This was such a whirlwind!!

I was scheduled to be induced yesterday Feb 7th at 38w because I have antibodies that could attack the baby's blood. This is my third, my first son was a scheduled c section at 39w because he was breech, and my second son was also induced at 38w (induced by breaking water). He was born about 5hrs later and I had an epidural.

This time around the pregnancy was so stressful between me being super sick, several hemorrhages, him being IUGR and then the antibodies. I felt very out of control of the whole thing. I decided to try without an epidural this time around and at first my husband thought I was crazy. But I wanted to accomplish something that I knew was in my control. So, I listened to a birth meditation every night before bed for about a month before his birth. I downloaded the Freya app (DO IT) and listened to their meditations and also used it to breathe through contractions during labor.

At 1pm yesterday we started pitocin and let it go for a couple of hours to get contractions started and to get his head to descend a little more (I was 4cm and 75% effaced to start but his head was pretty high). Contractions were totally manageable. I asked if they'd break my water knowing that would move things along. Around 3:45pm they broke my water since the pitocin helped his head get lower so they weren't as worried about possible cord prolapse by breaking my water.

As expected things got intense quickly! We walked until I couldn't handle that, then sat on the ball and leaned onto the bed while my husband applied a warm pack on my back during contractions. Then we moved to the tub for a bit and listened to a meditation and held hands and honestly, it was one of the most special moments my husband and I have ever had. We were just peaceful and thankful and cried together about how excited we were. Things were getting intense so I crawled out to get checked.

I was 7cm. Laying on my back for the check was THE WORST. I rolled onto all fours, had two huge contractions, and said I needed to push. Sure enough I went from a 7 to a 10 in those two contracrions!! The pain during the pushing was honestly terrible. I am not a loud person but I was screaming my head off. But by this time you kind of know you're stuck with it so you have to keep going! At 5:50 (2hrs after they broke my water) Grayson James was born! He had the cord around his neck 3 times.

Then of course it couldn't be perfect... He wasn't breathing well so they took him away while they tried to get me to deliver my placenta which apparently wasn't happening on its own. They dug around in there so long. The pain was awful. I was more miserable then than the whole delivery. They were pulling the placenta out in pieces and I had no pain meds and was screaming and crying and bleeding a ton. Finally they decided too much was still stuck so they took me to the OR and put me to sleep to get it all out. Meanwhile my husband went with Gray. I was super woozy for a while but overall ok now. Very sad to have that ending but overall I regret nothing. Grayson is breathing much better now and is in the room with us!!

Overall now that I've experienced c section, epidural, and pain med free birth I'd do pain med free every time!