LO is seven months, but I like reading birth stories, so I though I would share mine.

At my 39 week appointment, by OB scheduled an induction for the following Wednesday due to PIH. I really did not want an induction, so I was upset. She did say that she thought there was a good chance I would go into labor on my own before then.

Saturday I worked at home, and e-mailed my boss what I had finished up, just in case. I was tired, but wanted to go to the movies, because it was my last weekend before the baby. I planned to go the next day, too.

I went to bed at 10, and woke up at 2 am to use the bathroom, which was pretty normal for me. While on the toilet, I noticed a little bloody gush. I called my OB's office, and they said to go to L&D.

We got to the hospital around 3 am, and by then I was pretty sure my water had broken, because it gushed when I got out of the car. In L&D they confirmed that my water broke, so I stayed there. My contractions were just starting, but not at all painful. It took two painful tries to check my dilation, but I was at a 4. They started monitoring. The on-call doctor checked in on me.

At about 6 am I was dilated to a 6, and my contractions were only mildly painful, much less painful than period cramps, and I was not at 5-1-1 yet. The OB said because I was progressing so quickly, I should get an epidural if I wanted one. I did get one. The first try the local anesthesia did not work, but they gave me another shot, and it was fine.

The epidural did stall labor, so the on-call OB went home around 7 am. I am not sure about the time frame, but I slowly dilated to an 8, where I stalled. I got some pitocin to speed up my contractions.

At this point my epidural was very uneven, one side was very numb, but the other side, which LO was almost entirely on, was quite painful. I tried not to press the button for more epidural because I was nervous about stalling labor further, but I did eventually. I started feeling a lot of "pressure." The pressure was at least as painful as the contractions, only it did not go away. Because they wanted me to labor down, they gave me a bolus, and it got a little better.

Around 1 pm I started pushing. I was getting lightheaded when I started pushing, so they gave my oxygen. The pushing was not fun. The blood pressure cuff kept going off while I was trying to push, I hated that thing. After I had been pushing close to an hour, I was making enough progress that they called the on-call OB. I had to wait until she got there to push in earnest. I gave birth after an hour and a half of pushing. The on-call OB gave me an episiotomy without asking/telling me, which I was upset at at the time. DH said he thought it was the right call, and he had the better view. In retrospect, my recovery was so easy, I can't really complain.

I thought I would get skin-to-skin right away, but they measured and cleaned up LO first. The on-call OB stitched me up. She thought it was amusing that I found it painful when she touched me with gauze, even though I did not feel the stitches themselves. Overall, I wish my OB had been able to deliver, but I can't really complain.

The wait to hold him was really hard for me, although it was probably not a long time. He was 7 lb 15 oz and 21 1/4". I tried to breastfeed, but was not successful right away. I was worried I would not be able to breastfeed, but it turned out okay, and at 7 months I am EBF with solids.