Finally getting to writing this a month since my son has been born!

So it all started at about 1 in the morning on July 27th. I had decided to try nipple stimulation to see if I could get labor started. Tried for just a couple minutes and then had to pee 😂 so I got up to pee and then noticed there was a little bit of what looked like "bloody show", went back to bed and started getting some period like cramping that kept coming for a while so I started timing them. By the time 6 am came around they had gotten more painful and were coming every 4 minutes! I woke up my husband, called the hospital, and then got the rest of my stuff together to go to l&d.;

So we get there and I get hooked up to the machine and they check my cervix.. literally only 1/2 cm dilated. 🙄🙄🙄 so they have me walk around a bit and check me again.. no change.. so they send me home. Later that evening the contractions started to get more painful (still coming every 4 minutes) so we head back to hospital- STILL NO CHANGE. They have me walk around some more and check my cervix a few hours later and I'm 1 cm. 🙄 I wasn't progressing fast enough so I couldn't get an epidural but I was in too much pain to be sent home so they gave me some morphine and something else to help me sleep. I slept some but would still wake up to some really painful contractions.

Morning comes and they check me again.. still at 1 cm.. but now my contractions were suuuuper spread out and no longer consistent. 😩 they have me walk around again to see if I can get the contractions to start coming consistently again. Didn't work. Got sent home again. 🙄 so discouraging!

Tried to get some sleep once we got back home.. but when I was getting a contraction it hurt pretty bad so I didn't get much sleep. Spent the rest of the day with my husband and mom eating and walking.. it wasn't helping much. Finally midnight came around (Saturday) and I was laying on the couch watching a movie with my mom while my husband took a nap and my water broke!!!! Contractions started to get super painful super fast. We rush back to the hospital and they check me to verify that it was my water that broke (it was). They check my cervix and now I'm at 2 cm. They ask if I wanted an epidural (which I very much did) and started to get all of that ready while we waited for me to progress a little more. They check me again after everything is ready and I'm at a 3 so they go ahead and give me the epidural. BEST THING TO EVER HAPPEN TO ME. I had zero pain.. I actually couldn't feel my contractions at all until right before it came time to push.

I started to feel the need to push and my nurse checked me.. I was at a 9 but she said she could stretch my cervix so she wanted me to try a couple practice pushes. I do those and then she tells me to just go for it! So I start really pushing and then after the first few pushes I hear her yelling for the dr and the other nurses to get in there because my son was coming fast. The whole pushing part seems like such a blur! My son was out in under 15 minutes of me starting to push. My husband was holding one of my legs and my mom was by my head encouraging me and they both got to watch our son being born. ❤️ it was such an incredible experience!

So here he is.. my little boy, Dax Ryan B 💙

Last photo is from today.. 1 month old 💙