On September 12th, I was 39 weeks pregnant. I picked my mother up from the airport for her to stay with me for 2 weeks since we knew Ezekiel would be making his appearance soon. Later that day after picking her up I had an appointment with my OBGYN which she swept my membranes (for the 2nd time, 1st time was at 38 weeks). This started everything. I had slight cramping but that was it at first. (The first sweep I spotted and lost my mucus plug immediately afterwards but that was it.) My mother, mother-in-law, and I went to Sams Club after my appointment to pick up some things. We were heading to the checkout when the contractions started. They were just mild at first. I was able to walk, talk, etc through them so I just kept going about my daily life. At night, I'd sleep for a few minutes and then wake up for another contraction and so on. The next day we went out to the chinese buffet for lunch (still contracting) and i got a fortune cookie that read "Tomorrow will be lucky and memorable for you". I still have that fortune, btw. After lunch Alex (my bf) and I dropped my mom off at home then we went to Walmart so I could walk around to try to speed things along. We went home and relaxed for a few before going out to Cheddars for dinner. At this point the contractions were starting to get a little stronger. Dinner was great, I had a mouth watering 12 oz rib eye 😍 We went to the hospital to see how close I was. Got discharged but told it WAS happening but not for a while then we went home. I bounced on the exercise ball for a while and went to bed. Same thing as the night before; sleep, contraction, sleep plus sipping water in between per nurses advice. At about 4:20 am i had the urge to pee after a contraction. I got up and went to the bathroom. I peed then before getting up another contraction hit. After that passed i had the urge to fart (tmi but pregnancy isn't pretty, especially at 39 weeks) i pushed to let out a small toot and i heard a loud gush. It couldn't be my water. There's no way i got lucky enough to have my water break over the toilet. I remembered something the nurse said during L&D classes "One way to know if it's your water is to put a pad on, lay or sit down for a little, then get up. If it soaks your pad then go in" so that's what i did. I put a pad on amd laid right back in the bed next to my snoring bf. Then the REAL contractions hit. I screamed out in pain and he woke up. "You alright?" He said "yeah uh i think we should go the hospital. My water broke". He jumps up and we get ready. I wake my mom up "My water broke it's time to go" At this point, we all migrate downstairs with our things. Luckily, the car was already packed up with the carseat ready to go. I'm bouncing on the ball as Alex wakes up his mom to let her know what's happening and that we were going to the hospital. Alex then smokes a cigarette real quick and begins getting stuff together to make a cup of coffee. His mother glares at him. "What the hell are you doing?! You need to leave!" I stand up to go and there it goes. The flood waters have just opened and soaked my pants and left a puddle on the floor. I stood there horrified for a second, apologized to his for the mess she'd have to clean up, and then we left to the hospital. So we pull up all dramatic like something out of a movie. They hop out of the car and bring me a wheelchair to the passenger door and wheel me in. At this point, the contractions are just HITTING. They get me in to triage, swab me, check my cervix (4 cm), set up my IV, and watch my contractions on the monitor until the swab comes back asap positive for amniotic fluid. It's go time. They take me to a room and things get started. Of course, i let them know right off the bat I want an epidural. Say what you want, i dont care lol. It only takes like 10 minutes for him to get there since he was next door. They check me again when I'm getting it out in and I'm already at a 7. What!! The nurse on triage had just told me to expect to only dilate 1 cm an hour! They come back like 1 hr later, I'm at a 10 ready to push. We get into position and it's about 7 am now. We realize Ezekiel had not turned around to face my back and is "sunny side up" which explains the back labor I was having. It's alot more difficult to give birth to a baby in this position. I pushed and pushed for 3.5 hrs.(!!!) I was one push away from having to need a c section because even though the baby was okay, i was beginning to go in distress. I was exhausted and my oxygen was dropping and i was wearing a oxygen mask at this point. My OBGYN comes back in and gets serious. "LOOK AT ME! We are pushing this baby out right now. I am NOT cutting you open after all this work. LOOK AT ME. You can do this, right?" I nod back "Alright then lets have this baby" that was all i needed. With tears streaming down my face as i had just about given up i pushed 2 more times and he was here at 10:24 am September 14th. "I did it" i sobbed.I heard him cry and they rushed alex to cut the cord when we were planning delayed cord clamping. Something was wrong. They took Ezekiel to the warmer and Alex followed after he got his sobbing out while laying on my chest. They explained that he was having labored breathing and he had an elevated heartrate. They cleaned him up, did his weight and height, then took him to the nursery to get him calmed down. They explained to me the possibility of him needing to be transferred to a hospital with a NICU. My heart was broken. I hadn't even got to hold him or see him up close. Only across the room. The whole time he was in the warmer, i was so mesmerized watching his every move. Sobbing. I didnt even realize i was delivering the placenta and then getting stitched up until i heard my OBGYN say something and i looked down and there she was. They took Ezekiel to the Nursery and i was just scared. We all were. A little while later the pediatrician came in and told me that they placed an I.V and gave fluids. He was beginning to calm down and they didn't believe he would need to be transferred and they would bring him back shortly once things were back to normal. We waited for what seemed like forever and they wheeled him in to me. They undid the top of my gown and we did skin to skin. I sobbed some more. He perked up and tried to breastfeed. It was amazing and so heartbreaking because he can't get suction to actually move milk because of his cleft palate. Everything went great, no we did not circumcise (#intactivist), and we went home the next day to live happily ever after.

him now at 4.5 months old