I'm so excited to share my birth story! Like all the other ladies, it's awesome to finally be able to share it! It's a little long!

So my due date was Monday 7/10 and I had no signs of labor at all. I had my appointment that day around 10AM and my doctor checked my cervix. The last two times I've barely been one cm and thick. I had been walking my big pregnant ass off in hopes this time, I'd have more progress. She checks me.... 2 cm **huge sigh**. She offers to strip my membranes as much as she can since there isn't much of an opening and boy, lemme tell you, that was so damn painful! She wasn't very successful because I just couldn't take the pain. She decided to give me a foley balloon. It was to be in my cervix and dilate me to at least a 3 then fall out on its own. It's a non medicated way to get things going so I was all for it. It was also painless to insert, thank goodness. My doctor put me on the elective induction list to try to get me in Tuesday.

Not long after receiving it, I began to feel contractions. They were mild and around 10 minutes apart. I walked around a couple stores. That evening around 7PM, I felt wetness on my underwear on my side (where the end of the foley tube was). When I checked, there was blood coming out of it. I freaked out! Mind you, since the foley was inserted, I began losing my mucous plug but this was straight up blood. I decided to cut the foley tube and drain out the liquid and the foley balloon came right out. I called the nurse and she said as long as I wasn't filling a pad with blood or fluid, I was fine.

My due date came and went. Tuesday 7/11: My contractions stopped after I removed the foley so I decided to walk my ass off as much as possible this day. I was determined to get labor started on my own because I did not want to be induced, especially after all the horror stories I've read. Around 2PM, my doctor called and wanted me to come in to see if the foley did anything at all because if I was still a 2, the hospital wouldn't take me. She checked me and I was a 4 and 70% effaced! I was so excited! After leaving her office, I began to get contractions (probably because she checked my cervix). They were 7 minutes apart. I went to the mall to walk so I could keep things going. Later that evening, the contractions were consistent but still only 7 minutes apart. We decided to go to triage around 9PM to see if I've progressed at all (and also in hopes to be admitted since I was going to be induced at some point anyway).

We went in and I was immediately hooked up to the machines. I was tolerating the contractions very well and I was also worried maybe they weren't strong enough. The nurse checked my cervix and said I was a 3! I said umm my doctor told me I was a 4 and she was like nope, you're a 3. I was pretty disappointed. The nurse gave me apple juice and used this little zapper tool to wake my baby up and get him moving because she wanted me to walk around the hospital for an hour and see if that does anything. He was up and active and they monitored me for a little while. The nurse came in and told me I had a BBB. A baby behaving badly. Apparently, every time I would have a contraction, his heart rate would drop to the 90s and she did not like that. They decided to admit me.

Still in triage, the nurse started me on antibiotic (group b strep positive) and pitocin. I was so worried because I heard pitocin is what really messes with the baby's heart rate. Luckily my boy tolerated them well. Took her 3 tries to get a vein for the IV. She ended up blowing one of my veins (it's still ugly and bruised!!). It took an hour before the pitocin changed my contractions. Around 3AM they became pretty painful and closer together. We were waiting for a room to open. I was beyond uncomfortable in that tiny ass triage room, on top of those shitty contractions!

Around 3:45AM they finally gave me a room!!! I was so ready for an epidural at that point! The anesthesiologist was absolutely amazing!! I was afraid I wouldn't be able to stay still during the epidural because my contractions were really painful but I did an amazing job and the nurse in the delivery room was the biggest sweetheart ever! She let me hold her and kept reassuring me I was doing a great job. I told the anesthesiologist that I was terrified of feeling myself tear again like I did with my first child. He said the epidural probably wasn't administered correctly because I shouldn't have felt anything. He assured me he would do the best he could to make sure I was numb. The epidural kicked in within minutes but it gave me the shakes really bad. The nurse put a catheter in me and went to check me and her eyes went huge. She said "umm, well, you're an 8, your water was bulging aaaand it just broke". She called my doctor and told her to head over.

I couldn't believe it was time. Not to mention, I labored without medication up to that point! I was proud and scared and excited all at once!! Seconds later I started to feel pressure. It felt like I had the urge to pee and poop so I knew my baby was coming! The pressure was so uncomfortable, I was crying. Crying because I just wasn't ready yet. The on call doctor decided to check me (mind you, the nurse JUST checked me minutes before) and he said "wow okay I'm suiting up. Your doctor probably won't make it in time. Shortly after he suited up, thank the lord above, my doctor walked in! She suited up and put my legs on the stirrups. The nurse tells me to give one big push and I push with all my might! In one single push, my beautiful baby is born!!!!! 4:08AM weighing 7 pounds 1 oz. It was absolutely amazing! I didn't feel a thing besides the pressure! I couldn't believe it was over! My baby is here! Joey is finally here!

She pulled him out and placed him on my belly. His cord was short so daddy had to cut it before he could be on my chest. He was so warm and beautiful with so much hair! I am so thankful that my pregnancy went so well and my labor was amazing. I love this boy more than words could explain. He is breastfeeding like a champ and the bond it brings is beautiful. We had to stay in the hospital for an extra day because he had jaundice and needed to lay on a photo therapy mat. He was on it for 15 hours. That was the hardest part for me. Luckily he was able to lay next to me so we were still close.

Thank you for reading my story!