Birth Story

So I never got around to telling my birth story. My daughter was born July 4th at 12:52am at 32 weeks and 3 days. I was diagnosed with and Incompetent Cervix at 20 weeks and had a cerclage put in place at 22 weeks. But alright let’s get to the story!

It all started July 2nd. I woke up at 2am because I had a dream that I was peeing. I woke up and my bed was soaking wet. So naturally I’m thinking “Crap I peed myself”. I got up and ran to the bathroom, but it was still flowing and no matter how hard I “clenched” to stop the flow nothing happened. Then it hit me, “Did my water break?” I wasn’t 100% sure because I had been having bladder leaks for about a week by that time. Since I didn’t know I decided that I’d wait for a little bit to see if I started having any pains. Maybe 30 minutes passed by and I started having some small cramps, so I woke up my boyfriend and told him I think my water broke. Then I woke up my mom and told her the same. We got dressed and headed to the hospital around 3:30am.

I was admitted once they confirmed that my water did break. Since I was almost 2 months early they started me on Magnesium to slow/stop my contractions, which at that point they were about 30 minutes apart, but they weren’t that painful. They also gave me steroid shots to mature her lungs faster. My doctor wanted to “keep her in for a long as possible” at least another 2 weeks then she’d have to come out because my amniotic fluid would be low. The doctor also removed my cerclage because she could still come at any moment. They stopped the Magnesium the next morning, July 3rd at 10am and said we’re now waiting to see what your body and the baby does on their own.

As the day progressed my contractions had slowed all the way down to an hour a part and they weren’t painful, so I thought they were going to end up sending me home. My mom and sister had been beside both my and my boyfriends side the whole time. So that night around 8:30pm, they decided to call it a night and headed home. Then right around 10pm it’s like a switch was flipped and everything started kicking into gear lol. My contractions started coming faster; 1 hour, 47 minutes, 27 minutes, 17 minutes, 6 minutes, until they were 3 minutes apart and a lot more painful. Meanwhile my nurse is telling me that my contractions aren’t registering on the machine. At that point I’m like “what?”

Excuse the hell out of me lol. Idc what your machine isn’t picking up. I know what I’m experiencing every few minutes. Anyway I proceeded to tell her that I felt like I had to poop and she told me “No, that’s just the baby making its way down the birth canal” and then offered to give me another bag of fluids to see if it helped 😒. Also, never checked to see what’s going on down below. At that point I was in so much pain and my nurse was gone and had been gone for about 20 minutes. When she finally came back she asked if I wanted an epidural once I go into active labor. I said yes because I had been in pain this whole time and I’d had enough lol. So in walked the L&D nurse and someone finally checks to see how dilated I am. Low and behold she said “Oh the baby’s head is right there” so I’m like

They finally called my doctor to come in. Luckily, he lived right across the street. Unluckily, my baby wasn’t waiting lol. The nurses told me not to push and wait on my doctor. I held on for another 15 minutes, then I had to push. The NICU team was already set up in the room, so they allowed me to push. After 2 pushes and a small tear I welcomed a beautiful 18 1/4 inch 4lbs 6oz baby girl into he world.

Gianna Ulani 😍

She had to stay in the NICU for 23 days. I visited her everyday, twice a day.

Fast forward to now, I have a healthy, chunky 12lb 4 month old baby.

Its been a blessing and an adventure watching her grow over the last four months. You always hear about how much love people have for their children, but to be to experience it yourself is a different story and just can’t be explained. All of the pain, the tears, the spit up, the blow outs and the sleepless nights have been worth it. I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.

Thank you for reading 😁🤗.