Baby Jackson is here!!!

As many of you know I was scheduled to check in to the hospital on Monday, April 6th for a morning induction. Upon arriving to the hospital Monday night the nursing staff was surprised by the amount of contractions I was already having and that I was just short of 2 dcm dilated. Shortly after, Baby Jackson's heart beat suddenly dropped for an unknown reason, which meant that if my contractions continued at the current pace, my doctor would be unable to induce me. Thankfully my contractions slowed down and I was able to recieve the pre-induction medication. Of course before the induction began, I decided I wanted to get a quick bit of "cardio" (or walking laps ar. ound the hospital) done. Right as I was finishing up my cardio (6 am), my water broke. At 6:15, the pitocin drip started and shortly after the doctor decided to give me the option to continue the drip or see if my body could take over on it's own. So I chose the latter and started walking the halls of the hospital. At 11 am, my doctor decided to start the pitocin again because my body as not progressing on it's own. According to Greg, within a half hour I was already considering an epidural and by 11:50 I was quoted saying "I hate pitocin!" during my strong contractions that were occuring every 2 1/2 minutes. At noon, I decided I was going to get my cervix checked and then decide on whether I wanted to get an epidural, but after a few killer contractions I was asking for the epidural. I quickly realized what other's perception of my strength, determination and pain tolerance really didn't matter all that much nor should it be solely based on my birthing experience (hey we all know I push myself to the max at the gym constantly!). 15 minutes later, I was a happy camper with the epidural in place! Just moments later, I was able to get my cervix checked and learned I was in so much pain prior to the epidural because I had dilated to 8 cms from 3 cms within an hour. By 5 pm (5 hours after the epidural), I was at 10 cm and began pushing!! Upon pushing it was discovered that Baby Jackson was transverse meaning he was facing the side of my pelvis rather than my bottom. After a few hours of pushing, we were able to get Baby Jackson to get himself into the correct position. After a total of 4 and a half hours of pushing my doctor explained to me that Baby Jackson was not descending further into my pelvis primarily because he simply could not fit. He decided to give me one more final push and use the vaccuum and if that didn't work, we were going to be heading into an emergency c-section. Baby Jackson did not move with the vaccuum, so immediately I was rushed in for an emergency c-section right as my epidural started to wear off and I could feel the pressure of contractions much, much stronger! At 10:09 pm, Baby Jackson was born weighing 6 pounds, 13 ounces and measuring 20 inches. Unfortunately, I continued to experience complications due to 4 and a half hours of pushing, when the doctor noticed my bladder was extremely swollen and bleeding. So I had the wonderful experience of being left in the OR when Greg and my mom followed the baby into the nursery while my doctor and myself waited for the urologist to check to make sure no permanent or serious damage was done to my bladder. Thankfully, it was determined my body was just extremely swollen due to the 17 hours of labor with 4 1/2 hours of pushing. I amabsolutely exhausted from this experience, but amthrilled to finally have Baby Jackson with us. It was well worth it!!!