This is really long and mostly boring. But I wrote it for my own record as well as this so I included all the details, including everything leading up to the birth.

And in case you just want the important bits:
TLDR: We had a healthy baby girl born on February 20th. Her name is Felicity. She was 6 pounds, 14 oz and 49cm long. She's amazing! Pictures in second post.

On Tuesday morning I went to my regular prenatal check. My blood pressure was high. It had been high on previous occasions but had always come down with additional checks. This time it wouldn't budge. My OB sent me to the hospital for monitoring. At the hospital it continued to climb and they tested for signs of per-eclampsia. I had no symptoms of that but the BP was steadily getting worse. At first the doctor told me I would be able to go home with a prescription for medicine but at the last check it was above her acceptable range. She mentioned inducing labor but I told her I would rather try other options first.

The doctor decided I would be admitted and given medication and monitored. She couldn't tell me how long for and that really bummed me out. The thing that sucked most about being in the hospital is that Luke had to leave at night. I was not dealing well with that. We've had plenty of time apart but I've never been admitted to a hospital before and it was...I guess I can admit it was scary. And uncomfortable. I was in the post delivery area so there were moms and newborns all around me screaming. I got zero sleep that night. At about 1am a couple of doctors came in to talk to me about induction. They basically said my blood pressure was so high (and the medication wasn't working at this point,) I was at risk for having a stroke or causing harm to the baby. I asked them what would happen if it stabilized. They basically said I would either be kept for an undetermined amount of days and still be encouraged to induce, or IF they let me go home I would be at the hospital every day getting monitored. And still asked to induce. So I told them that if it all ends the same way, to just get it over with and induce me. I didn't want to spend days and days in the hospital prior to giving birth only to end up with what I didn't want in the first place. They were pretty much ecstatic that I caved and that annoyed me. They said they had a spot for me in the AM.

The next morning I got taken to the delivery suite where I waited. And waited. Luke joined me and we just spent the morning staring at the walls as there's no TV in those rooms. Finally a doctor came in (a different one) and said they were too busy and they would have to wait until the afternoon. By this time my blood pressure had stabilized so I was no longer a high priority. I was annoyed but OK.

Side note: Induction is normally a two step process if your body is unprepared for labor. First they put a gel on your cervix to get it ready, then they start the contraction inducing drugs. The gel part can take a day. Sometimes more. Since I was high risk now, they were unwilling to have me go into labor overnight if it could be prevented. Apparently the doctors are on call at that point, and not on hand. It's only midwives. So that means I'd be having the gel one day, and actually laboring the next. So we were looking at a two day process if my cervix wasn't ready.

Any way. Afternoon rolls around and guess what? Still too busy. Now they tell me I won't be induced that day after all, it will be the next day. I lost it at that point. I started sobbing and having a complete meltdown. I couldn't bear the thought that I would have two more nights before even getting to have my baby. Poor Luke. I've cried lots to him but never like that. I was completely unable to control myself. Looking back, I realize it's not the worst thing that could have happened. But at the time all I wanted was out of there. I hadn't slept, I was emotional, it was terrible. And the midwives were trying to comfort me by telling me that it was better to give baby more time to come on her own. Like I didn't know that! I never wanted to be induced but I was talked into it. Then after talking me into it they don't do it any way. I felt like I was being held hostage. I begged the doctor to let me go home. I threw out all kinds of scenarios. I said I'd check my blood pressure every hour and come in if was too high. Luke asked if I could at least go home for the night and come back in the morning. She said no. She said I could check myself out against medical advice if I wanted, but that's it. But I knew I couldn't do that because if anything happened to the baby I would never forgive myself.

So I was resigned and moved back to the post natal ward. That night the midwife offered to see if she could get me some sleeping tablets so I could at least get some rest. I agreed. The doctor ended up bringing them to me and apologized profusely for what happened. She said I'd be first priority in the morning. 6 am they'd come get me she said! I was suspicious but of course I was hoping.

Next morning, 6am and nothing. 7am...8am.....Finally a midwife comes in and says they're busy. Again. Which I figured seeing as how no one had come in at all. But she said she'd spoken to the doctors and the plan was that if they didn't induce me that day, they would let me go home with the agreement that I come back the next day (Friday) for monitoring, and then be induced on Saturday. She said that was the most likely scenario, seeing as how there were many people ahead of me in priority. I agreed. I'd have agreed to anything to be able to go home at that point.

Then something shocking happened. A doctor came in two hours later and said things had moved faster than they planned and they would be inducing today! Like now! I was still skeptical. I was like yeah...I'll believe it when I'm in labor. But she took me to delivery suite and did an internal. And then I got my second good news of the day. I was already dilated to a two so I could skip the gel. She would be breaking my water and starting the drip. I would be having my baby TODAY!

Breaking my water hurt like hell. She asked if I wanted the gas (nitrous) while she did it and I declined. But I was wishing I had as it took longer than expected and it was just awful. And when I looked at the hook after she pulled it out it was just dripping in blood. I hadn't expected that, I'm not sure why.

Next another doctor came to hook up the cannula. She put it in one vein and it didn't work so she had to redo it. Besides hurting, it kind of sucked because the vein she ended up putting it in was farther up. That meant I couldn't really use my right hand to do much as it yanked it around. Then the drip of syntocinon was started, along with antibiotics as I was GBS positive.

There were lots of reasons why I hadn't wanted to be induced. Lots of times induction leads to other interventions including c-sections. Also-the pain. The synthetic drug makes your uterus contract more aggressively than it would naturally. I hadn't wanted an epidural but since I was going the induction route, I figured I would end up with one. But I still wanted to hold out if I could.

At first the contractions weren't too bad. I could breathe through them and was able to talk as well. After about two hours the midwife turned the dosage of the syntocinon up and they started to get more intense. I asked for the gas and she started it at the lowest level. I'm not entirely sure if the gas was actually doing much or if it was just the act of having something to do, but it took the edge off. For awhile. Then the contractions started hitting harder and faster. A common effect of the drug is that contractions can come one on top of each other, with almost no break. That's what started happening. It got unbearable quickly after that. The syntocinon dosage was upped and upped (it has to be to work) and the pain and pressure was intense. I had her turn the gas all the way up too but soon the contractions were so long and close together I was doing almost nothing but breathing in gas. It made me feel sick and really really high, but provided almost no pain relief. Because I was feeling a lot of pressure, she said she would do an internal soon. I told Luke that if I was nowhere close I was asking for an epidural because I was losing my ability to cope. The midwife came back and checked me and declared I was only about a 5. I told her I wanted an epidural. She said the recommended route was a pethidine injection first and then epidural, but wanted the doctor's opinion on my progress first so she left to get her. Then the doctor checked and came to the same conclusion as far as how dilated I was. She also found that baby was posterior (her back to my back) and her head was flexed. This makes labor harder and longer. It was also causing the pressure I was feeling even though I wasn't fully dilated. She agreed that the epidural was a good plan.