So, let's start with a little extra back story. I was due on October 22nd and as per my doctor's recommendation, I planned to go out on leave starting October 1st. Now to complicate things, my husband was in an accident on his motorcycle where a woman, who didn't see him, cut him off very badly. We were lucky she didn't run him over and even luckier that his injuries were not life threatening. However, he did have a fractured hip socket, which meant no walking for 6 to 8 weeks. This happened almost exactly a month before my due date. He actually called my while he was still lying on the road because he didn't want the cop to call and have me flip out. Well, I didn't go into labor, not with the extra stress or activity, since me resting was now pretty much off the table.

So a couple weeks go by and I hit 39 weeks, and I'm getting impatient. Another week and I hit 40, I am feeling over it. I was emotionally drained just from waiting but at the same time I didn't want to force her out. Plus I'm starting to worry about a c section because I figured she would be a big baby. I had an appointment on the 25th, and we planned to do a membrane sweep and maybe set up an induction date, but I never made it to my appointment. No instead at 1:30 AM my water broke while I was lying in bed. My poor husband had only fallen asleep about a half hour before and then I'm tapping him, saying "honey, we need to go to the hospital, my water just broke, and can you grab me a towel?" We got to the hospital about 45 minutes later but I still wasn't really having contractions.

Well, they admitted me and told me that my doctor would check on me in the morning and they were just going to watch me until then to see if I went into active labor. Well, 9 o'clock rolls around and my doctor comes and checks on me, no regular contractions, so they started me on pitocen.

Now here is the negative about being due in October, labor and delivery is really busy. So they took there time increasing my pitocen as not enough nurses were available. So I didn't start to get uncomfortable contractions until the evening. I think I asked for the epidural around 7:00 PM. Around midnight maybe 01:00 AM I was 4-5 cm dilated. They said that it would go quickly after I reached 4 cm, but it wasn't until around 05:00 AM, and 3 epidural top-offs later, that they called my doctor.

I wanted another top-off before pushing but the wouldn't give it to me as they wanted me to be able to push well and feel the contractions. My body kind of had other plans. I ended up getting violently sick from the pain and exhaustion as the epidural wore off. It was gross, I felt like I did an impression of the exorcist. And then my body just kind of gave up, I was so tired, but I pushed anyway. Finally, at 7:04 AM, my daughter was born. My husband cut the cord and they gave her to me for skin to skin and all seemed well, for about a minute.

Things turned from happy to terrifying in moments. They took my daughter away because she wasn't breathing well. So they ended up performing a deep suction on her. Simultaneously, my doctor has her hands in me dealing with my placenta, which was not coming out well and in fact was coming apart in pieces. As if that wasn't bad enough my uterus was not contracting. So all of a sudden the room is full of people, I'm thinking "not good." I'm worried about my daughter and at the same time wondering if I'm going to end up having a hysterectomy.

Well, I have to give it to my doctor, she stayed cool calm and collected while having nurses shoot me up with more meds that I cared to count, and just as they were about to wheel me out for surgery, my uterus contracted and the bleeding stopped. When all was said and done, I had lost over a liter of blood. The deliver room looked like a murder scene but both my daughter and I were okay.

That first day was tough, I was so out of it, it was a challenge to fully enjoy my daughters arrival. After I got two units transfused, I felt much better and thankfully was able to be far more attentive to my wonderful new bundle of joy. My daughter Wren Helen arrived on October 26th at 0704 AM weighing in at 8 Ibs 13 Oz and was 20.5 inches long.

Well, I think it is safe to say from conception (<a href="https://glowing.com/glow-fertility-program">ivf</a> baby), through pregnancy, to delivery, we never had an easy go of it, but she is completely worth it. And I'm so grateful to everyone who helped us along the way. At the end if the day we were lucky in our unluckiness and it makes for a pretty epic story.