Birth Story! Finally....

So, short story, Porter was born on June 21, 2010 at 2:36 PM weighing 6 lb 9 oz via induction.

Long story:
Because diet wasn't controling my late onset gestational diabetes, my doctor decided it was best to go ahead and iduce. I was 39 weeks 2 days at the start of the induction. We got to the hospital on Sunday June 20 at 3:00 PM. After all the paper work they started the IV, which was difficult since I was slightly dehydrated. Then, they started with a drug called misoprostol to ripen my cervix. Within 10 minutes of starting the miso, I began contracting. At this point I couldn't even feel them, but, they were being picked up by the monitors. My parents came up to the hospital to keep us company. They checked at 9:00ish PM and there wasn't much progress, so, they decided to go ahead and start the Pitocin at very low levels and slowly work up to higher levels.

They all suggested we get some sleep as I was expected to deliver late Monday afternoon. Ken tried to get comfortable on his little couch and I tried to sleep. The contractions were getting a little stronger at this point, but not painful. I was just a little uncomfortable and had to concentrate a little through them. Ken finally got to sleep around 10:50 while I watched TV. At 1:00 AM, I felt a slight pain/pop feeling and wondered what the heck that was. I decided I should pee before getting too comfortable. As soon as I stood up, I felt a gush. I called the nurse and told her my water broke. Ken heard this in his half asleep state and immediately jumped up and started looking around for the bags, ready to head to the hospital. He woke up after a second and realized we were already there. :) It was pretty funny.

After my water broke, the contractions suddenly became more painful than before. I tried to get comfortable and Ken tried to sleep, but it was impossible. We called our doula, Ellen, at around 5:00 AM. I was able to get in the jacuzzi at the hospital. The warm water and jets felt really good, but I just couldn't get into a comfortable position. I was surprised at how bad my back was beginning to feel. I had expected a lot more pain in the front than the back. Things began to get fuzzy at this point. Ellen and Ken were helping put pressure on my lower back during the contractions. I couldn't do anything during the contractions but breathe. People would talk to me and I would just completely ignore them.

The plan was to call my parents at around 7:30 - 8:00 when my Dr. arrived because the original idea was that we would probably wait on the pitocin until that point. However, when that time came, I wouldn't let Ken leave my side. Poor guy had a tough time even breaking away to use the restroom. The contractions starting coming closer together and often times coming one right after the other. We knew things were progressing well and my back pain was getting worse and worse. At one point they finally checked and I had progressed very well, but, Porter had turned and was now facing my stomach. That is NOT the best way to deliver a baby. Luckily, Ellen was there to suggest some positions to encourage Porter to turn. After what seemed like hours, they checked me again and I had dilated to 7 cm and he had turned! At that point, I called "Uncle" and got the epidural.

After getting the epidural, I was able to sleep for about an hour and a half and then I was fully dilated and ready to go. It took about an hour of pushing, but he finally arrived. He had quite the cone head and a big bruise on top, but was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. He immediately initiated me into mommy-hood by pooping on me and then when Ken was able to hold him, he peed on him.

It was the most tiring, painful experience of my life, but so completely worth every minute. I'm so happy that I was able to hold out on the epidural long enough to get Porter to turn and face the right direction. Looking back, I probably could have made it the rest of the way without the epidural, but it was good to get that little bit of sleep in. I was exhausted!

We are enjoying every minute with Porter. He's so much fun and gets cuter every day!