My son is now 7 weeks, but I want to share my story.

The day before I went into labor, the only car we had to transport my son was hit in my work parking lot. The entire front end was taken out and I cried the entire night. I was due in 10 days and couldn't imagine how I'd get my son home. I was stressing out and in pure panic mode.

The next day I started to feel some irregular contractions when I got home from work. I took a nap and tried not to think too much about it. At 9 pm they got to the point where I couldn't sleep and they were becoming more regular. It seemed like they were staying 3-5 minutes apart, but they weren't lasting long. Around 1:30 am I called the hospital to ask when I should go in. I decided to stay longer and wake up my husband to let him know that it might be today. He couldn't sleep for the rest of the day out of sheer excitement. I tried doing things around the house, but it was becoming too much for me to concentrate on anything else. I had back labor and it was becoming harder to ignore the pain.

I ate an apple along the way and just continued to breathe through the pain. When we got there they had a difficult time reaching my cervix because my son was so low. Several nurses had to try before they found out I was only 1.5 cm dilated, but 85% effaced. They had me walk around the hospital to try and get me to dilate more. It was during this time that I lost my mucus plug and started throwing up. Unfortunately I was still only 1.5 dilated when we returned, so I went home.

At home the pain was starting to get more and more severe. I just curled over my yoga ball hoping for relief in my back. My husband helped me walk to yard occasionally. Every couple minutes though I was in his arms bent over in pain. I needed him to hold me to make it better. At 12:30 my contractions started to be every 2 minutes apart and last for an entire minute. We rushed back to the hospital and at this point I was in tears from severe pain. My back felt like it was being ripped in two.

When we got to the hospital they just immediately put me in a room. The nurses kept commenting on the look of pain on my face and asked if I wanted an epidural. I wanted to do my labor as natural as possible, but the pain was too much. When the nurses were finally able to find my cervix, they discovered I was only 2.5 centimeters dilated but fully effaced.

When my mom and sister arrived 30 minutes later, my contractions were on top of each other. I had no relief between each one and started throwing up from the pain. The nurse showed my husband a way to squeeze my hips to help with the back labor and had my mom run lavender oil on my feet. It helped me until they were able to get the epidural.

My husband said that I was in so much pain he didn't even recognize me any more. He started to cry as he watched me in pain, but I was so out of it that I didn't even see.

Once the epidural was in, my labor felt great. I was finally able to rest and my body relaxed. My contractions slowed a little, so they started pitocin to help. The rest became a waiting game. Around 7:30 pm my nurse explained how the process would go because I was last checked at 8 cm dilated. After explaining she checked and said it was time to call the doctor. My doctor actually stuck around after her shift, waiting for me to deliver. She was a blessing.

I pushed for an hour and had my son at 9:05 pm. He was a beautiful 6.1 pounds and 19 3/4" long. We named him Ronan and he has been a blessing in our life. I'm sad to think about returning to work in two weeks and leaving him. 💚