I finally have a moment to write my birth story!

I was originally due to have my little girl on June 23rd. However, she decided that would NOT be happening.

I went in for my weekly check up on Wednesday, May 24th. I explained to my OB the "pressure" I had been feeling for the past week and a half. She decided to go ahead and check my cervix. To both our surprises, I was 3cm and 100% effaced. She said she had never seen a first time mom be 100% effaced before 36 weeks. (I was 35 and 5 and this point). She then said to me "I will see you at your next appointment if you haven't already given birth by then." This whole time my husband is sitting in the corner turning more and more white with everything she says. We were not prepared for her to come this early. Not at all. We didn't even have our bags packed! We went home and packed our hospital bags and set them by the door.

Sure enough, the next day my contractions started. On a pain scale they were maybe a 4. But they were coming 3 minutes apart. So we headed on in to our birth center. They monitored myself and the baby and decided to give me some pain medication and muscle relaxers to get the contractions to stop. It worked for that night. The next day it was the same thing. I decided to stay home and just manage the pain myself. This went on for days. Until Monday morning I woke up with contractions almost completely in my back. Holy hell did they hurt. I could barely breathe through them. They were 12 minutes apart and not getting any closer. So I waited it out. The next day is when things started to get crazy. I hadn't slept since Sunday night, for only 4 hours. So I'm sleep deprived and have terrible back labor that is starting to speed up. When my contractions were 6 minutes apart we decided to head back to the hospital. Again, they checked me and I was still at a 3cm. So they gave me the option to wait and try and walk around for an hour or head back home. So again we headed back home. Not even 3 hours later we were back at the hospital because the pain was so bad I couldn't take it. It had been days with no sleep and no relief. This time they decided to give me that drug that starts with a T, the one meant to stop contractions. It worked for less than an hour. I decided to deal with the pain until the following morning because I had my appointment with my OB and I figured if anyone would help me, it would be her.

So it's now Wednesday morning. 10:20AM to be exact. I've been contracting for 6 days now. Haven't slept in 3 days. My OB comes in and I only answer her questions between my contractions; about every 3 minutes. She was very sincere. Telling me how sorry she was I was in pain and that she was going to check me herself and then send me to the hospital to get some pain medication and muscle relaxers so I could at least get some sleep. Which was all I wanted at this point. She check my cervix and said that I had progressed. But I was maybe a 3.5cm.

So I waddled my butt down to the car and we drove a whopping 2 blocks to the hospital to get some pain relief. The nurse had the drugs ready to go as soon as I came in. Luckily she decides to check my cervix herself. She checks and then tells me that she's going to call my doctor because in the 10 minutes it took to get from the doctor I had gone from a 3.5 to a 5cm!

Finally! I was being admitted to the hospital. All I wanted was an epidural. Mind you, I went in very open minded. I didn't want an epidural unless the pain was bad enough. After a week of this crap, mama was ready for the drugs. 😅 they got me to my room and started some fluids. About an hour later the anesthesiologist comes in to administer the goods. The first try did not work at all! In fact, it scared everyone in the room. He was placing the epidural when we all heard a very loud pop and I jumped because I felt that pop in my butt! He calmly asked me "did the pain stop, from the pop. Did it stop?" I said "yes, was that normal??" To which of course he says "Well no, but you'll be okay. Let's get this epidural in and then we'll talk." I was not about to argue because another contraction was coming. My husband had to sit down from the failed epidural because he cannot handle spinal pain and said he saw blood coming out of my back when he pulled the epidural out. Poor guy. So we finally get the epidural in and I was on cloud nine. I couldn't feel a thing and I was so damn happy. It had been about 2 hours since I had been admitted so they checked me and saw I was at 6cm. My nurse said she would check again in another 2 hours. With an epidural they have to put in a stupid catheter because 99.9% of women are unable to pee when given an epidural. My nurse and her assistant put in the catheter and I immediately tell them to take it out. No way. That was so incredibly uncomfortable. I don't know if they did it wrong or what. But it felt like death. But I still had to pee, so bad. My nurse laughs at me and tells me that I can try to pee the bed. She said they pads they have underneath of me could soak up 2 full IV bags. As she's explaining to me that I won't be able to pee. I'm just laying there peeing. Listening to her, knowing, and peeing like a freaking champ. I then tell her "I peed." To which she says "No. Your water probably broke." So she checks and says "well, you proved me wrong. Way to go!" I proceeded to pee freely throughout the rest of my labor, very proudly 😂

Of course my super bitchy mother-in-law shows up. Bitch comes in with food for her and her ex husband and my husband. I decided to pick my battles and not murder her then and there. Consider it was 4pm and I hadn't eaten since 8pm the day before... She then judges me for getting an epidural, because she didn't with her 3 kids. She continues to make annoying comments about how it doesn't even seem like I'm in labor because I'm not in pain... No shit, Sherlock. It's called pain relief.

Fast forward to my next check, 7 cm! Woohoo!

Nurse tells me that the doctor is going to head on up to break my water. I then kick everyone out of the room, besides my husband. The doctor on call comes up at 6pm and breaks my water. He doesn't even say anything. Breaks my water and then walks out. The nurse apologizes for his bedside manor and says they will come back in an hour to check me. An hour rolls around and my epidural is running out and I'm in pain. The nurse checks and sees I'm a 9cm and says I won't need anymore pain relief and that she's going home because it's shift change. 15 minutes later I'm in full blown pain. My new nurse comes in and apologizes over and over again and calls the anesthesiologist to come administer more pain relief. We try a few practice pushes but I can't breathe through the pain. Finally the anesthesiologist comes in and drugs me up. By this point my mother-in-law has come to the damn door 3 times to see "what's taking so long". This woman labored nearly 30 hours with all of her children. It had only been 2 since I kicked her out. So after a few choice words were said by me to the nurse to relay to my mother-in-law, the nurse politely tells her to stop coming to the door. Someone will come get her when I say so. So she takes off crying down the hall like a lunatic.

My pain was still at about a 9 but I was ready to push. So we start pushing. My nurse was holding my right leg and my husband was holding my left. Initially he did not want to see the birth, he was going to stand up by my head and I was 100% okay with that. But plans changed when the nurse asked him to hold my leg because the other nurse hadn't shown up to help yet and I was already pushing. After 15 minutes of pushing I told my nurse "I can't do this." She looked me right in the eyes and said "Yes, you can." I whimpered "okay" and started to push hard. At 8:22pm I felt the head start to come out. My nurse told me to take a deep breath and push once more. I decided not to let go of my current push, she was coming out in this one push! 45 seconds on one push and she was out! I heard her let out a cry and the nurse placed her on my chest.

She stopped crying immediately. I could no longer feel my pain. All I kept saying was "She's so perfect, she's so beautiful" as I cried looked at her and looking up at my husband. I honestly never thought that the love I had for my husband could ever be taken over by something else. But the love I had for my daughter in that moment was so great. So new. Like nothing I had every felt before. I looked up at my husband and knew that he felt the same way. We had only know her for a few moments but we would die for her in that moment and in every moment after.

The nurses came over and asked if they could take her because she needed to be checked. She was a preemie and was very tiny. I didn't see her for the next hour. My husband was with her while they checked her. My doctor delivered the placenta. Which is seriously one of the most disgusting things I have ever seen. And he stiched up my 2nd degree tear. I agree to let the family come in to see her. Apparently my mother in law was arguing with everyone about who gets to hold her first. I wish I was there to see her face when my husband said "I do, I haven't got to hold her yet." They had been running tests and check her the entire time. He had been holding her hand but had yet to actually hold her. No one but myself, my husband and the God mother got to hold her that first night. I kicked everyone out at 10:30pm because they were annoying and I was tired.

Arabella Rose came into this world at 8:22 pm on May 31st weighing exactly 6lbs and measuring 17.5 inches. She's my entire world.