I always want to tell this story, not sure if I already have, but I had a pretty perfect labor all things considered. This was my first child, I am now pregnant with my second.

I started having mild contractions about midday on Sunday, the 22nd of December, at 39 weeks and 6 days. They weren’t Braxton Hicks but they weren’t terrible and I assumed I was dehydrated like I had been every other time I had contractions that week. Played my video games through them and ate lunch and complained to my husband, but I had started tracking them anyway, since it was a day before I was due.

So around 8pm or 9pm they had gotten pretty frequent but weren’t very strong still so I was mostly ignoring them. When I checked they were 5 min apart and 45 sec. long. I told my husband I was gonna shave my legs in case we went to deliver that night. (Lol priorities) I took my phone with me to keep tracking and shaved my legs (which took about an hour between my huge stomach and having to pause for each contraction)

When I was done, my contractions were strong, very painful and very close together. I was clocking them at 3 min apart, 45 sec long. However, I could still speak through them, and after speaking with a friend who had experienced labor before, decided it wasn’t time to go yet. My husband asked me to cut his hair and beard so he could greet our son with a fresh look, and since we were still waiting to go, I did. (Again, delayed by frequent pauses for contractions, it probably took about 30-45 min) He tracked my contractions for me through that, and wondered if we should go to the hospital. I asked him why, and he said they were getting to be 2 min apart, but they still weren’t quite a minute long, so again I asked my more experienced friend, and she told me if I was able to text her still then I probably wasn’t in labor.

They stayed steadily 2 min apart and at 11:30pm, we went to the hospital that was 5 min away. The roads were empty in the middle of the night, the week of Christmas, but that 5 minutes of agony felt like forever. I called my mom (this was pre-COVID, 2019, so she was going to be there) from the waiting room/sign-in area and told her not to rush, that I wasn’t having crazy strong contractions, but we were here just in case. I filled out my own paperwork, and was fine, except that I couldn’t sit down comfortably, so I spent my wait bent over, holding the arms of a chair, still tracking my contractions, which were 1 minute and 30 seconds apart.

They didn’t take me to triage, just straight to a room, and there was practically no one else around. The nurse gave me a gown to change into and said to put it on and have a seat on the bed. So I changed, went to sit down, and felt a sudden gush come out of me as I sat.

They told me I was 6cm dilated, my water had just broken, and as soon as that happened I began shaking uncontrollably, and sweating. I’d initially said I wanted to play it by ear before getting an epidural, so I wasn’t hooked up to anything at the time. They had to rush an IV to get me some fluids bc I was sweating so much.

Then I got my first contraction since my water had broken.

I can’t remember much around this time beyond, “oh, actually I would like that epidural now,” and “sorry I’m so sweaty.”

I kind of remember them apologizing, because they were trying to give me fluids so I could have the epidural, but I kept sweating through them.

When the anesthesiologist came I was soaked, wailing, and saying “I’m scared of the needle and I might poop” (I didn’t! But I still kept saying “omg I pooped didn’t I?” And they repeatedly assured me it was the baby) Because I said that, the nurse checked me again while I was laying on my side and they were placing the needle (about an hour since my water broke) and I was 8cm.

The epidural did not kick in immediately, and never on my right side, but I had watched a lot of vlogs about hospital deliveries, so I turned onto my right side, hoping that would get the medicine where it was needed. A nurse saw me still powering through my contractions and asked if my epidural wasn’t working and I was like kinda, not really, and she got the anesthesiologist to come back and he pumped up the volume, and since I was still sweating and shaking, they gave me a fourth bag of fluids.

The epidural kicked in fully about an hour after I received it. They asked me if I was okay and did I feel any pressure, so I blissfully told them I could feel absolutely nothing below my waist.

My nurse was like 🤔 and said “lemme check you one more time”

And I was 10cm dilated!

They said don’t push while we waited for the OB who was finishing up another delivery, but I couldn’t feel anything, so I was vibing, eating my ice chips.

He was taking a while, so my mvp nurse was like, wanna do some practice pushes? So I was like sure, but I still couldn’t feel ANYTHING down there, so nothing was happening. So I was doing this thing where I would try and make my bottom half react by pulling myself into a crunch with my arms by grabbing the side bars. And I guess that did something, bc my nurse was like 🤔 and she flipped up a handlebar attachment at the bottom of the bed, like a low-set pull-up bar, like “this might work for you” so I pulled myself into even tighter crunches with that. We did three of those with counting to 10 and she said “OKAY OKAY STOP let’s wait for the doctor”

And he showed up about 5 minutes later and I gave birth in 2 pushes after that at 4:16am on my baby’s due date.

Some of my labor was hectic, but the medical team taking care of me really made it all work. Grateful for them and for my son. Can’t wait to share the next labor adventure and hope it’s as smooth as the first was.