Hospital Birth at 37 weeks, Induction, High Blood Pressure

I had a very easy, wonderful hospital birth experience.

I wasn’t feeling well one day and went in to my doctor the day before my scheduled appointment. They took my blood pressure and it was 90/140. He made me lay down for a half hour and drink some water. When he checked again, my bp was 92/145. He checked me and I was already dilated at a 3..and I was only 36w6d.

He sent me to the hospital for monitoring. In the course of 2 hours, my bp went up to 96/150. I got the news that she had to come out sooner the later, as my bp was too high. I was scared. Her room wasn’t ready, my son had a T-Ball game the next day, my MIL who lives in VA hadn’t made travel arrangements yet, and my FIL was on a business trip in CA. Thankfully, they were both able to get on planes almost immediate to come.

The nurses started me on pitocin, while my husband made arrangements with my dad to watch our son. He called my mom and she drove (read:broke the speed limit) from the southern part of the state. I took the staydol and phenergen offered to me as I was already feeling very nauseated and my adrenaline was so high, I was shaking. It put me to sleep almost immediately. I slept through cervix checks, through my water being broken, and through my MIL getting there for the birth.

My doctor came and woke me up about 2 hours before my daughter got there. He asked if I was in pain, which I was, but I didn’t care. My BP was up to 104/169, and had been for the past couple of hours. He said I needed an epidural (which I had initially refused) or a c-section, because I was entering stroke territory. I got the epi and went back to sleep.

They woke me up to push, I pushed for 5 minutes, and my daughter was here!!! My husband never left my side, and my mom and mother in law sat in the window sill the whole time. It was a wonderful birthing experience!

My mom snapped this picture from the window sill, and I think it turned out beautiful! Thanks for letting me share.

*They had permission to do checks and break my water. My doctor was always very respectful of that.