Birth Story

It seems to be the thing to do lately...write your birth story. So here it goes...

I went to the hospital 11 days past my due date for an induction at 6 AM in the morning, and positive I was going to have the baby the same day. I was planning a natural birth so I didn't want to start out on pitocin so we had planned on doing a balloon inducement(Not sure what it's even called). Basically they stick a tube up you and fill it with water to put pressure on the cervix and induce you mechanically rather than with medicine. This was in for the first 9 hours and basically felt like one continual cramp. Nothing real painful and I did have a few contractions here and there. The balloon comes out on its own at 4 cm dilation typically. Thankfully when mine came out I was at a 6!!! I felt awesome! We walked the halls for a few hours to try and get things going and I had a few contractions but nothing big. So my doctor came in and broke my water at 8:30 pm. At this point my doula (Estee) showed up and I labored in the bathtub for 4 hours! Having contractions about every 2-3 minutes. I felt like things were progressing great. However, after checking me I had only dilated to a 7 and I was only 70% effaced! What a LET DOWN. My contractions had been strong and I felt like I was relaxing through them.

At that point I was trying to decide what to do. It was about 1 in the morning. I contemplated for a long time it felt like...while everyone was dozing and waiting on me to decide. I sent my doula home at 3 o'clock, Tyler was asleep, and my mom was waiting on me. My doctor came back in at 4 and checked me again and I had not progressed. I could tell my energy was low and I was worried if I got pitocin I would give in to an epidural and not be able to push him out. My mom finally talked me into getting pitocin and they started that at 5 am. My contractions really started to pick up and I had a hard time relaxing. At 6:15 am I was fading fast and took some medication to take the edge off the pain...which ended up helping me snooze between contractions or at least be a bit out of it. I would wake up for the contraction and breathe through it and then I was out for the minute or two in between. just after 8 am I was feeling the INTENSE urge to push! My doula had showed up a few minutes before and my doctor came in to check me and I was FINALLY ready! Oh what joy! I pushed for a half hour and out he came. The doctor says, "Wow, I bet this is a 9 lbs baby!" I'm thinking...you've got to be joking, so we all guessed how much he would be and sure enough he was 9 lbs. 3 oz. What a surprise!!! I'm so glad I was able to push him out as quickly as I did. We're so happy to have Blake finally here with us and I am SOOO grateful for my mom, Tyler, and Estee who helped me stay strong.