I gave birth to my beautiful baby girl Kenlyn Aalyssa on Oct. 12th at 6:53 am. I was 38 weeks and 1 day. My actual due date wasn’t until October 25th.

So first let’s back up to Tuesday, October 10th. So on October 10th around 3 am I started having irregular contractions that would come and go, but I had an ongoing abdominal pain and lots of discomfort. Around 10 am, when I finally decided to get out of bed, I called my OB and talked with the nurse on call who told me that my baby girl probably had dropped more and to try to stay off of my feet as much as possible and relax until my appointment (which was the next morning), but if things got worse to call back because they’d see me that day instead. I followed the nurse’s advice and was able to make it to my appointment the next morning. At my appointment, I explained everything to my doctor and the discomfort and stuff I was feeling so he checked me and said that I was 4 cm dilated and almost completely effaced. He then told me that I could get induced next week if I wanted since I was uncomfortable and would be 39 weeks (if my baby girl didn’t decide to come before then.) We agreed to discuss it more when I came back for my 39 week check up. When we left the doctor I told my husband that I felt like she was either coming that night or tomorrow because I’d been achey and tired. So that night I decided to clean the house (I guess I was nesting lol) and get everything in order. Sure enough around 11 pm I began having contractions and my husband was timing them. They were happening about every 7-8 minutes. Then when midnight came I lost my mucus plug and my contractions increased to about every 5-6 minutes. Around 12:30, they started coming every 3 minutes, and I knew they had to be the real thing because I could no longer walk through them. So both me and my husband called his mom to come stay with our son and my mom to meet me at the hospital. By the time I got to the hospital at about 1:15 am they had slowed down to about 4 minutes a part but still very strong. When they checked me at the hospital I was 5 cm, and they decided to keep me. So they took me to my L&D; room, and the nurse asked me did I want an epidural. I was hesitant because I had my son naturally, but did want to actually enjoy my birth so after weighing the pros and cons I opted for one. When the anesthesiologist got there (about 1.5 hours later) and got me my epidural, the nurse checked me I was 7.5 cm dilated. So she told me to rest and she would be back. About an hour later she came back and I told her I was feeling some pressure so she checked me. And sure enough I was fully dilated. It was time to push! So after about 6 pushes my baby girl entered the world. It was the best feeling ever and I got to watch my husband cut the umbilical cord and enjoy our skin to skin (which I didn’t get to do with my because once I’d push him out I was out of it from the pain), and she latched on right away. I really enjoyed my birth experience this time and wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Kenlyn Aalyssa 6lbs 2 oz... 19 1/4 in long.

Kenlyn being held by her big brother Kylan Aamir.

Kenlyn 🎀