Warning: Super long 😂

I was 40 weeks and showing little sign of progress, having been stuck at 1 cm for weeks with her engaged at -1. Scheduled for induction on week 41 day 1.

Came in at 4 am ready to meet my daughter. Got belted up and and was at 2 cm, apparently having contractions every 3 minutes that I wasn’t feeling. Pitocin drip started at a low level since i was “in labor” and progressed to 3 cms throughout the morning.

At 8:45 my OB came in and broke my water and the contractions started to be a bit more painful.

Called for the epidural and an hour later he showed up and administered it, which I had been told would be the case for the timeline. SIDE NOTE: I did not think the epidural process hurt. It was like getting a normal shot when they administered the local anesthetic and then I felt nothing. I was worried but I will not be next time.

However, the first epidural didn’t work, only numbing me successfully from the knees down, so a second epidural was placed and it worked... for a while.

By now it was 11 or so, I was at 4 cms and was starting to have “breakthrough” pain on my left side above the waist. By noon I was at 5 cms and feeling my full contractions on the left side and I was not happy about it. My nurse said she was going to be leaving for a couple of hours and would come back and check on me then to let me progress.

Well, thank god I could feel those contractions because about 15 minutes later I was screaming in pain and the back-up nurse stopped in and measured me and I was suddenly 10 cms and +3 engaged. She called the OB and the doc said for me to do a couple practice pushes and she would be over soon.

I did one push and the nurse was like, “STOP!” She called the OB again and said, no, you need to be here now. Poor doc ran over as fast she could, started suiting up and said for me to push again. Then she says, “STOP!” And I’m like, what do you mean stop?? Well, she didn’t have her gloves on and baby girl was crowning already 😂

Anyways, long story short, about 5 pushes later my daughter Grace Edith joined us with a little wail at 12:36 pm weighing 7 lbs 13 oz and measuring 21.5 inches long.

APGAR score initially a 7 and then quickly a 9. I really can’t complain about my delivery. While the epidural wearing off (on one side and above the waist) sucked, it made sure someone out there knew I went from 5 cms to 10 cms in like 20 minutes.

Skin to skin right away

Pinkie up, born classy

Best damn day of my life.

Side note: Women are f*cking fierce and our bodies are amazing. I’ve never felt more significant than I did creating, cultivating and giving life. How do we not rule the world yet? 💪🏼 Go get ‘em ladies. You can do this!