At 40&3 I woke up feeling pretty defeated. I was having some very mild contractions but nothing new since I'd been having them pretty much every day for weeks. I already had a nst and an OB appointment booked because I'd been monitored very closely since there was a dilated loop of bowel spotted on my 28 week growth ultrasound. They were worried this could be a possible bowel obstruction and we're watching everything closely.

I got ready for my appointment and had a lot of questions in mind for my induction scheduled at 41 weeks. Mostly about cytotec and cervidil because I knew my OB usually induces with cytotec and I wasn't really feeling up to using it personally.

I made it to my appointment and my nst went fine. I was contracting every 3 minutes but they were barely noticeable to me. She offered to check me and strip my membranes and I consented. Much to my dismay I was still 1cm and 50% like I had been for weeks. After talking about cytotec and cervidil, she had some concerns that cervidil would make the induction take a lot longer since it was very mild. She suggested going over to the hospital to have cervidil gel places that day and then going home to see if it would help me dilate a bit before the induction so that cytotec may not be necessary. It sounded like a good plan to me so I set up to have the gel placed at noon.

I got to the hospital and put on the monitors around 12:00. They wanted to monitor me for 30 minutes and then place the gel. I was still contracting every 3ish minutes but the midwife who was administering the gel called my uterus irritable and said the gel would likely cause some more irritability but I'd be ready to go home around 3:00 after laying flat for an hour and walking for an hour. She checked me right before and called me 2cm 75%, maybe the membrane stripping had done something?? The gel was placed at 12:45ish. It burns!!!!!

About 5 minutes later my contractions really started to ramp up. They went from a 1 on the pain scale to a 3ish immediately. About an hour later they were at a definite 5 and I really wanted to walk around and move. Walking definitely helped for that hour but they were still pretty painful. The nurse on call wanted to check me to see if I had progressed since I was in obvious pain. This was around 2:45... 2cm 80% ugh!!!

They decided to fill the labor tub for me because they wanted to speak to my midwife (who went back to the office across the street to see patients) before letting me go home. The labor tub was AMAZING,but my contractions were getting more painful by the minute. I would get a little longer of a break if I stayed in a certain position so I did that for quite a while. I was starting to get really fearful of going home in so much pain, contractions every 2 minutes. I was feeling pretty crappy! I got out of the tub when the water was pretty cold and I started shivering. I could barely walk back to my room and felt like throwing up and like I had to #2. I got back to my room around 4:30, tried to use the bathroom but couldn't. They wanted to hook me up to the monitors and I almost cried because there was no way I was going to be able to lay down with the monitors on.

She strapped them on while I was standing up and I was in a lot of pain when a contraction came. I had to life the monitor off because it just hurt so bad. She finally took it off around 5ish and went to see where the heck my midwife was. About 1minute later something popped....it was my water breaking all over my legs!!! Sweet relief lasted about 2 minutes and the nurse came running back. No going home now!! The funny part is I was not even admitted to the hospital at this point.... It really wasn't funny though because I was dying in pain now. The nurse decided to check me... 7cm 90%!!! Holy crap!!!!!!! Where the heck is my midwife!?! I wanted an epidural stat!!!

Apparently to get an epidural my midwife had to place the order and I needed a bag of fluids and bloodwork done.. What!?!? They wheeled me to a delivery room.. I was just in triage before this. By this point my pain was a 10 and I was screaming my head off with every contraction. I wanted an epidural soooooo bad!!!

My midwife showed up at 5:15 and ordered everything stat. IV was placed, blood drawn, antibiotics started (gbs+) all while I was screaming that I couldn't do it anymore. Literally screaming like I was dying because I couldn't help it. It felt like someone was sawing my back in two, and my front felt horrendous as well. I suddenly had the urge to push. My midwife checked me as best as she could and I was complete. She told me to just follow my body. I ended up pushing a few times and felt the ring of fire.... I was dying though. I still wanted the epidural!!!!!

The anesthesiologist finally showed up and shoved the epidural in so freaking fast. I think I had 2 contractions during the placement, then sweet relief!!!!! It. Was. Amazing!!!!!

It was 6:00 by this point and I wanted to rest. They let me rest for over an hour and then I was ready to push! About 20 minutes of pushing and he was born! 7:35 pm, 9lb4oz, 21.5 inches. He has lots of hair!

He pooped as soon as he was born and has no issues from his dilated bowel! So amazingly blessed!