I know it’s been awhile since he was born, but I’ve never shared his birth story anywhere so I figured I would. ❤️

I started having contractions at 2am on 1/28/08 (what I thought was indigestion from having Taco Bell for dinner, LOL) and was still having them by 6am, I figured okay, this is it, this isn’t indigestion. LOL. I was 22 and living with my mom at the time, I asked her to take me to the hospital and she told me to wait it out for awhile, saying first time labors can take hours. Instead I called my fiancé, and he took me in. I was released around 10am with no dilation and mild contractions so I went back home and labored. On the couch. In the tub. I was pretty uncomfortable to say the least.

I just so happened to have an OB appointment that day at 1pm as I was 40 weeks, 3 days and when I went in for my appointment, my OB told me I hadn’t progressed since I left the hospital. My grandma and my mom had horrible deliveries with both me and my uncle so I asked if he’d set me up for a c-section if he thought that was appropriate and necessary. I told him if there was something wrong (i.e. large baby, lack of dilation, small hip bones, etc) that I didn’t want to end up unconscious with an emergency c-section like my mom was. He agreed that something must be stalling my dilation although he didn’t know what for sure so he agreed to set a time for a c-section that night, 7pm. I was to report to the L&D; ward at 5pm for prep.

Upon arrival at the hospital, I was checked and hooked up to monitors, still no change. This didn’t surprise my doctor as the hospital thought he may be over 10 pounds and that may be my problem.

I was taken in to the OR and prepped for surgery. I was given a spinal which didn’t even hurt as I was so distracted by the contractions. What I do remember is telling the anesthesiologist that he was a God for putting me out of my misery. LOL. I also asked if I had peed on the table because when my bottom half went numb, it felt like I had. Thankfully, I hadn’t. Phew! 😂

My fiancé scrubbed in to the OR and the surgery began. I felt no pain and no pressure as I had been told I would. At 7:53pm, I heard the sweetest cry I’ve ever heard. I started bawling myself. Baby Joshua Douglas had come in to the world, healthy and screaming weighing 7lbs. 8oz. and was 20 inches long.

Turns out, I did not have child bearing hips. His head was wedged so tight in to my pelvis that he was unable to move down in to the birth canal, preventing me from dilating. My doctor said I made a good decision in asking him after 17 hours of unsuccessful labor to do a c-section, it would have ended up in one anyway and possibly an emergency c-section, therefore, I wouldn’t have been awake for it like my mom wasn’t.

I’m sharing my story so that other women won’t be so afraid of c-sections if they’re necessary as they are normally not as painful as those make it sound. Granted, I may have gotten lucky, but everyone is different. My recovery was minimal. My only problem when I got home was I was constipated from all the pain medication and they kept giving me gas pills which made me assume they didn’t want me to go and that it was too soon. My only three suggestions? Poop before you leave the hospital! Lol, listen to your body, it will tell you what to do. Last but not least, if you have to cough or sneeze, hold a pillow against your abdomen, it will make it a lot less painful. This they didn’t tell me and my first cough made me feel like I had torn something which didn’t turn out to be the case thank goodness. Lol.

I place blessings upon all of those expecting and are soon to be delivering. It’s a beautiful process that provides profound happiness. Good luck to all ❤️