MOC 11 Day 14- My first Labor and Delivery

Supplies:
Lynn Grieveson- Messy Pockets 5-template https://the-lilypad.com/store/Messy-Pockets-No5.html
Sahin Designs- Hello Baby- papers and elements https://the-lilypad.com/store/Hello-Baby-Bundle-SD.html
Journaling:
I went in on a Monday morning (January 3rd) to be induced to give birth to my first baby. I was 41 weeks and 2 days pregnant and SO ready to have my baby. My parents and husband were with me, and I was nervous and excited. I had planned to have a drug-free delivery after going to birthing classes at our church with a midwife who taught us Lamaze breathing and relaxation techniques. After checking in to the hospital, I got settled into my labor and delivery room. The nurses started me on Cytotec to ripen my cervix, which was still tightly closed. I got the chance to walk around the halls on the labor floor and spent a few hours walking with Jeff and my mom. In the afternoon, I saw a woman walking with Taco Bell and was tempted to chase her down for some food- I was getting to be super hungry but not being allowed to eat made me frustrated. I was started on Pitocin at some point as the Cytotec had ripened my cervix enough. The day dragged on, and I was still only at 2 centimeters or so. Mom and Dad went back to our house after 9 pm, and the night was pretty awful- lots of long contractions that didn't seem to be doing much. On the morning of the second day (January 4th), I was pretty out of things- I was in so much pain and still not progressing. At one point a midwife told me that my baby was probably close to 10 pounds, which scared me a lot. I had seen my friend Ursula have to have a forceps delivery with her first baby a year before and was terrified I would need forceps to get my baby out as well. Jeff was awesome, trying to help me stay calm and breathe through contractions. I was a mess, wanting to just ask for a c-section to end the endless pain and fear. At one point, I bit Jeff on the arm when he reached across me during a contraction. Not my best day! Around noon, I was finally 4 centimeters dilated and I was ready for something to change- I told Jeff that I needed to get the epidural. The anesthesiologist came in to get my epidural set up and I could relax for the first time since the Pitocin had started. At this point, I was no longer able to leave the bed, since the epidural had numbed me from my ribs down to my toes. I was ok with that, as I wanted to rest. I took a nap for a while and woke up to lots of pressure and a feeling like I needed to push. The nurses checked and I was finally fully dilated and ready to push out the baby! What a relief it was to be able to do something finally! I pushed for about an hour and delivered my son, Joshua, at 6:10 pm on Tuesday, January 4th 2000. He weighed 7 lbs 14 oz, so was much smaller than predicted. It was a long difficult couple of days but so worth it in the end!