birth story

The first part of the story can be found here.
The official decision to induce on Monday, July 2nd was made on Sunday after monitoring my blood pressure the entire weekend and getting my protein levels back. Sunday afternoon I was moved to a labor and delivery room. My nurse when I arrived on Sunday was also going to be my nurse the next day for the delivery. She was so nice and I was happy to already know who would be with me the next day.

I was hooked up to monitors and had a new IV put in. My original one from Friday had to be replaced after I messed it up from showering and blow drying my hair. It went into the top of my hand this time and I honestly think it was one of the most uncomfortable things of my entire experience. I hate needles! I spent the afternoon hanging out and even gave myself a shellac mani. I wanted to have pretty nails for baby Jack. :)

At 10 p.m. a low level of pitocin was started. It was not enough to start labor, but it helped get things ready. I was also given an ambien to help me sleep that night.  My bed was switched out for a L&D bed, which is incredibly uncomfortable. After a long weekend of being woken up for vitals every few hours and the awful L&D bed, I was really looking forward to the ambien working. Of course, it didn't effect me the way I wished it would. I woke up a lot that night due to having to go to the bathroom thanks to all the IV fluids and I kept setting off alarms. My IV bag needed to be replaced, my BP rose so high that it set off an alarm, etc. They let me keep my original hospital room that I had stayed in all weekend, and Ty spent the night in there. My L&D room only had a chair in it and this way he was able to sleep in a bed. I was glad they let us keep that room.

The big doses of pitocin were scheduled to begin at 6 a.m. I got up to use the bathroom at 5:50 a.m. and when I stood up my water broke. I was so happy that it happened on its own and I was hoping that it would move things along much faster. My family tends to have quick deliveries and I was afraid that being induced would mean I was in labor all day. Luckily, that was not the case. I progressed pretty quickly and was able to get an epidural early that morning. I honestly don't remember too many details. I can't for the life of me remember what my contractions felt like. After my epidural my BP rose pretty high and gave me an awful headache. I remember the nurse giving me a shot in my leg to help with it all and not feeling a thing. It was amazing!

I pushed with Ty and the nurse for about an hour. It was so peaceful and I remember joking that we should just deliver him with just us in the room. My doctor arrived at noon and Jack was born at 12:36. Everything was textbook and I couldn't have had a better experience. My doctor placed Jack on my chest right after he was delivered and it was the sweetest moment. Ty cut the umbilical cord and snapped a lot of pictures. It was an incredible experience.