Birth story.

Background- I am a first time mom a month away from my 30th birthday. My own mom passed when I was 20 and I don't have any sisters. So... I literally knew nothing about pregnancy or childbirth. My due date was 11-10-17

This is long and detailed but I loved reading these stories while pregnant. I hoped to share mine and help any others through my experience.

My pregnancy was pretty textbook and enjoyable. I did have gestational high blood pressure. However, it was never high enough to do anything for, other than additional monitoring (non stress tests starting during week 36).

Anyway, week 37 hit me like a train. My dr still wasn't sure if it was baby sitting on a nerve or back labor but something was up. I could barely move because I was in so much pain.

Fast forward to Thursday of week 37. (37 + 6). I woke up to pink discharge. Odd I thought, I would call at 9 to the nurses line. I called in sick for the morning and told my work that I would try to come in the afternoon if everything was all right.

I hopped into the shower and then I started gushing liquid. It wasn't a huge gush- making me wonder was this my water? Blood came out as well. Maybe this is the beginning of my bloody show? I thought. It came trickling out, and came and went. Again, I didn't think it was my water because it didn't have a flow to it.

I told hubby and he stuck around until 9 when I got a hold of the nurses line. Well, they were not very helpful. They told me it was most likely my bloody show and not my water since it came and went, so I would be fine to go about my day.

I send hubby off to work and decide I'm going to go in to teach as well. I go to leave at 1145 and of course have to use the potty before I leave. In there another set of fluid and blood came out. 'Still must be my bloody show!' I told myself... plus, I already told work I was coming so I left to go in.

I show up and of course everyone is coming to talk to me. All of the women kept saying 'that was your water breaking! Call again!!!' Luckily my kids lunch starts at 1230 so I was able to call the nurses again.

I explained what happened and they say 'yeah why don't you go into l and d to be safe.' They laughed when I said 'well, I'm crazy and I went to work so can I wait until 3pm to go?' I was given the ok to wait since if it was my water it hadn't been 12 hours (infection can happen after 12).

I leave work right at 3 and meet hubby at home. We head over to l and d where they take me to triage.

I begin to be monitored and I'm complimented on my almost clear pee (woo hoo for hydration). Haha! I'm having some contractions on the monitor but I can't really feel them. The doctor comes to check the fluid as well as my dilation. My bp starts to go up as well and I'm thinking 'well this is interesting.'

I was at 1 cm and 50 percent effaced. The fluid was interesting to say the least. The doctor commented on how bloody it was and that they would do two tests to see if it was amniotic fluid. Go figure-one test came back positive. The other came back negative. She ordered additional blood work to see if I had preeclampsia. That all came back negative, but my white blood cell count came back very high.

My dr said she wasn't comfortable sending me home with mixed results on the fluid and my bp going higher and with a high WBC. She suspected that I had a small leak at the top of my water bag, which is why I had mixed results and never a true gush. She was that should would've liked to see baby stay in another week, but since I was 4 hours away from being 38 weeks, she wanted to move forward with labor.

I was given an iv and moved to a room where they started pitocin. I labored for 5 hours on my own. The nurse then told me the epidural doctor was right in the hall if I was ready. Well it was 1am and I wasn't going to play with the pain anymore. If he got called into a c section I would lose my chance for a few more hours. He came in and I got the epidural. Man... this was such and odd feeing, but nevertheless a lifesaver.

My rookie mistake was not eating before coming to the hospital. The epidural gave me a chance to rest as I was dying from hunger at this point. Hubs and I both went to sleep on and off through the rest of the night.

In the morning I was checked around 8am. I was 7cm! But then... the day felt like it began to drag. I didn't start pushing until 107pm. I still don't know if I was waiting for the doctor or if it just took that long to get to 10.

I pushed for an hour and the doctor and team came in. I seriously don't know how I got through this. The epidural took away the pain, but I could feel it all. I was in tears trying to push her out. It felt like an out of body experience.

But then, at 236pm my life changed forever.

Kyla Marie joined the world on 10-27-17.

She had gotten stuck at the end because she turned her head, which is why I was in so much pain. Her cord was also around her neck. I had a second degree tear. But she scored a 9 on her testing and was soooo healthy.

My husbands dad passed away three years ago in September after a 10 day (yes day) fight with liver and lung cancer.

10-27 was his birthday. Now he shares it with her.

6 pounds 14 ounces and 21 inches.