So, I was induced on Halloween, and it worked! I had Amelia on 10/31/15 at 9:55 pm. She weighed 6 pounds 15 ounces and was 19.5 inches long. It really was amazing, and I am just ecstatic and freaked the heck out that they let me go home with a baby. A baby that I have to keep alive and healthy.

My husband, my mother and I went in to my induction at 7 am, and my sister who is a photographer met us about 2 hours later. My mother is a labor and delivery nurse so we came with bribery for the nursing staff in the form of food, which was well received. I had been at 3 cm and 80% effaced for about 2 weeks so they went straight to the pitocin starting at 4. Contractions ramped up a little but they just didn't hurt enough. They wanted to push me into breaking my water, but I wanted to wait until I saw a little more progress. They upped my dosage by 4's until I hit 20 and then by 2's until I hit 30. I stayed at that dosage for hours and the only progress I had made was to 4 cm. Pitocin barely did anything. After about 12 hours of this and only being a 4 cm I finally agreed to them breaking my water. My doctor decided to wait as she was about to go into a c section and wanted the anesthesiologist to be available immediately if I needed her. It was only supposed to be an hour, but ended up being 2 as another c section came up.

Finally at 9 pm she came in to break my water and things immediately started moving faster. I knew prior to this that I wanted an epidural so I asked for it immediately. It still took about 25 minutes to get the epidural set up and put in, and the contractions really really set in. They kept asking me if the epidural was working, and it never really did. I remember saying, "I thought this was supposed to help!" so they gave me a second dose pretty quick. The anesthesiologist kept explaining that the meds just couldn't catch up with the contractions and they were trying to get them there. My mother told my nurse to check me to see how far I had come and so she did. I remember the nurse saying, "she is complete and ready to push, we need to get everything ready." I was out of my head with the pain that wasn't being touched by the epidural and I felt like I had been reduced to my most elemental self. I had gone from 4 to 10 in 45 minutes or less, and I was freaking out.

They got everything ready and told me that they wanted me to do a test push. I wanted to tell them that I had changed my mind and that she could just stay inside me for a few more months, but I was too inside my own head to speak. My mom was on one leg and my husband on the other and they told me to give a test push. When I did, everybody started moving much faster. Apparently I pushed really well and she was coming even sooner than they thought. It was about that time that the epidural hit just enough to take the edge off of my pushing. I pushed for 3 contractions and out she came. My husband said it was creepy because I went completely silent while I pushed... I don't really know, I was too focused on counting to 10 for each push. From water breaking to delivery it was less than an hour. They put her on my chest and I was in love! I was totally high on endorphins and love and I did not even care that I had torn and by that point the epidural was in full effect and I could not feel the placenta or the stitches that they put in. Everybody cleared out pretty quick and the 5 of us got to spend time together. 10/10 would do again.

Here are a few pics, including one of the actual delivery! Amelia Ann!