Noah Jered Jacobson- Welcome to the world :)

It's taken a bit of time for me to get to this! Saturday the 22nd I got a call from my dr to confirm that I was going to be induced that day due to Preeclampsia. My blood pressure was too high, I had low blood platelets and there was too much protein in my urine. Even though it was possible I could go to my due date without complcations my dr didn't want to risk it since it can get bad without warning. I went into the hospital thinking I was going to be induced with pitocin. I did not want that at all. I really wanted to go as naturally as possible. Once my OB got to the hospital I asked her about my other options and she said pitocin was my only option. That or not getting induced and risking the possibility of stroke or seizure. She left the room to let me, my husband and my doula chat for a moment. When she came back in she let me know the nurses had told her she was being mean and they thought we should try misoprostol first, but warned me that it's in pill form so they cannot control dosage and contractions could possibly get out of hand. But with this I would be able to walk around the room and labor where as with the pitocin I would be stuck on the monitors and basically attached to wires the whole time and have to be stuck close to the hospital bed not able to labor in the tub or anything. I chose the misoprostol. The first dose wasn't bad, but I only dialated from the 2 cm I was to 3 cm in the first 4 hours. Luckily though my dr was able to break my water. I did not originally want any of this... but if I didn't progress enough we would be moving on to pitocin. The second dose worked much better. I was able to labor in the tub a bit. It helped for awhile but then the contractions started getting way too strong and too close and there wasn't enough room in the tub for me to move and I was starting to have back labor. One drawback to being tall! By the time they checked me after time was over on the second dose I was dialated to 6 cm. They were worried though, that I still wasn't progressing enough and called my OB. While we were waiting for my OB to call back I ended up dialating to 8 cm! So obiously I didn't even need the 3rd dose, and definitely didn't need pitocin! lol. I'm not sure what point I ended up getting the epidural. It really was all a blur...I just remember at one point the contractions being so bad that I didn't have a chance to breath between them let alone rest and it was around the point during which I didn't seem to be making any progress, and I was feeling extremely discouraged. The epidural was the best decision I made in this case. I do still wish that I could have gone completely natural but due to the circumstances I am glad I got the epidural and was able to rest. Once I got it my blood pressure went down so that was a plus and I was able to basically sleep up until it was time to push. I still felt the contractions in my right hip, and it was so intense in that one hip that I can't imagine what those contractions would have felt like full force. At around 8-8:30 am I began pushing, following my body's cues. My beatiful baby boy Noah said hello to the world at 9:43 AM January 23rd. He was 8 lbs 20.5 inches long with a 15" head circumfrence. My dr was shocked at the size of his head! lol. Said it was a record for her. When she pulled him out she placed him on my chest and then they let DH cut the cord. While she delivered the placenta and stitched me up(I had two tears) they took Noah to the sink and DH helped to give him his first bath. My doula was kind enough to grab my camera to take a few pictures for me since I was unable. So the birth didn't go along with my birth plan much at all. But I also wasn't expecting to be induced when I wrote it. Life happens but in the end I have the most beautiful baby boy in the world, and I wouldn't want to change any part of that story. We had to stay at the hospital for two nights for observation partly to make sure my blood pressure stayed down and partly due to Noah having jaundice. We came home Tuesday afternoon as a family, I love finally being able to say that we are a family! :)