My rare (and long) birth story😭

I decided very early on I would be going to a birth center and would be having my son unassisted. I’m pretty terrified of doctors and hospitals and medications and pretty much any type of procedure. Pretty much everyone told me I wouldn’t be able to do it, that i couldn’t handle the true feelings of childbirth. That i wasn’t woman enough to have my baby completely drug free. Which, of course, was fuel to this determined mama’s fire.

At 36 weeks even, Memorial Day to be exact, I end up in the hospital due to severe constipation and find out I’m 1 cm dilated and 70% effaced. BEAUTIFUL!! Let’s get this shit going then!!

I start seeing a chiropractor twice a week, every week. I’m walking daily, I’m bouncing on my ball, I’m making my husband do me on a regular basis. My pregnancy has been terrible and I’m wasting NO time getting him out. Much to my chagrin, it does fuck all. He stays high, turned and cozy in my womb like he has no clue he’s been ruining my mental state for 8 months.

So fast forward to 38 weeks and 3 days... I wake up at 3 am with some moderate cramping. Very quickly, it progressed to irregular but STRONG contractions. I called my step mom, who doubled as my doula and personal L&D nurse. (She’s been a RN in the L&D field for about 20 years now, working in both hospitals AND birth centers) She immediately rushes over and checks my dilation. IM FINALLY PROGRESSING🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽 She tells me I’m 4 cm and around 80% effaced. So we go walking a couple times, I’m bouncing, I’m downing cup after cup of red raspberry leaf tea and water. I’m getting this sucker O U T. After about 5 hours of contractions, i get to 5-1-1. Boom, time to call my midwives. They tell me to come on in and prepare to have a baby and I’m ECSTATIC.

I’m there about 3 hours and all of a sudden?? Nothing. Not a single contraction. Not even so much as a damn cramp🙄 Stays like that for an hour, so of course I get sent home.

I wait......4......whole.......days...... Bump up my chiropractor to every single day. Walking. Bouncing. Tea. Water. And I’m getting NOTHING. Countless people messaging me, bothering me about “WhEn aRe YoU goNnA pOp tHAt bAby OUt??” Idk Sherrel, whenever the fuck he decides to come. I’m CLEARLY not in control because who the ACTUAL hell wants to stall out at 5 cm for half a week???? NO. ONE.

Thursday morning, I have a chiropractic appointment and a prenatal appointment. My chiropractor tells me he’s finally stayed in opportune positioning for over 24 hours, he’s super low and he’s ready to go. All we’re waiting on is me at this point. Which, might I say, is the BIGGEST fuck you your body can give you. Like, “ hey girrrrrlllll, I know your child is completely ready to come out, but we’re just gonna hold on for a sec bc like....fuck you and the clique you claim.”

I get to my midwives and they’re like “the best way to get your baby out is how you got your baby in” and I’m like SIS I KNOW. I BEEN DOING IT ERRDAY. BUT PLEASE, GO OFF.

So I get home. I get into a little nesting fit, and my sister and I start scrubbing. I’m starting to cramp and I’m like

My husband gets home and I’m like DO ME. DO ME NOW. We get our freak on around 8, and within 15 minutes, I’m having real deal contractions. However, I don’t freak or get all excited because my midwives Warner me about how sex will bring contractions and spotting but it doesn’t necessarily mean anything🙄

By 10 pm, my contractions are still beyond irregular and not giving me much confidence. My man, sister and I all start getting ready to lay down and all of a sudden, I start leaking. I head to the bathroom to check the pH of the fluid to determine if my water has finally broken, begging my vagina, uterus and higher power to work with me on this🙏🏽

NOTHING. Not even slightly the right pH. COOL. I go to lay back down and get smacked in the puss puss with the WORST PAIN I have EVER felt in my entire life. I mean......... I’ve broken so many bones. I’ve been in so many car accidents. I’ve fallen out of so many showers. NOTHING compared to what I was feeling. All of a sudden, every 50 seconds, I’m having IN-TENSE contractions. However, because of my episode on Monday, I genuinely don’t believe I’m in labor. I refuse to accept I’m in labor. My sister calls my mom and she flies over. The second my mom arrives, i just start puking and pooping everywhere. I’m screaming I can’t do it and canNOT figure out what the hell I can do to help myself. She puts me in the shower and i just start LEAKING blood and clots. Mom calls the midwives and they’re like, “yeah get here ASAP.”

I get in the car, my husband driving, me and my mom in the back seat. All of a sudden, along with these contractions, I’m feeling the most inane need to push. I literally have to suck it in and just scream in the car because we’re a solid 5-10 minutes from the center. My moms telling me “ i don’t see his head and i don’t think your waters broken so don’t bare down.”

We finally get there at 2:30 and with standing and walking, I can no longer suppress the desire to push. I’m standing in the hallway, pushing.... They manage to get me into the room and in bed and start filling the pool. One midwife is trying to check my dilation but my contractions are coming so quick, I’m begging her to get out of me and let me push, still unclear if my water is intact.

I push probably 4 times and they tell me they can see his head through the sack and that I’m doing it. I genuinely was so in denial that I was like, “I’m having my baby?????” And they start laughing and are like, “yeah honey. You’re having your baby.” The next bout of contractions come and go and they’re telling me his sack is hanging out and asking if I want to feel it. I do, simply because I STILL don’t believe he’s coming. I reach down, feel his sack and just barely feel his head, and it sets in..... YOU’RE HAVING THIS BABY. I got so overzealous, they’re all begging me to slow down so I don’t tear myself. Then start covering themselves in chucks pads because they’re so sure I’m about to spray amniotic fluid all over them.

Two more pushes. His head, water still intact, is out. One more push. His shoulders, water still intact, is out. They tell me to grab him, and pull with my next contraction. Then and only then does my water break. Had I not grabbed him, he would’ve been born fully encased in his sack. 1 in 80,000 babies are born en caul, or in the sack.

So, at 3:03 am, Friday, September 27th, my beautiful baby boy was born, fully natural, and pretty much encased in his water.

Derick Avery Monroe-Rosario💕

7 pounds, 5 ounces, 19.5 inches and perfect

My beautiful placenta💕

We stayed at the birth center for about 3 more hours. Got discharged at around 6:15, home at 7.

He’s feeding beautifully, loves our kisses and just wants to cuddle💕