Labor and Delivery: Nothing Can Prepare You!

When i first found out i was pregnant, i was overwhelmed with thoughts and fears, but i soon tried to stop worrying so much, even though that's totally impossible ! I kind of just figured that there was no point to worrying and stressing about labor and delivery, when it was going to happen anyway and i had very little control !! I went to lamaze and educated myself well through books, other peoples personal experiences and lots of questions to my doctors. As my due date of July 30th approached, i was sure my baby boy would be born any day ! Of course my due date came and went, the first thing i hadn't fully prepared myself for ! Even when the baby was late, i was sure i would go into labor at any time, the second thing i hadn't fully prepared myself for ! So, i was facing an induction, the third thing i was not prepared for !! So, my induction was scheduled for 8 days past my due date. I didn't know to much going in, my doctors kind of just said to show up at the hospital at 7pm. I arrived at the hospital, got changed, got blood drawn, had my IV put in, and received Cervadil overnight. Sleeping was impossible, i was so uncomfortable. So, Saturday morning rolled around and i had dialated 2-3 centimeters. My contractions started to get pretty bad around 9am. I showered and around 10am i received Pitocin. My contractions got worse, but i was trying to hold off on an Epidural so i got Staydol through my IV, which i do not recommend b/c it wasn't enough to take the pain away and it made me feel high. Around 2pm, i gave in and got an Epidural, b/c of the pain but also b/c i was exhausted ! By the way, the Epidural is not as terrible as you hear, pretty simple actually and mine worked perfectly ! Suddenly, a few hours later, at about 5pm, i started to shake uncontrollably, which i thought meant something was wrong, but my nurse came in acting very excited and informed me that that is fairly normal and probably meant i was transitioning. Sure enough, i was 10 cm dialated and ready to push ! Pushing was very hard, i had to do it for an hour and a half. I got sick and had to vomit which made me, for a second, think i wasn't going to be able to do it ! But, att 6:58 pm, the love of my life came into this world, Braeden Robert weighing in at 10 lbs. 2 ozs. !!! The birth process was an incredible experience. My body was very beat up, but that heals. I would do it again in a second because he is the greatest thing in the world. It wasn't how i thought it would be for the 9 months leading up to it, but i wouldn't change it for the world !