Birth Story - an unplanned twist

Julie • Married the love of my life in July 2016 and we welcomed our first little one into the world on October 3rd, 2017! Currently pregnant with our second little love. ♥️

So happy to finally be sharing my birth story!

I was due 9/26 but our little one was too comfortable in there! After having some light contractions all weekend, I wound up checking in to the hospital on 10/2 at around 7pm to start the induction process. My doctor didn't want me to wait past the 41 week mark, which was the next day.

The gave me Cervidil to start softening my cervix. My water broke naturally around 5am and that's when contractions started to ramp up. Even though the plan was to give me Pitocin in the morning, they decided not to since my body started the process on its own. Contractions started coming closer together and the pain was INTENSE. I labored until about 1pm and had still only made it to 3cm, so I decided to get the epidural....man, that thing was MAGIC! I was able to relax, sleep, and my body started doing the work....I got to 5 cm by around 4:30pm.

Unfortunately, baby was not loving the contractions. Every time I had one, his heart rate would drop pretty low until it was over and then come back up. Doctors tried positioning me differently, giving me oxygen, and even putting liquid back into my uterus for the baby, but nothing solved the problem. Right before 5pm, my doctor let me know that she was advising a C-section....I was nowhere near ready to push and even though the baby wasn't in full distress, they didn't think it was wise to wait until I finished dilating. Of course, I agreed, but I was terrified...

Thankfully, everything went well and Ramon Jayden Reyes was born at 5:06pm, weighing 6lbs 14oz and 20.5 inches long. Dad got to tell me the gender when he was pulled out, and he came out crying, pooping, and peeing (typical boy)! He is perfectly healthy and a total love bug.

The lessons I learned from all this......get the epidural, be willing to change your plans for your LO and what's in their best interest. So glad everything turned out the way it did , and I would do it a million times over just to get to hold him each time! 😍