When I was 35 weeks I was informed that I would be induced at 37 weeks due to gestational hypertension.

On January 24th at 2pm my fiancé & I went to check into labor & delivery & my mom met us there. When I arrived I was 1cm as I had been for the past few weeks. By 3:20pm they inserted two foley balloons & a pill into my cervix in hopes that it would help me dilate more. The contractions started off as light cramps & became stronger over the next few hours. By 7 I asked for pain meds which caused me to become very drowsy so I was in & out of it. The nurse took the foley out around 10 because it didn’t fall out on its own. Pitocin was started soon after. At 11 my bp had spiked to dangerous levels

& I was given meds via IV to bring it down. I was gonna opt for another dose of pain meds but my nurse felt that getting my epidural at that time would be better because of how strong the contractions were.

After receiving the epidural I was 5 cm & my BP dropped dangerously low(from the epidural) which also caused babygirl heart rate to drop. Nurses started running into the room turning me from left to right to help bring her heart rate back up. I was given something to bring my BP back up as well. They inserted internal monitors to keep track of her heart rate & started me on magnesium because of one of the meds they gave me which meant staying in bed for until 24 hours after deliver with nothing to eat.

At 3:30am my water broke on it’s own. Somewhere along the way the button that dispensed my epidural meds wasn’t working so the anesthesiologist had to come top me off via the catheter in my back. At 6 am I was only 6cm so they gave me a peanut ball to put between my legs. I started feeling pressure and cramps in my bottom & vagina around 8:30 so the nurse started getting things ready for me to push. By 9am I was a 10 & ready to start pushing but didn’t officially start pushing until 9:20. At 9:44am Raelynn Aniyah Tolbert made her grand entrance weighing 5lbs 7 oz.