Our birth story…
I was induced. That’s the story. Haha I’m kidding but my story isn’t as crazy or anything like most people. I had developed gestational diabetes and because of it I knew that I would give birth by 39 weeks (and because of IVF).
At the end of week 35, my blood pressure started to be all over the place which led me to the hospital to get monitored three times. After seeing my doctor at 36 weeks, we decided it would be best to induce me by 37 weeks to make sure the baby and I were okay. I was shocked that it would happen when the doctor mentioned it even though I knew it was coming. Like what do you mean I was going to meet my baby in one week?! I was excited and nervous.
We scheduled our induction and began labor prepping. I did everything possible to help dilation and maybe even going into labor on my own? Haha yeah nothing helped except that I went from barely a centimeter dilated to 2 by the time my induction came. We got checked into the hospital and got started on cytotec and the foley balloon. Let me start by saying that I prepped from 13 weeks and on for a unmedicated birth. My mom and I did a course for weeks to prepare me for this. Let me tell you about my friend the foley balloon. I asked for the epidural right when they inserted it lol. Did I get it right away? No haha but damn that foley balloon was hell. Like awful pain that I couldn’t believe. But it did go away after 20 min which was nice.
Foley got me to 4cm pretty quick and then I was moved to labor and delivery to start pitocin. I will say pitocin made me contract but the contractions weren’t bad at all. They were a few min aparte and the nurse was like “do you not feel that?”. I did but honestly just felt like pressure. I Honestly, thought to myself that if these were the contractions, I could make it with no epidural. LOL OH WAS I WRONG. When I got 25 cm, they wanted to move things along and they came in to break my water. The breaking of your water is probably the most painless thing in the whole labor process. Once my water was broken, those contractions one from 0 to 1000 real quick. It was unbelievable how awful the contractions were. I lasted about an hour before calling for an epidural.
Now let me tell you I was pretty bummed about this. I worked so hard the last few months to prepare myself, my mind, and my body to go unmedicated. As I walked around the labor, delivery room, trying to breathe through the contractions, sway, squad, and use my essential oils, I couldn’t believe that I could barely an hour. In that moment, though, all I could think about, was getting relief because those contractions were brutal. The anesthesiologist finally came in and gave me the epidural. Honestly, it was not bad at all. The only thing that hurt was The numbing shot that I got and other than that you feel very minimal pressure and that’s it. Within 20 minutes everything went away (mostly).
After that, I pretty much slept for a few hours, and the nurse kept coming in to check on me. Something seemed wrong. They had said that they thought that the baby was holding onto the court, because his heart rate crap dropping. So they wanted to try a few things to see if it could help his heart rate regulate before moving onto other options (aka c section). Amnioinfusion was done after my water broke because the babies heartbeat was dipping dangerously low. I have never heard of this being done but I am thankful for my nurses and doctors who did this. I was able to avoid a c section because of this. this allowed them to put water back in my uterus via catheter, so that the baby and the cord could loosen up. That did the trick and his heart rate seem to regulate. After this, there was a lot of nausea caused by the epidural, which I was given lots of anti nausea medication (which did not help). I laid in bed, doing the peanut ball and changing positions and before I knew it I was already 7 cm.
Honestly, from 7 to 9 was probably an hour. I’m going to be honest A lot of of my labor is a blur haha. I mentioned to the doctor that I felt some pressure And they checked me, and I was fully dilated. Baby was still sitting a little bit high, so they had me sit in the throne position to kinda help gravity, lower him. Before I knew it, it was go time! This led to practice pushing with the Nurse for a few minutes to get the baby under my pelvic bone and within five minutes. She had told me to stop because the head was right there, and she had call for the doctor to rush in. My doctor was on the first floor, and I kept telling the Nurse that I had major urge to push where she called the doctor again, and within 30 seconds, the doctor came in Running into the room. Before you know what she was dressed, and talking me through the last few pushes.
I didn’t know till afterward was that the babies cord was wrapped around his neck twice. So right before my final push she had me stop so that she could get a cord from his neck. Within a minute she told me to look down push, and he came out. 13 minutes pushing and my baby boy was here. Cue happy tears.
WHAT AN OUR OF BODY EXPERIENCE. Everything happened so quickly and before i knew it my baby boy was on my chest and we were all crying. Thank you Jesus for a fairly easy labor. What’s wild is that while the baby is on your chest, they are working on you down there and it was just a wild thing to me haha. I was bruised on my stomach from the checks they kept doing. Major PTSD from those stomach pushes they did.
Within the hour of giving birth, I was sitting on my bed chowing down some Mc Ds because this gestational diabetes mama needed a coke haha. Baby boy was healthy and perfect and it was truly the best day of my life 🤍 My mom and hubby were the best support team a girl could have.
I was in the hospital for two nights before being sent home. I honestly could’ve left the first night but it’s okay haha. I hate hospitals to be honest. But that’s it. That’s our birth story. Our perfect angel baby was born and he’s more perfect than I could’ve imagined 🤍
Love yall.