i started having cramping around 10:30 on November 10th, which was my due date, and by the time…

i started having cramping around 10:30 on November 10th, which was my due date, and by the time 12:30 rolled around they were regular contractions, but still mild, about every 4 minutes so we went into the hospital. the intensity and time picked up and they became sporadic in both. they ended up having to give me pain meds to let me sleep. turns out they were going crazy because of exhaustion and dehydration. so after sleep and IV they spaces out and became consistent in intensity. they gave me the first set of meds at 4 am, after they admitted me stretched me from 2cm to 3cm. and I woke back up right before 7am with the meds wearing off and in pain again, they then stretched me from a 3 to a 4, then gave me some more meds to sleep. by 9 my body had dilated, on its own to a 5 and they decided to start me on pitocin. so they started that and another bag of fluid, then at 9:30 I got my epidural which I ended not regretting AT ALL. it made the next 7 hours of labor durable. i could finally lay on my side like I was supposed to, which I couldn't before because of the pelvic pressure. they checked me around 12 and I was at a 7. but they had to take me off the pitocin because between that and my body eventually kick starting into labor the contractions became too intense and his heart rate was shooting up to 200 and down to 80 in a matter of seconds. so when they took it off he got better, but I could only lay on my left side because for some reason he would do the same thing whenever I laid on my right side. at 2 I was at 8 cm and by 3 I was 9, and then at 4 I was 10 and started pushing. i had him at 4:59 and he weighed 8 pounds exactly and was 21 inches long! 💙 my sweet little love