On Wednesday February 5th I was 39 weeks 2 days and went to work like a normal day. One of my coworkers had recently had a baby and was giving me advice. Toward the end of my shift she asked me how much I had felt him move that day and I couldn't even remember the last time I'd felt a kick. She immediately was concerned for me so I called the hospital to see if it was worth going in for (first time mom, didn't have a clue it was a big deal). Also the entire day my mom kept texting me saying "Wouldn't it be cool if you had the baby today? It's your grandma's birthday."

The hospital told me to come in for monitoring so another coworker drove me to the ER. After getting checked, my doctor called and said that baby was fine but since I was so close to my due date we might as well induce that night. I called my husband to bring our stuff and let all the soon to be grandparents know what was happening. Once my husband got there they started me on cervadil at 8 PM and I was able to have dinner. I got a second dose at 12 midnight and started pitocin at 4 AM Thursday the 6th. Labor had been uncomfortable up till now but nothing terrible and I had an extremely low pain tolerance.

Around noon that day I asked for an epidural. It took about 45 minutes to place and it was hands down the most excruciating pain I've ever felt. I was blubbering snot crying the entire time but I had a good support team. I remember the anesthesiologist saying that my legs should start to feel heavy (they didn't). Right after that my parents and his showed up and I started throwing up like clockwork every 10 minutes or so, couldn't keep anything down. No one seemed terribly concerned about it so I wasn't either. At some point they gave me the peanut ball which I didn't feel did much. I tried to nap as much as possible in between visiting, cervical checks, and catheter emptying.

That evening I was in a lot of pain and asked to see another anesthesiologist. He told me that my first epidural had not been placed correctly and if I wanted I could get another one. I ended up doing that and it was 100% different than the first one, much less pain and it only took 15 minutes. I also had a lidocaine bolus with it so I'm sure that made a difference. After the second epidural I slept really well for a few hours. Turns out while I was asleep the baby had become tachycardic and my blood sugar had dropped significantly. All I remember is the nurse needing my arm several times to push meds into my IV.

Around 12 midnight the 7th I told my husband that I felt like I had to poop and when I was checked I was 10 centimeters and it was go time. A ton of people started coming in to set up and prep me on how to push and when (teaching hospital so there was my doctor, 3 residents, 2 students, 2 nurses, my husband, and my mom). I started pushing at 12:30 AM and my son was born at 1:08 AM at 7lbs 12oz 20 inches long.

I couldn't believe how calm I was during the entire experience since I'm usually a worry wart and huge control freak. I did have a partial 3rd degree tear and stitches but it was all being taken care of during skin to skin time. Henry James is now two months old and we are getting into the swing of things. Pregnancy and birth are no joke but neither is motherhood. I'm amazed every day how hard it is but also how wonderful. 💙