All pregnancy was going very well, baby was measuring fine and I felt amazing. Except the fact I had difficulties gaining weight (I was always nauseous (first and 3rd trimester) and when I ate (mostly carbs) all gained kg were gone the next morning. I only gained 11 kg (25 lbs) in total, and my doctor told me I should gain more weight.

Braxton hicks started early at 28 weeks, but I was never dilated, not even 1 cm.

At 37 weeks I was told I should be induced at 39 weeks because baby’s growth suddenly went down from 56 percentile to 17 just in few weeks. My doctor said that looks like my placenta is not delivering enough nutrients to my baby but didn’t know the reason why. To be safe, I agreed. Whatever is best for the baby. His actual due date was supposed to be 08/13.

On Monday night (08/05) I went to the hospital at 10:30pm but they were so busy that the beds were not available. I had to wait 3 hours when they took me for a check up. Finally I got in the room at 1:40am and the nurse set me up with Cervidil at 3am.

Only after 1-2 hours I started to feel discomfort and pain.

Around 5am I started getting contractions and soon after some vaginal pain and bleeding. The pain was pretty strong, I couldn’t sleep. Thankfully my doctor allowed me to have liquid diet (even though the nurses were shocked and said I shouldn’t be allowed to have anything).

In the morning at 12pm I was 1 cm dilated and had strong pain in my cervix. I didn’t know that this “softening/ripening” will be that painful. I assume my pain tolerance is pretty low.

At 3 pm I received Pitocin when I was just 1.5 cm dilated. I was also in lots of pain (from Cervidil) so at 3:30pm I chose to get an epidural (even though my initial choice was against it. I was so paranoid not to be able to sit straight during the needle part that my decision was to get it before I’m in even bigger pain. The nurses again were surprised that my doctor offered me epidural only at 1.5cm but she said, “Why to have pain? If you were my daughter I wouldn’t want you to suffer. But it’s your decision.”

The needle part was really terrifying for me (the scariest part!) but soon after epidural kicked in, all the pain was gone. I could finally relax. I could still feel light contractions but I was so calm now. My legs felt heavy and tingly but I could still feel and move them. The funny part I got really bad itch from the epidural. My whole upper body (especially chest and shoulders) were so itchy. I remembered my sister also told me that she was very itchy after epidural.

At 4 pm my doctor broke my water when I was 3cm and 70% effaced. It really didn’t hurt, I almost felt nothing.

I was 6cm by 8pm and 10cm by 10pm.

Soon after my doctor checked me and said “Ok, now I’ll teach you to push!” I also asked for mirror so I can see my baby coming (otherwise I’m jealous on my husband who sees it all!) At 10:10pm I started pushing but one hour later baby’s head still refused to come out so my doctor performed an episiotomy. And I’m glad she did, otherwise the tearing could have been really bad. I’m not even sure I could have pushed my baby out without the episiotomy!

Soon after my doctor asked if I want to get my baby out! So I pulled my baby out on my chest and he was with me for the time my doctor did all the cleaning and stitches.

He was so small and beautiful, and he kept crying very silently. It all felt like a dream.

My husband cut the umbilical cord (doctor told us the cord was around baby’s neck but loose). Stitching process was a bit painful (but I had skin to skin during that time, so I didn’t care about the pain) as my epidural stopped some time before the baby was born, also the final pushing was pretty intense. However, it was all so worth it! I would do it all over again!

My baby was born on August 6th at 11:22pm.

Weight: 6lbs 13oz, Height: 19.5” 💙 🙏

He had some light jaundice. I noticed his colour was pretty dark, later yellowish/orange and I got worried. Doctor told us to keep him in indirect sun (early mornings) for 10-15 minutes every day. After about a week he was good.