Induced - June 2nd

My doctor had been quite confused over how far along I truly was since I had recently moved which required for me to change doctors. I was not very satisfied with the care I was receiving at my previous doctor's office. The nurses were quite lazy and I would always end up waiting for extremely long periods of time, as if these girls got a kick out of watching people wait and get frustrated.

Even with the number of ultrasounds I was prescribed, my doctor still went ahead and would call my due date by the date of my last menstrual period that I had given him off the top of my head. When I was first asked the question, I truly had no idea when my last menstrual period was and didn't know it was so important to determine my due date. I just popped some random date out and my doctor went along with it like it was written in stone.

My ultrasounds always determined that I was way farther ahead than my last menstrual period date would suggest. Instead of changing my due date, this clinic just told me it didnt matter anyway, the baby would come when he is ready. No matter whether you are a new mom, or have 16 children already, when it comes to your baby you want to know everything for a fact or at least as close to fact as you can get, so this was very discouraging to hear, and really made me believe that these people didn't care.

Long story short...I changed doctors and have been extremely happy with the change! My new doctor - Dr. Arunakul, at the Naples Women's Center, is an incredibly intelligent, caring, and sweet man. The entrie staff there is also the most wonderful group of people you could meet.

Finally, my due date was changed due to my ultrasound and how developed the baby was, and we were on our way to inducing me on June 1st to make sure that the baby would not be too big.

Inducing labor is when the process of labor is started with the help of medication.

First thing the nurse does to induce labor is put a small string with medication on it around your cervix. This may feel uncomfortable, but in no way does it hurt.

Then an IV is injected into the top of your hand and taped down so it is stable. More medication is fed to you intravenously. This medication also helps your cervix dialate and prepare for your baby to make his or her entrance into the world.

Jerrid just had knee surgery a few days before, so his mobility was very limited. We were quite a pathetic couple, lol.

I felt fine for the first couple of hours and even got a nice nap in...until the contractions started to get very tight. I was induced at 8pm, and by 2am...I was in pain! It felt like extremely bad cramps but they felt as though they were throughout my entire lower torso. I even felt them in my butt.

I knew it was time for me to get some pain meds. The nurse would not get me an epidural yet because they usually wait until you are 3 cm dialated at least. One thing I knew not to do was wait too long or else it could be too late to have an epidural.

Some people strongly disagree with the use of an epidural because they believe that it is harmful to the baby. Tests of neonatal neurobehavior (tests performed to assess activity of newborn) after exposure to various methods of pain-free child birth have produced conflicting results. In recent years, however, the doses of local anesthetic medications and opioids used for providing child birth pain relief via epidural analgesia have gradually decreased, and there is now general consensus that within the dose range presently en vogue, and under normal circumstances, the effects of the local anesthetics on the new born baby have little or no clinical significance.

Getting the epidural itself was not painful at all. Personally, the IV in my hand hurt more and was a major pain throughout my entire stay at the hospital since it is so unsturdy and I kept tugging on it by accident even causing it to bleed.

By the afternoon, I was dialating quite quickly and shortly my water broke. An hour or so after taht my nurse even told me she would page my doctor and get him on his way over here. When she was off the phone and checked me...I was ready to push. With word from my doctor to get the process going, I was pushing. My doctor showed up, checked me out, and said "Oh, the baby is right there" and with 10 minutes, out came baby J.J., screaming!

Jerrid D'Won Gaines Jr. Born June 2nd at 2:10 pm - 8 pounds 21 inches long

Looking into those eyes was the most magical thing I have ever experienced. Thats when you really learn what true love is.

He already looks so different than this and it has only been a month.