On Monday 11/11, I went into the midwife for my 39 week checkup. When they checked my blood pressure, it was through the roof, so I was sent to the lab for bloodwork, then to triage to wait for the results. As it turns out, I had preeclampsia and my kidneys weren't doing so well. At this point I was told I was being induced, which was very hard for me to hear. I had planned the perfect natural water birth with zero complications. As I quickly learned, labor is very unpredictable and things don't always go as planned. At 11am I was admitted, and at noon they started using miso to induce me (a little pill that they put inside your vagina next the the cervix). I was told that they would do 1 pill every 4 hours, and that it could take up to 6 pills...I was prepared for a very long night. After the first two rounds, nothing had changed. Prior to being induced, I was 1.5cm and 80% effaced. 5 minutes after they inserted the 3rd dose, the contractions began coming hard and long. It was awful. I was determined to go natural, so I stuck it out. Active labor began at midnight. By 5am, the contractions were so horrifically strong that the nurses and midwives could hear me screaming all the way at the end of the hall of the hospital, and I truly thought I was going to pass out. Inducing is rough! After crying hysterically over my "weakness", I asked for fentanyl. They warned me that I could only have 2 doses. The first does was glorious for 10 minutes, then wore off. The 2nd dose did nothing. Finally, I asked for the epidural. Well...turns out they wanted to do bloodwork before they would give it to me. An hour later, the bloodwork came back and they called the anesthesiologist. 45 minutes AFTER that, he came in to give me the epidural. My husband asked the midwives if they should check me before giving it to me, and they didnt. Right after the epidural was in, they checked me and I was 8.5cm...I was so close. This was upsetting but I got over it. It was sweet relief. It was great. They did the lowest dose and gave me a button to push to monitor how much I had, so that at the end I could stop it and focus on pushing and feeling. After 22 hours of labor, 12 hours of active labor, and 2 hours of pushing, my little baby boy came out. He was 6lb even, 18.5 inches long...my little peanut. The doctors had warned us that the magnesium I was given for the preeclampia would sedate him, and we had NICU in the room ready for him. He came out SCREAMING mad and healthy, so they weren't needed. Oddly enough, the NICU team tried saying that I must have had my dates wrong and I wasn't as far along as I thought because of his size...but I know the EXACT day I ovulated, so they were wrong. Crowning was awful, and the ring of fire was very excruciating. I remember telling the midwife I didn't think he would be able to come out...I was almost certain he wouldn't fit. I'm lucky to have avoided a c-section, as they kept threatening it. I was certain they were going to do it, but by some miracle the midwives allowed me to continue laboring and have my baby vaginally. I'm sorry if this story is all over the place, I'm extremely sleep deprived and I don't remember a great deal of labor (nature's way of protecting me and making sure I have another one!) Here is my handsome little man!