At the 36 week appointment (December 22nd), Dr. Wilson said I was dilated a fingertip and was 70% effaced, so I was a great candidate for an induction. I reminded him I was really wanting to wait for him to come on his own. He said everything still looked great, so that was fine.
At the 37 week appointment (December 28th), I had slightly high blood pressure. He again mentioned I could schedule an induction, if I wanted, but he said everything looked fine and I could continue waiting. I had progressed to being dilated 1 cm and still 70% effaced.
At the 38 week appointment (January 4th), my blood pressure was high enough that they made me lie down for a few minutes and then re-check it. Thankfully, it went down! The nurse said I was lucky it went down or else I'd have been headed to the hospital!! I was dilated to a "loose 1 cm" and was 80% effaced. Dr. Wilson mentioned that if at Glenwood, he does inductions on Mondays and Thursdays and that I was far enough along that I could schedule an induction for the coming Monday, January 9th! I still wasn't ready for an induction though!
At the 39 week appointment (January 11th), I had Brandon come with me, because I felt like I'd have to pick a date for an induction the next week while I was at the appointment. Everything looked great still. I was dilated to 2 cm and 80% effaced. Dr. Wilson said we could schedule an induction for Monday, January 16th or Thursday, January 19th. Brandon really wanted me to schedule it for the 16th for a couple of reasons. First, it was MLK day, so he'd already be off work and wouldn't have to worry about anything work related that day. Second, it was sooner and he was ready to meet his son!! Dr. Wilson also liked the 16th better, because that was actually the due date they had on file for me at the office (the specialist had given me the 17th as the due date, so I'm not sure where the mix-up happened). We left the office with an appointment for the next week and no induction date set, but we were planning to discuss more that evening and call back tomorrow with a date.
After discussing extensively that evening, we decided to wait until the 19th for me to be induced. The entire pregnancy, I had prayed for two very specific things (in addition to having a healthy, happy, smart baby boy). First, I didn't want my belly button to pop out--thankfully, that didn't happen! I know, the whole belly button thing may need silly, but it's just weird looking to me when belly buttons are popped out for pregnant women (and yes, I realize that's not something I had control over, really). Apparently, I should have prayed not to get stretch marks because I got them everywhere. Second, I wanted to make it to my due date, the 17th. I was told throughout the pregnancy by several people that once I got close to my due date, I would change my mind. But that never happened. So, the 16th was out, in my mind, because it was before my due date! Brandon finally agreed to let me wait until the 19th, and I reminded him that we may be having a discussion that ended up not mattering at all because John Charles may choose to come before the 16th! I called the following morning (January 12th) and set up an induction for the next week.
Monday, January 16th
I began having cramps and not feeling so great throughout the day. We ate supper at my parents' house and I had a couple of contractions while we were there. They weren't super close, maybe 20-30 minutes apart at the closest. They continued sporadically throughout the night, but I definitely wasn't timing them. When I woke up to go to the restroom in the middle of the night, there was some blood. I decided to wait and see how I felt in the next hour or so before I woke up Brandon, but apparently I was fine, because I didn't wake up again until Brandon's alarm went off.
Tuesday, January 17th
I told Brandon what had happened through the night and he made me call the nurse, just to see what they suggested. They recommended that I go to Labor & Delivery just to check on everything and make sure the baby and I were both okay. I was at the hospital for about an hour. They confirmed that I was having contractions, but they were coming about every 10-12 minutes, so they weren't quite close enough. I was dilated 3 cm, so the nurse told me I was making progress. Everything looked good for both of us, so unless I wanted to be induced that day, I was fine to go home. We attended a meeting for the music department at church that evening. I was still having contractions, but they weren't anything anyone noticed!
Wednesday, January 18th
I had my 40 week appointment at 1:30 and everything looked good. I had been having contractions off and on all morning, but when I left the office at 2:15, I called my sister to confirm with her that I was for sure being induced the following morning at 5:00 AM. Dr. Wilson was planning to come break my water before 8:00 AM and then be ready to come back to deliver the baby, once I was ready. Anne was the only person (besides Brandon's partner at work) who we had communicated anything to regarding the induction. I wanted Anne to be there, and since she and Colton both had to ask off from work and had a 3.5 hour drive, I knew we had to give them notice!
While I was on the phone with Anne, I had several contractions. I called Brandon to let him know, and he told me to start timing them. Once I got home, I began timing them. They were coming every 7-10 minutes. My parents called and invited us to eat supper with them, but Brandon didn't think I'd be able to hide my contractions from them, if we went over there to eat (and he was so right!). They began getting closer together and more intense. We ate supper and decided to try to go to bed early, since we had to be at the hospital early the next morning.
I wasn't ever able to go to sleep that night. The contractions were still not close enough to go to the hospital, but they were definitely getting more painful. I decided to take a warm bath, to see if that would help me feel better. Brandon was able to sleep a little bit while I took a bath, and it did help the pain. However, after almost an hour of being in the bathtub, I was feeling uncomfortable! As soon as I got out of the bathtub, the contractions came back full force. I was in so much pain, but they still weren't coming every 3-5 minutes! Brandon said I screamed at him a few times. He told me to try to be a little quieter--he was worried our neighbors would call the cops thinking something was wrong at our house!! I cried some, too, and mainly was quite miserable there for a little bit. Contractions are no joke!!
Thursday, January 19th
At 12:30 AM, I made Brandon call the L&D nurses to see what they said about the pain. The nurse told me I could come in early, if I wanted to, and they could give me some medicine for the pain. I decided to wait a little longer, because I hated feeling like a wimp. After we hung up the phone with the nurse, I started timing them again and they had dropped to every 6 minutes. I decided to go ahead and take a shower and wash my hair and start getting ready. While taking a shower, the contractions were not as painful and only lasted about 30 seconds, but they started coming every 1-2 minutes. As soon as I got dressed, we loaded the car and headed to the hospital because they were still coming every 2-3 minutes. We arrived at the hospital at 2:30 AM and they got the room ready for me. They hooked me up to the monitors and checked me. Since I was at 4 cm and having contractions less than every 5 minutes, she said I could go ahead and get the epidural, if I wanted one. Brandon was so grateful I decided to get one, because he felt terrible watching me be in so much pain. The anesthesiologist arrived at 4:00 AM and by 4:10 AM, I had my epidural in place. He said I had a "good back," so that's why it went so quickly. Brandon and I both fell asleep at this point, finally getting a little bit of sleep for the night!
The nurse checked me at 6:00 AM and I was at 6 cm. While she was checking me, my water broke! Once the nurse left, I told Brandon my water had broken, but apparently he was still asleep because later, he didn't remember me telling him. Dr. Wilson came in at 6:30 AM to see how I was progressing. The first thing he said when he walked in: "You got what you wanted--no induction! You were right about wanting to wait until Thursday, because he's decided to come on his own with out the induction!" He said everything looked great and I was dilated to 7 cm and that he would come back to check on me in an hour, after his 7:00 AM meeting. The nurse called him at 7:45 AM to let him know that I was almost ready to deliver! He had been eating breakfast in the hospital cafeteria, so he arrived just a few minutes later. They got everything ready and then I began pushing. Thankfully, I had a great epidural, so I didn't feel much of anything. I started pushing and the nurse kept telling me how great of a job I was doing. She was so encouraging--I honestly had no idea if the pushes were effective, since I couldn't feel anything! I did end up having to have an episiotomy, and after about 10 minutes of pushing, at 8:25 AM, John Charles made his arrival! They immediately handled him to me and let Brandon cut the cord. I was shocked when Brandon took the scissors and cut the cord, because I had asked him about that beforehand and he was not at all interested in doing that! John Charles was wide awake right after birth--his eyes were so big and blue! We were both so excited to finally have our baby boy healthy and in my arms after such a long wait!!! Brandon immediately sent out a text message to our families letting them know they could come to the hospital.
After the hour of skin to skin time (it flew by so quickly!), Brandon got to hold John Charles and walk him out to show our families and then head to the nursery with him. All four grandparents and my MamMaw were there anxiously waiting to see the new baby. The nurse took care of measuring and weighting him and also made footprints of his huge feet.
People had told me I needed to be prepared for anything, because it doesn't usually go as planned. I wanted to go into labor naturally (no induction), and I wanted it to be just Brandon and myself at the hospital (no crowd waiting in the waiting room). Thankfully, it happened pretty much exactly as I wanted it to! I enjoyed getting to spend time with Brandon and not have to worry about updating anyone while I was in labor. After a little over 18 hours of labor (14 of which were without an epidural), we had our perfect baby boy in our arms.
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