Birth story

Before you read I feel as if I should warn you, I say this because my birth story is not sugar coated at all. This is my birth story and it is intense and a little scary. I share it because I want moms to know the other side of the story. To know if their birth does not follow their plan, it’s okay. Babies have their own way of doing things and they 100% could careless about your birth plan.

My birth story is the opposite of what I wanted and opened my eyes to how blessed I was to be in a hospital that could care for us so quickly. If I didn’t scare you off, enjoy my story! I wouldn’t change a single part of it and I would and someday will do it all over again!

Throughout Pregnancy

Throughout my pregnancy I went to birthing and breastfeeding classes. I pinned everything I could find about natural birth and how to prepare for it. Dead set on no medication, I was so naïve then, and I made my birth plan accordingly. Exercises helped a lot more than I thought they would! I found hip opening stretches on pinterest and the dreaded kegel exercises, I didn’t do them as much as I should have though.

Those kegel exercises by the way will help so much after pregnancy especially if you want to run, sneeze, laugh, or lift something without having to worry if you will pee. This is something I regret because this happens all the time, ALL THE TIME. So, do yourself a favor if you are expecting and do them every single day, you will not regret it and if you don’t do them you’ll kick yourself like I did and still do.

I also researched breastfeeding like crazy. I had so many pins and read/watched so many videos to help prepare myself for breastfeeding. Prepared my nipples for it too, sorry mom and all the people who did not expect that, but it helped!! I was so ready for my daughter to come, or so I had thought, and I was patiently awaiting her arrival.

The Day Before

When I woke up that day I felt rested and when I went to the bathroom I found my mucus plug, TMI I know but a good sign! Anyways, I went about my day like normal had some breakfast and just relaxed all day. I even took a nap around 1:30 on the couch.

Now up until this day I would experience about 30 minutes to a full hour of labor pains. I would time them and everything, but seven minutes was the closest they’d get before the pains completely stopped. Man, I’d get so excited especially since at my 40-week appointment I was fully effaced and 1 cm! However, all these pains I felt were just a tease because as quickly as they would start, they would stop, darn it! The night before my daughter arrived, November 11th, I slept through the entire night and woke up feeling so amazing.

The Day Has Come

I woke up around 8 and again I had lost my mucus plug, I didn’t know it can regenerate! For breakfast I think I ate some pancakes and eggs that day. I lounged on the couch a little and I’d get up to stretch every hour and do some sumo squats. These are really good hip opening stretches that got the pressure off my hips. That felt amazing! I took a nap around 1,I believe, and I woke up around 3.

After waking up, I felt like I had some pretty awful gas or that I’d have to go. So, I went to the bathroom and tried for I’d say twenty minutes before my husband came in because the pain was growing and I was vocalizing said pain through moans and occasionally I’d let out a yelp. I remember feeling the constant pressure and my whole stomach was tight. My stomach was so hard and I had constant back pain.

At that moment, I turned to him and said something was wrong. I say this because everyone I spoke to said you will feel the start and stop to a contraction, I never felt the pain stop, it was constant. My labor pains had seriously gone from zero to sixty within 1.5 hours!

We rushed around to grab my things and I couldn’t even sit in a seat in the car. So I had my mother fold up one seat in my husbands’ truck and I squatted the entire fifteen-minute ride to the hospital gripping the head rest. When we arrived at the hospital, I stepped out of the truck wearing leopard print slippers, a black tank top, and yoga pants. I looked like a had a basketball hidden under my shirt and I was the definition of a hot mess. I did not care and trust me, you won’t either.

After finding the maternity ward, I checked in and once in my room the nurse had to help me undress because I could not stand up straight and kept complaining that I felt like I needed to poop. They needed to check me as quick as they could because feeling like you have to poop is a sign you are ready to push. Let me tell you, when labor hits you do not care who sees what because the pain takes over, you don’t even think about what nurse just saw your boob or lady town as I call it.

Those nurses stripped me so fast and I was thankful. When I was finally undressed they checked me. This was a shining moment for me because I felt liquid rushing. I immediately apologized for going to the bathroom on the nurse, little did I know that was my water!!

At this point I was 5 cm and I was being admitted and it was 4:45pm, this is important because I started pushing at 7 pm. I begged for an epidural because I couldn’t even move the pain was so intense. An hour later I got the epidural and I was already at 7 cm. That epidural took away the intensity of the pain but not the pressure so I was just as uncomfortable.

I laid on my side unable to move gripping the bed rails. The pain/pressure had 100% paralyzed me and all I could do was breathe. That was the only thing that got me through the non-stop contractions.

I came in yelling about the pain but a wonderful nurse told me to breathe and think about the wave of the contraction and ride it out. At first I wanted to kill her because I was in pain and trying to birth a baby so I should be able to be as loud as I want but in the end it helped more to breathe than yell surprisingly.

My husband was rubbing my back so hard he broke skin and that still didn’t help the pain. My mom was putting cold rags on my forehead and neck because I was overheating. She also had some Peace and Calming essential oil diffusing so that helped ease some tension,I felt. All I could manage to do is lay there, even after the epidural.

In less than 3 hours I had constant contractions that lasted a minute happening every 45 seconds, so literally no break, and I had dilated 6 cm. The nurses were shocked I was moving this quickly and couldn’t believe this was my first child. They felt so bad for me because my contractions would not let up.

The next 2 hours and 40 minutes went by so quickly. However, they were the most exhausting hours of my life so far. I spent those hours pushing the ENTIRE time. To this day I can still remember the feeling of her feet pushing on my ribcage.

My doctor would tell me to take a break from pushing and wait for the next contraction, ha! She was hilarious because there was no break. I had oxygen on me because I couldn’t get enough air. My face was the ugliest purple color from the sheer exhaustion. I had to wear an oxygen mask because I wasn’t getting enough air and my daughter’s heart rate dropped a little.

I remember a nurse all of a sudden telling me I needed to roll on my side. Now guys, when you hear stories about people pooping while pushing, you never think you’ll do it. Well I was one who did and I did not even care that a grown woman was wiping my bottom. I didn’t even know that I had pooped until I saw them pull out the pad underneath me.

Right before my daughter was born the nurse and doctor kept asking do you want to feel the head or see the head that helps some mothers realize it almost over? I had vocalized many times throughout the last two hours that I couldn’t do it anymore and I was tired. I politely said no but a part of me wishes I hadn’t, it might have helped me and been that last reassurance that I was doing this and could do this.

The one thing I can remember saying is “I can’t do this”. I was so scared and exhausted that I just wanted to be done. Guys, if there is one thing you can do for yourself during birth, say I can. The mind is extremely powerful and saying that might give you the last push. I gave up instead of pushing through and maybe if I hadn’t my birth would have been shorter. Positive thinking can take you further than you realize.

However, at 9:40pm my little girl was born. I was so out of it and exhausted I kept asking if she was real and saying I couldn’t believe she fit in my tiny belly. She, like me, had a serious cone head. I’m talking like two heads serious, so bad that the photo captured at her birth I won’t post because not only do I look barely alive she looks like she has two heads and is purple. Not the kind of photo you share, that’s the kind of photo that sends people packing.

However, our time was cut short because just like I had as a baby and during labor, she pooped on her way out and wasn’t breathing the way she should have. I sent my husband to be with her because I didn’t want her to be alone. My mom thankfully stayed with me because the next thirty minutes were so rough.

After She Was Born

I birthed the placenta which wasn’t too bad, but I also still remember that feeling to this day. Also, the worst part about my room was there was a mirror opposite of my bed. So I saw my entire lady town in all her glory and the placenta come out. Let me just say, that is not what you want to see after you give birth. It is not something you want to see for at least six weeks if you tear because it will scare you. I had to get stitched up since I had a second-degree tear and that was great because my epidural wore off and I felt everything but thankfully the doctor noticed and numbed me up. All of that doesn’t sound so bad except I would not stop bleeding.

My IV fell out sometime during birth so when they administered medication to control bleeding after birth, I never got it. The doctor double checked the placenta to make sure they got it all. The nurses noticed my bed was wet and they found my IV on the bed. I got a shot in my thigh to slow the bleeding which didn’t help. The IV was a struggle to get back in because my veins had started to shrink. So lucky me, I got to have medicine put where the sun don’t shine.

They finally got the IV back in and told me that they would come back in 10 minutes. If the bleeding didn’t slow they would have to take alternate measures. I relaxed and just laid there in the dark with my mom. I thought about my daughter and hoped the bleeding would slow. 10 minutes had passed and they had come in to check. I swear I held my breath while they checked me out. Thankfully, when they came back in the bleeding had slowed and they moved me into my room.

The Rest of The Stay

My daughter had to be in the NICU so they rolled me in there. I was so weak that i couldn’t even walk. My head was screaming and my limbs were so weak from holding my legs up. I didn’t have to hold them, but it helped me. The worst part was by now, I hadn’t eaten in almost 10 hours. I was the definition of a hot mess and at this point had only held my daughter for all of two minutes. My nurse came in with a breast pump because I couldn’t breastfeed my daughter. This was due to her needing oxygen and a plethora or other things hooked up to her.

I loved the hospital I was in because I got to see the lactation consultant multiple times! She taught me the different holds, spoon feeding, and about resources after leaving the hospital. I couldn’t hold my daughter for 12 hours and that was the worst time for me. I woke up every three hours to pump and make sure that I was able to feed her. Once I was able to hold my daughter, we tried our hand at breastfeeding. We worked as a team and I was so happy. She latched so well, a little shallow, but I knew to also ask for help.

We were in the hospital for three days and with each day I got better at walking to the NICU. The last day there my daughter was able to sleep in the same room as us! When we got the okay we were released, and my husband and I couldn’t have been more excited! Check back in next week to hear about how coming home went!

Thank you for reading! If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below! Make sure to tune in to the next blog in my birth series!