Just wanted to share my birth story in case any other ladies were looking for answers just as I was. To start out I had a really good pregnancy (except for a kidney stone at 21 weeks) no morning sickness, no swelling, no complications everything was going great. Then 32w6d I had what I thought was Braxton Hicks except they were happening every 5 min and nothing I did would stop them SO everyone convinced me to go into L&D and sure enough they were contractions. They measured my cervix with an intravaginal ultrasound and it was very short so they kept me in the hospital for 3 days trying to stop labor from happening. I got 2 steroid shots for lung development and after monitoring me for 3 days they felt my contractions had spaced enough without any changes to my cervix and they sent me home. After this I probably visited L&D once a week AT LEAST. I had contractions EVERY SINGLE DAY for FIVE WEEKS. I went for a follow up exam the week after I was sent home and was dilated 2 cm. Every appointment and L&D visit I was slowly getting more effaced. The contractions got worse every week and they would get to a point that I couldn’t stand them, would be 2 min apart I would go to the hospital and still be 2 cm. I felt I was losing my mind I just wanted the contractions to stop or to have my baby. His head was so low I felt he was going to fall out of me when I stood up I had tons of pelvic pressure for weeks this baby was low and ready to go. At my 38 week midwife appt my heart rate was really high and I was having contractions I could barely walk through, she checked me and I was 3-4 cm 90% effaced she swore up and down I was in labor so she sent me to L&D, they monitored me for a few hours, heart rate went down and they sent me home. That night my water broke, my midwife called it. We get to the hospital at 1 am water is gushing EVERYWHERE I mean I stood up and it splattered all over the floor more dramatically than the movies and I was checked, 4 cm fully effaced -1. I was BEGGING for an epidural idk how you mamas do it naturally y’all are the real hero’s holy shit I felt like I was dying and I was only 4 cm. I was always terrified of getting an epidural mainly bc of them having to put a catheter in you but I did not even feel it I felt the pressure and a bunch of relief and that was it. I was dilating more with each check and 10 hours later I was feeling ALOT of pressure I mean it felt like he was coming out but I didn’t feel the need to push and I was due for a check anyways. The nurse came in to ask how I was doing I told her about all the pressure so she immediately checks me. Her hand barely goes in before she goes “oh! Baby is right there!!!!” She goes to get my actual nurse who was on a lunch break (she was my nurse when I went into preterm labor and she was DETERMINED to have my baby she was so excited I made it to term” she comes in and gets everything ready while we wait for the doctor to come in I only got to do one practice push before they could see baby’s head and then told me to stop bc they wanted the doctor there. It was 11:30 am at this point the dr comes in and tells me with every contraction to push. We get started and everything is going well baby’s head is crowning after only 2 pushes and they kept telling me “just one more push!” But after a few more pushes baby’s heart rate was dropping and he still wasn’t coming out so they put me on oxygen we took a break 25 min of pushing they made the decision to give me an episiotomy bc there was a piece of tissue blocking his way of coming out and he was stuck. After he snipped snipped me only 2 pushes and my baby was out I felt the whole thing (it wasn’t painful just an amazing experience). They put him on my chest while they delivered the placenta and I just cried and cried. After all that pain, those horrible contractions for 5 weeks straight, my baby boy was finally here and he was perfect. Odin Alexander born April 16th at 12:07 pm 7lbs 4 oz 19” long. Due date was April 30th, but I believe he was born at the right moment. Welcome to the world beautiful boy, you made every moment I cried in the bathroom floor looking at a negative pregnancy test completely disappear💙🥰 thanks for reading my super long post ❤️

Going home from the hospital.

He’s a week old today and I could totally cry at how much he’s changed already 😭