On Friday June 23rd at 12:57am I woke up needing to pee. 💦 I was 39+4 weeks and scheduled to be induced Sunday. I hadn't had my mucus plug/bloody show. No Braxton Hicks either. I wasn't dilated at all at my last appointment but the doctor said babies head was low and we could be induced and hopefully have our little girl on her due date.....

Back to needing to pee at 12:57am, you know the normal pregnant middle of the night pee. I waddled from the bed to the bathroom. I step foot into the bathroom and I feel a trickle running down my leg. I'm standing on the bathroom rug in front of the sink and thinking "oh shit I just peed my pants!" There was no giant gush, no popping sound, no continued flow of water...just a small trickle. I really thought I peed my pants. I moved to the toilet...took off my shorts and underwear. I wipe myself off and look at the toilet paper. There was a slight bit of discharge on the paper with a light pink color (hardly noticeable). I start to question if my water broke. 🤔 Surely not right? I mean I'm suppose to go to work in the morning.

I'm wide awake at this point and instead of going back to bed I go sit on the couch. I start looking up online did my water break? After about a hour of questioning if I peed or if my water broke I started getting very light period cramps. I pull up a contraction timing app on my phone. While the pain was very light they were lasting almost a full minute and were 4-5 minutes apart. I timed out three contractions when the app popped up an alert "you are in labor, go to the hospital!"

Still not convinced I was in labor, I decided it was finally time to wake up my husband and see what he thought. I sneak back in the bedroom and I start rubbing my husbands back trying to wake him up quietly and not startle him. He kind of wakes up and ask what's going on. I tell him I'm not sure if I peed my pants or maybe my water broke. He went from a dazed sleepy state to absolute panic mode. He shot out of bed and turned on the light. I tried to calm him down and tell him I still think I just peed my pants and even if I was in labor we have plenty of time to get to the hospital because I would be in labor for hours. He has me call the doctor and explain to him what happen and help us decide if we need to go to the hospital or not. At this point it's almost 2:15am. I call my doctor and he tells me yes it sounds like I'm in labor and to get to the hospital. My husband jumps in the shower and I finish packing up the last minute things to our hospital bag. We load up and head to the hospital.

We get to the hospital around 3:15am. They do a quick test and tell me that yes my water did break and I was 1/2cm dilated. They wheel me into the birthing room. It felt like the rest went really quick! The contractions came fast but were still tolerable at that point. At 3:45am I was 1 1/2 cm and at 4:30am they start me on pitocin. By 5:30am the contractions hurt so BAD and were coming so quickly. My whole body was tense. It hurt all the way from my neck down to my butt. I was not able to handle it anymore! At that point I was 3cm and I asked for the epidural!

The anesthesiologist came in and started the epidural. When he put it in, it felt like an electric shock when down my leg. He did it again and the same thing. He said that he was really close to a nerve then and it would be a good epidural. And let me tell you he was right! I couldn't feel shit! Contractions were fully gone and my left leg was dead..it felt like it weighed 200 pounds!

At 6:00am I remembered I was suppose to go to work at 8am and should probably let them know I wasn't coming. I texted everyone at work and let them know I was starting my maternity leave! 🤣

At 6:30am I was 5cm and the nurse moved me into a wedge position to help her drop down the birth canal. I was somewhat on my side with what they called a "peanut" between my legs. It was so comfortable and I couldn't feel my contractions anymore because of that bomb epidural, I started to fall asleep!

By 11:30am I was almost 10cm. The doctor was in the middle of a c-section and wanted me to hold off pushing until 12:00pm. With just the nurse, my husband and my mom in the room they get me positioned to start pushing. Now remember how I said I couldn't feel my leg? My husband had to hold my left leg in the stirrup because I couldn't lift it and it kept sliding out! My mom was on my right side. The bed had handles that I could grab on to. The nurse tells me to put my head to my chest and push hard when a contraction came on. Only problem??? I couldn't feel the contractions at all!! She had to look at the monitor and tell me when to push. The doctor finally came in around 12:40pm. I pushed for about a hour when our sweet little girl was born on June 23rd at 1:02pm!

They immediately put her on my chest for skin to skin. I'm crying so much I don't even notice anything the doctor is still doing down there. The doctor delivers the placenta and starts to stitch me up (five stitches)! While she is laying on my chest she stops breathing. The nurses grab her and take her to the other side of the room. They are trying to keep me calm and let me know she swallowed some fluid. They tell me they need to keep an eye on her for awhile but she didn't need to go to the NICU. They were going to keep her in the well baby nursery.

They move me to the recovery room. Hours go by and they still wouldn't bring her to me. I started to get angry that no one was updating me on what was going on. Finally at 4:00pm they bring her to us. My hormones kick in and start crying like crazy. I was so excited to actually be able to see her and really hold her! She is absolutely perfect.

💕Mae Carter was born at 1:02pm on June 23rd. She was 7 lbs 5 oz and 19 1/4 inches long. 💕

Today......