Okay, so I finally have a few free minutes to type this out. Sorry about the wall of text. My doctors decided that I needed to be induced Tuesday night, January 8th, because my blood pressure would not go down. They let me leave to get my stuff and just have a few free moments to myself before going back to the hospital, so I went out to eat and then got my stuff, my best friend, and the father of my baby. I arrived at the hospital at about 7:30 pm. I was nervous as hell, but also excited. My doctor checked my cervix, i was about 1 and 1/2 centimeters dilated so they put a pill in my cervix to soften it up. I wasn't allowed to move for about 2 hours. Near the end of those two hours I started having contractions. At first I thought I just had gas, because that's what it felt like. But they wouldn't stop. They checked me again and I was at about 3 cm. All through the night I kept having contractions, and it got so bad that at one point I asked for some morphine. They gave me a small amount, and although it didn't make the pain go away, it gave me that high/giggly feeling and I really couldn't care about the pain anymore. The father was there with me the whole time, laying in bed with me and holding me tight even though he got yelled at me for it. (Plus, he wanted to sleep and my best friend had stolen the recliner). I never did end up getting any sleep that night, and I was so grateful when they gave me the epidural in the morning. My anesthesiologist was really great and it didn't hurt a bit. That numbness was the best feeling ever, and I think I actually managed to get a little sleep. Since I wasn't in pain anymore, my SO went home to freshen up. I didn't mind, he lives right down the street from the hospital. At about noon they gave me the pitocin (sp?) so that we could speed things along. Soon, the contractions got worse, and I could somewhat feel them, even after two extra doses of the epidural. It felt like someone kicking me in the tailbone. About an hour later they checked me again, and said I was 5 cm. Woo-hoo! Halfway there, right? The pain in my tailbone kept getting worse though, and I told my nurse, who checked me again. It was about half an hour later and I was 8 cm and still progressing quickly! My SO wasn't back yet, so I called him, frantic, as they shut off the pitocin. He said that he would be back as soon as possible. From then until birth, I lost track of time. I remember soon getting the urge to push, and screaming that I needed to. That woke up my best friend, and she came over to me and I held her hand so tightly that I'm surprised it isn't bruised now. The doctor told me there was just a tiny bit of my cervix left, and to hold off on pushing just a few more minutes. My SO called, and I told him to hurry his ass up just as the doctor told me that it was okay to push. I was still on the phone when I started pushing, it hurt so bad but felt so relieving. I pushed a for a few minutes, and finally, my SO shows up only a couple minutes before little Jonathan starts crowning. He held my hand, told me I was doing great and encouraged me to push when I needed to. I remember that pushing out his head felt like fire. I screamed bloody murder, even though I had the epidural and the doctor put some numbing medication down there. Thanks to the numbness though, I didn't feel her have to cut me (stitches hurt by the way). Finally I pushed out his head. I screamed so loud I'm sure the whole hospital heard me. Two more pushes and he was out. I was so relieved, I couldn't stop smiling. My SO started crying. And right then, my family arrived. Little Jonathan Alexander was born 1/9/13 at 1:46 pm. He weighed 6 pounds, 11 ounces, and his apgar score was 9:9 :)