I've been meaning to write my birth story for quite some time now lol and 8 months later I finally get the chance to do so. Alright here we go! Last year LOL my husband and I were expecting our first child, a boy (which my husband actively prayed for lol) due Nov 30th. Alright so let's go about 2 weeks before my due date I was 1 cm dilated ok no problem I'll continue to walk and all that good stuff. 1 week before my due date, still 1 cm dilated 😒 ok I continued walking and being active. The week of my due date which was also the week of Thanksgiving, my sister came to visit me hoping she would be here for the birth. That whole week I felt like I was having sporadic contractions and started to get excited. Like yes! He'll be here this week, 2 days before Thanksgiving, contractions got to the point where I could time them but it was up and down. Day before Thanksgiving I'm starting not to feel good along with contractions that were 15 mins apart then they would calm down. Thanksgiving day oh my Lord I felt TERRIBLE I couldn't even eat all the delicious food that both side of the family cooked and I truly thought I would be going to the hospital that night or either they would send me to the hospital the next day when I had my doctors appointment. So nothing happened that night, and my sister had to go back to NY the day after Thanksgiving so unfortunately my son didn't arrive while she was there.

My husband and I are on the way to the doc and I jokingly told him if this lady tells me I'm still 1 cm I'm gonna cry. We go in, she checks my cervix "you're still about 1cm dilated" 😳.......yep I cried for real. I didn't want to be induced but she told me that I needed to schedule a date for it (I declined)

She said she would stretch me a little bit, I had no clue what that meant but whatever she did the next day(Saturday) I knew for sure that what I thought I was feeling on thanksgiving was nothing more than super strong BH contractions and I knew 100% when I had a real one lol I was tolerating pretty well for a most of that day and night. By 11 they started to get more intense, my mom stayed with me at my house until my husband got home and when he got there I told him I think we need to go. He got our things and off we go. I got to the hospital (fast forward) she had me walk around for an hr and checked me afterwards and she told me that I was 2cm dilated 😒 lol

She said I was in early labor and I'll definitely know when active labor starts I won't be able to breathe through the contractions and yaddah yaddah

In my mind I'm thinking well I don't think it'll be that bad but ok.....yea, I ate every last word and thought I had about it not being that bad you hear me. We got back home at 2am Sunday morning and I wanna say an hr later I knew active labor was starting, the pain was intensifying as time went on. By 6 am I was waking up with each contractions breathing as hard as I could through them trying to focus. By 8am I was moaning and groaning through the contractions and they were coming closer together. 9 am I attempted to put something on my stomach, I tried to eat some cereal HA I had a painful contraction with each swallow lol

I asked my husband to run a warm bath for me to see if that would help....nope

When I got out of the tub I I had to stop walking and I was crying with each contractions. Yea this is the real deal

My husband got my clothes for me I had two pieces of clothing to put on, a shirt and a skirt, it took me FOREVER to get it on lol

That car ride to the hospital seemed like it took years and the hospital was only 15 mins away. I get there, nurse checks me "you're abt 4 1/2cm" 🙌🏾Now during my entire pregnancy I was sure that I would not get an epidural, all that went out the window

When I got to the room, she couldn't even finish her sentence before I answered "would you like an ep-" "yes!" she said it would be abt an hr 🙄 so I'm finally here in full blown labor, barely talking. They came to give me the epidural and I thank the Lord for it bcuz I know for a fact I would have been miserable. I was able to nap and relax a little. 15hrs of labor, 1 hr of pushing, my husband pulled our son out at 4:20am Monday morning Nov. 28th and I was just as blank as I could be LOL no expression

I think I was in disbelief that my 6lb 14oz baby was finally here. The pain was worth it but the epidural helped me enjoy the moment. Brandon Isaiah Smith 💙

Daddy getting ready to deliver lol

3 months

8 months