The Great Birth Story

I went to the Dr. on Monday, November 28th and was told that my blood pressure was getting high. Our big joke had been that pre-eclampsia was the one thing I didn't have! So the Dr. told me he wanted to induce me before the week was out and ordered some blood work. He called us on Tuesday and told me that I had all the signs of pre-eclampsia and that he wanted to induce me on Thursday. I asked if I could come in Thursday morning for a recheck and go from there - I wanted to go naturally and inductions make that tough. So we went in on Thursday and my BP was even higher, the swelling was bad and my rash was getting horrific. The good news was that I was already 80% effaced and 3 cm's dialated. The Dr. wanted us to go straight to the hospital but I talked him into letting me go home and shower first.

We arrived at the hospital at 11:30 ish and they started me on Pictocin at 1 pm. The Dr. broke my water at 3:30 and we called the doula since I knew things would be picking up soon. Yvonne, our doula, arrived at 4:30 and I was still doing ok. By 6 I was begging to be shot. I broke down and asked for the epi - I was only 4 cm's at the time so I had made little progress. After 3 tries, the epidural was in and the relief was immediate and I sent everyone to go have dinner so I could rest. Unfortunately, after 20 mins of pain-free labor, the epidural test-dose wore off and I guess the cathedar was in the wrong space and I was in some serious pain. They checked me again at 7 and I was at 7 cm's. Everyone was back in the room with me by 8:45 helping me cope with the pains. At 9:35 they checked me again and I was completely dialated but Fin was being stubborn and was still pretty high up (-2 station) so they wanted me to keep laboring and see if he would come down on his own. By 10:45 there was still no more progress and I started to hear the rumblings of C-section. The Dr. came in at 11 and decided we should see if I could just push Fin out - I had him crowning in one push! By 11:19 Fin was in daddy's arms while I had a chance to catch my breath. One tiny stich was all I needed and Fin nursed right away - I wish the pregnancy had gone as smoothly as the labor :)