My due date was Tuesday March 22nd and I just knew I was never going to go into labor and was going to have be induced the following Monday. I was absolutely dreading the induction because as an L&D nurse, I've been told by numerous patients how much more painful the pitocin contractions are than regular labor and there's a significant increased risk of c-section in first time moms who are induced. Luckily I started having irregular but painful contractions at 5:30 Wednesday morning so I got up at 7:30, and starting timing them using my contraction timer app on my phone. That morning I cleaned the house and when Erik got up I told him I might be in early labor. Unfortunately throughout the day the contractions slowed down then stopped completely, so I went to my scheduled prenatal massage and then walked around WalMart for a while. Erik and I took two walks around the neighborhood that day to see if we could speed up those pesky contractions but to no avail. That night I made dinner and went to bed but I couldn't sleep. The contraction pain was tolerable but bad enough that I couldn't sleep.
Then at 2:00 that morning I woke up to seriously painful contractions, very different than what I'd been experiencing. I knew this had to be it but they were so irregular, ten minutes apart and I didn't want to go to the hospital until they were 5 minutes apart. Yes, even as an L&D nurse they would send me home if I wasn't dilated very much and having irregular contractions! I got up at 3:30 and called up to work to talk to my friend Brittainy and ask her what I should do. She told me to get in the shower and try a hot pack for my back. I don't know what the shower did but as soon as I got in there my contractions started coming every 5 minutes. I got out and waited until I'd had an hour of these and then woke Erik up and told him we were going to the hospital.
We made it up there around 6:00 and I had called ahead so all the girls at work knew I was coming. I was so nervous because I was hurting so bad and if I was still only dilated to a one I was gonna flip. Well it turns out I was a five! My mood immediately changed and they put me in a room and got me ready for my epidural. Now let me tell you I have helped with so many epidurals I can't even count them, but that is a weird experience when it's you on the other side! Around 8 that morning my doctor came in and broke my water and then they started a small amount of pitocin because my contractions had slowed down again. My friend Shawna was my nurse and my friend Lori came up to be with me and I felt so loved by all the staff on duty that day. I was able to relax and watch tv for a bit and then things started happening really fast.
I was dilated to a 9 around 11:30 but then Locke's heart beat went down a little and wouldn't come back up. I started to feel my contractions and they hurt so bad. All I could do was roll on my side and hold the bed rail and shake until the contraction was over. They called my doctor and had me start pushing soon after and thirty minutes later they laid this screaming baby on my chest!
I can't describe the feeling when Locke looked at me and Erik for the first time. It was like this baby knew me and knew I was his mom. I kept thinking he was so skinny, so when they said he was 8 pounds I was very surprised. We had the sweetest time afterwards with him skin to skin on my chest and just me and Erik in the room. I am so lucky that my coworkers/friends were able to be there and that everything turned out ok. We are so blessed!
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