My Birth Story

What my birth plan was…

Getting pregnant is exciting on so many levels, but it can also be scary when you realize that your baby has to come out at some point. During my pregnancy, I had created my birth plan and was so set on the fact that I wanted to have a natural birth. I did a lot of research on natural births vs medicated births and I loved the pros that came with a natural birth. I wanted to recover faster, and I wanted to do what my body was meant to do naturally. My pregnancy had been going great, and I was really healthy, so my doctor was fully supportive of my decision. I started doing a lot of physical exercises to help prepare my body. I learned to do breathing exercises, and I had mentally prepared myself for the pain that I was going to feel, but I was okay with it. I didn’t want to get induced (even though being done with pregnancy sooner sounded great…). I wanted it to be ALLLL natural. I wanted the go into labor naturally. I wanted my water to break naturally, and I wanted to deliver naturally.

My last prenatal appointment wasn’t what I expected

I had my 37 week appointment and went in just expecting it to be quick because I was just there to get my vitals checked. To my surprise, my blood pressure was really high, so they sent me to the baby monitor for 20 minutes, and also sent my to get some blood work done to make sure everything was still okay with the baby and I. My doctor told me that I needed to return 4 hours later to get my blood pressure checked again. If my blood pressure was high, then I would need to get induced that night. Totally shocked, my husband and I came home from that appointment and rushed to get the house ready for the baby that we were possibly going to have that night. We set up the baby swing, installed the carseat, packed ur hospital bags, cleaned the house, and barely took a second to talk about how we were even feeling about all of this. We were about to become parents after all. I was sure my blood pressure would go up after all that stress and running around (as much “running” as you can do when you are 37 weeks preggo)! When I went in to get checked again, everything was perfect and I was sent home. I was so relieved. I complained about being pregnant all the time and told my husband that I just wanted to have the baby early, but when the moment actually came and I was told that I might have the baby early, it really scared me and I felt so many different emotions. I felt like I really wasn’t ready to be a mom yet. We went to bed that night with a peace of mind that we weren’t having a baby yet. We guessed that my blood pressure at the doctor earlier was just a weird fluke.

The next day I had my blood pressure checked again at the office just to be safe. The lady that took my blood pressure made it seem like it was totally normal. We got to the car and started making plans for the rest of the day. We were going to go shopping, stop at my in-laws, and just enjoy our baby-free day (since we knew there were only going to be so many of those left anyway)! As soon as we got back home, I got a call from my doctor. My doctor was out of town, so as soon as she heard from the office that my blood pressure was high, she called me and told me that she wanted me to get induced as soon as possible. I sat on the couch in unbelief. I was excited. I was scared. I was nervous. I was anxious. You name an emotion, and I felt it. While my doctor talked to me about the details of getting induced, and how she wouldn’t be there for the delivery, I just focused on holding back the tears. I wasn’t sure how to feel. I didn’t feel ready, but I didn’t have a choice.

Going to the hospital and getting induced…

At 11 pm that night, they finally had a room open in the labor and delivery wing. I checked in, put on my gown, left a urine sample, and sat on the long awaited hospital bed. I got induced around midnight. I was already at 2 cm when they induced me, so I only had 8 to go! They told me to get as much sleep as possible. Around 2 am I started cramping and had a hard time falling asleep. My giant belly, the baby monitor straps, the blood pressure cuff, and the IV were preventing me from getting comfy, so I didn’t really have a great night. At 7 am, the doctor came in and checked my cervix. I was at 3 cm now, so they went ahead and broke my water. What a weird feeling that was. The liquids didn’t stop coming out! Now I was committed, this baby had to come out because it wouldn’t be safe in there for him anymore. That was another scary thought. There was no going back now!

The contractions that came after my water broke

I had prepared for a slower build-up to painful contractions, but that isn’t what I got. Around 7:20 am, I started feeling extremely strong and intense menstrual-like cramps, which were contractions. I started using a birthing ball and my husband to hold on to. I used my breathing exercises and other movements that I had been practicing at home. They definitely helped me to endure through the pain, and I was still wanting to have a natural birth at this point. Around 10 am I started getting more frequent and painful contractions and was getting to a point where I couldn’t hold still anymore. They can’t give you an epidural when you can’t hold still, so I had to make a decision. I went ahead and decided to get an epidural around 10:30 am. I was scared to get the epidural because I didn’t want them to mess it up and have to do it again, or even worse, have it give me issues for the rest of my life. I was at 5 cm when I got the epidural. Getting the epidural wasn’t actually as painful as I had imagined it to be. Compared to the contractions that I had been feeling, it wasn’t really that bad at all. I got the chills really bad when the epidural medicine was kicking in, and I felt extremely uncomfortable because I could feel pressure, but I couldn’t really do anything about it since I was so numb.

My experience after getting the epidural

I slept from noon until 3:30 pm, which was MUCH needed. Once I woke up, they came in to check my cervix, and I was dilated to a 7. Unfortunately, the epidural had slowed down the process, which I wasn’t happy about, because I was still in pain and I was so uncomfortable. I hated not being able to move my legs they way I wanted. I was just ready to give birth and have the whole process over with already. Around 4:15 pm I started feeling a lot of pain and I was sure that the epidural was wearing off. After talking to the nurses through my deep breaths of pain, they decided to have the epidural guy come in and give me more medicine. He was trying to figure out where I was still numb, and what kind of pain I was feeling. He even stuck a needle in my skin and I didn’t know it! Haha! Meanwhile, the pain was getting worse. He told me that the meds should start working in about 15 minutes. 20 minutes later, I was feeling so awful! My body was uncontrollably shaking too. My mom was convinced that I was dilating and that the nurses should come check my cervix. At 4:45 pm someone came in to check me, and the baby’s head was right there! I had been in so much pain because I was dilating SO fast! They hurried and called the doctor. It took him a while to get there, so I was just trying to cope with the pain, even though I couldn’t really move. I started feeling extremely nauseous and miserable. I threw up a lot of bile, which was super gross and messy (because I was numb, I couldn’t sit up, and my poor husband and mom had to deal with my messiness). At 5:25 pm, the doctor finally arrived and the room was suddenly full of people. There were nurses holding my legs, nurses helping the doctor, and nurses from the nursery there for the baby. I started pushing at 5:30 pm. The pushes weren’t painful because I had the epidural, but they were so tough. That was definitely the hardest workout of my life. They were telling me to push harder and to breathe certain ways while pushing. I got dizzy/slight headaches with each push because of how hard I was exerting myself. At 5:42 pm, my baby boy was in my arms. I got him out in 5 contractions and I am so convinced that it went so smoothly and quickly because of how I had prepared my body.

My Baby Boy Arrived!

My baby was put on my chest and I immediately started bawling. Holding him in my arms was so surreal. He was still supposed to be in my belly! I couldn’t believe that I did it. I gave birth. I survived! I didn’t get to have the birth experience that I had planned for, for multiple reasons, but it happened the way that it was supposed to. It still went smoothly, and I got the best reward out of it! I have already forgotten the levels of the pain and discomfort that I experienced, because my little bundle of joy took it all away almost immediately. I would do it all again in a heartbeat.

If you have any questions on how I prepared for my birth, feel free to comment! I am passionate about how to prepare for delivery now!