Our birth story

For the amount of times that I’ve told this story, you’d think I’d be sick of it by now. But, I love reminiscing about the story behind how I brought my little honey into the world. God really showed out when He designed women… we’re extraordinary beings. I have always been nervous about childbirth, and once I was two weeks away from my due date, the anxiety kicked in. For some reason, I experienced women telling me how terrible their experience was and the negativity was overwhelming. I get that not every single experience is unicorns and rainbows, but telling someone who is expecting their FIRST child that your childbirth experience nearly killed you… not a good idea. Much like unsolicited advice, don’t do it. Anyway, my due date was Thursday, January 31 and everything started that Tuesday morning. 

5:00 a.m.  [tuesday]

I wake up with a strong need to pee, which is nothing new to a pregnant woman. When I was washing my hands, I felt a little bit of liquid just trickling down my legs. I immediately remembered being told that not everyone’s water breaks like the movies [basically, a waterfall]. So, of course, I thought my water broke and labor could be starting. Back to bed I went lol… it was too early and I wasn’t having any contractions.

7:00 a.m. 

I woke up with pretty bad cramps and tried to continue sleeping but my nerves took over and I decided to head to the hospital. We packed last minute things, took care of Bella, and left! By “we” I mean Gerald, btw. The cramps continued and I thought that was the worst they could get, but man was I mistaken. We pulled up to the hospital and my dear husband forgot to get cash for valet. He offered to drop me off in front of the hospital while he parked in the garage, but I didn’t want to go in alone. While driving in the garage to look for a spot, I threw up! All I had was a banana and I couldn’t even keep that down. We walked to labor and triage and they saw me right away. 

9:00 a.m. 

I’m laying in the hospital bed waiting for a midwife to come check on me and check how dilated I was. A few days prior, I had a checkup at the OB-GYN and I was only 1cm. She finally came in and checked me… 1cm. I was not happy to say the least. She told me that I had to go back home and I should come back when my contractions are worse or if my water breaks. Oh, yeah — that wasn’t my water breaking a few hours before either. I told her my contractions were already bad, but she reassured me that it would get worse. So, we leave and all I wanted was food and my bed. 

12:00 p.m. 

When we got home, I took a shower and felt so much better. No more contractions for a while, so I thought that really meant it wasn’t time for Micah to arrive. We both napped and it felt so. freaking. good. I did wake up a few times due to discomfort [y'all remember how big my belly was] but nothing too serious. I think my anxiety also crept back in because I was already scheduled to be induced the following week and I didn’t want that to happen. When my doctor set up the appointment, I asked a million questions about induction and one of the things I learned was that it prolongs the process. With my anxiety, I did not want to imagine adding hours to labor.

5:00 p.m.

Gerald woke up and got ready to go downstairs to the gym. Since I was feeling fine, he decided to do what he would’ve done that morning before things got a little crazy. While he was out, I felt like watching Father of the Bride 2 so I went to the living room to cuddle up with Bells and watch it. When he got home, I was starving and sent him on a hibachi run :) That’s when it got real…

8:00 p.m.

While watching the movie, I started getting insane contractions and I tried to get a hold on it, but my goodness! I still wanted to eat because I knew I wouldn’t be able to once I went to the hospital. I got through 1/4 of the food and I just started crying… the nurse was right about the pain getting worse. I asked Gerald to put me in the bathtub because I heard that helps [I was winging all of this]. I promise I was in that tub for 2 hours just turning from side to side in pain, crying, and at times, forgetting to breathe. Hubby was right by side just timing those monstrous contractions trying to figure out what to do to make me feel better. After a couple of hours, I just couldn’t take it anymore and wanted to head back to the hospital.

11:30 p.m.

We’re heading to the hospital after another puking episode just as we approached my car. Oh, he still didn’t have the $6 for valet parking, so as I die slowly, he asks if we can stop by the ATM. Yeah. Anyway, I’m still crying as we pull up to the hospital and I walked completely hunched over to check in and head back to the room I was in that same morning for the nurse to check me again. I kid you not… I remember hearing the number 5 [I was 5cm dilated] and the word ‘epidural’ [um, yes please].

12:30 a.m. [wednesday]

Let me just say, I loved our nurse! She was amazing from her patience to her cool temperament. I threw up once again according to my husband [I literally don’t remember]. My water broke at 12:27 a.m., and it actually happened like the movies. I got my handy dandy epidural and that was tough… they pricked me right at my worst tickle spot and I kept moving. Thank GOD nothing bad happened.

1:30 a.m.

By now, I was 8cm dilated and feeling oh so great. I have no idea how women give birth without an epidural, but I was and still am all for it. I felt NOTHING else. Before I got it, I swore I wouldn’t have kids again. That pain was real! by 2:30 a.m., I was 10cm dilated and ready to go! We did some practice pushes, I sat up for about an hour to let gravity do its thing [we snuck in a nap here, too]. Our nurse had Gerald help every step of the way, which I think he really appreciated. I quickly let go of not wanting him to watch when I saw how engaged and excited he was.

6:00 a.m.

After a night of pushing, resting, and more pushing… I asked my nurse when her shift is over and she said at 7. I did not want a new nurse, so I told Micah he had less than an hour to come on. I guess that worked because a little while later he was crowning and I just knew he was going to slip out! He didn’t… lol. Our doctor came in and at 6:51 a.m., there he was! I couldn’t believe I was holding our son!

This has been long enough, but I’m happy to say I not only gave birth right before my due date [no induction!] but I had an amazing labor and delivery experience. Nothing scary to report and aside from the pain pre-epidural, everything went smoothly. He was born at 8 lbs 3 oz and was 20 in long. Our perfect blessing.