Gave birth to my beautiful daughter at 7:03 am 9/11/2020. She weighed 7lbs 8 oz and 21 in long (ironically the same as her big brother). Due date 9/19/2020. Born at 38 weeks and 6 days.

I had my “bloody show” at 11:00 am 9/10/2020. Started having irregular tightening of my stomach (contractions) throughout the day. Barely noticeable. I called my doctor around 8 pm to let them know that I “think” I’m having irregular contractions and I had my bloody show. I asked when should I come in & what to look for. She told me to time them and when they were at least 5 mins apart I should come in to Labor & Delivery but not to wait too late. I took a warm bath about 10:30 pm and they were still irregular and didn’t hurt so I went to bed.

Around 1:45 am my toddler woke up screaming for no apparent reason (I guess he knew his sister was coming lol) so I got him back to bed and I still wasn’t feeling any painful contractions so I laid back down. Between 2:00 am - 2:30 am I was back and forth to the bathroom feeling like I had to pee but barely using it and feeling constipated. The last time I went I felt intense cramping and thought my water was breaking lol. The cramping went away but came right about 2 minutes later so I knew these were the real deal. I woke my husband and toddler and we headed to the hospital 30 mins away. I was having contractions every two minutes, God they were painful. 😩

We get to the hospital around 4:00 am and I get registered and checked in. Still having contractions at least 2 mins apart. They checked to see if my water had broken by inserting a qtip in me for one minute but it was unclear. The nurse also had to give me the nose swab for COVID-19 (HATEDDDD IT). She then tried checking my cervix but it was too painful so all she could tell was that her head was low and that I was at least 8-9 cm dilated already. 🤯

I started panicking because I thought I missed my window for the epidural but I was able to calm down enough and the Anesthesiologists came right on time to give it to me. 🙌🏽 My water also broke right before he walked in to give me the epidural. It was a pop then really big gush of fluids in the hospital bed.

They checked my cervix & the baby was right at the opening.!They inserted a catheter then let me enjoy the epidural for about 20 minutes before pushing. I pushed for about 10 minutes and she was out! Also had to get stitches for 1st degree perineal tear but it was all worth it. 🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽

Safe and speedy delivery just like I had with my two year old. #blessed #grateful

Hold on ladies, your happy ending is coming too! ❤️💪🏽

On a scale of 1-10 how painful was giving birth for you (not c-section) ? (Please comment)