face. She wasn’t reacting well to the pitocin so they had to turn it off multiple times. I wasn’t scared because I really trusted the nurses. They were wonderful. Around 8:00pm I was so nauseous and vomiting. It actually made me feel a lot better. The doctor came and checked me around 8:45 and I was still 6cm but 100% effaced at this time. Then I started having really intense contractions every minute and with each came an urge to poop like no other. I could feel it all. At 9:15 I called the nurses to come because of the pain and pressure and they didn’t want to check me again since they just did 30 minutes ago. I knew I was ready to push so I begged them to get someone to check me. The PA came in at 9:230and I was complete and ready to push!!! I jumped from 6cm to 10 in 30 minutes! I knew it was time. I was so in-tune with my body. Cody went out to tell my parents that it was time to push and he’d come get them after baby girl was here. The doctors and nurses all swarmed in and got me ready to push. At 9:23 a contraction hit and I started pushing. I pushed for 3 rounds and on round 3 I felt her head and pushed her out at 9:32. The funniest part was she didn’t come out slowly, she flew out and Dr. Bungo almost couldn’t catch her in time. I’ll never forget the look on her face. I pushed Grace out in 9 minutes and that was the most amazing part of my whole labor! Cody was sooo supportive and watched it all! Grace instantly started crying and they put her on my chest. I was so happy. I couldn’t stop crying and smiling at the same time. I had my girl and she was PERFECT. Cody cut the cord after I requested delayed cord clamping for 3 minutes. I was watching the doctors stitch me up from the light fixture above me and they said I ended up with a second degree tear. Yikes! We stared at our baby girl nonstop and my parents came in to give me a quick kiss then wait in the waiting room. The look on their faces still gives me tears in my eyes. They were SO proud! Cody called his mom to get to the hospital because she went home to let our dogs out because we didn’t think baby girl would come on this night. We were over the moon and so in love! After doing skin to skin for over an hour, they took Grace a few feet away to check her over and weigh her while I got to eat the best turkey sandwich of my life. She weighed 7lbs 3oz and was 20in long. My parents, Codys mom, and my brother took pictures of her the entire time she was getting checked over. It’s safe to say we are all in love! We spent 24 hours in the hospital and left on December 19 at 10:30pm. We couldn’t wait to be in the comfort of our home and to get Grace home to our dogs!