I’m a little late with this, but I have been wanting to write this down while it’s still somewhat close in my memory.

Let me just start by saying what my “birth plan” was. Nothing too detailed - I wanted to be mobile as long as tolerable and then get an epidural. The mobile part was important to me because I wanted to help move the process along and I didn’t want to feel “stuck” to the bed.

So, at my 36 week check I was 2-3 cm dilated and 70% effaced. Good news!

The next week, at my 37 week check, I was 3-4 cm dilated and 80% effaced. My OB said she would be shocked if she saw me the next week for the next check.

Well, my stubborn little guy was holding on, and at the 38 week check my OB was indeed shocked that I hadn’t had him yet. I was at 4 cm (she didn’t say how effaced I was), and she stripped my membranes. This was a Wednesday. Throughout Thursday and Friday I had Braxton Hicks off and on and just rested most of those days. I was really hoping that my water would break because then we wouldn’t have to worry about going to the hospital too soon and having to be sent home.

Friday throughout the night I had three pretty strong contractions, but spread out enough that I went back to sleep after them. After the third one, I decided to go to the bathroom since I was already awake. As soon as my feet hit the bathroom floor my water broke (at 6:15 am.)! I woke my husband and we both very excitedly got dressed and our stuff packed into the car.

We started heading for the hospital while I called my OBGYN office to let them know we were on our way. We were so excited!

When they checked me I was at 5 cm. Contractions didn’t start until around 9:30 am. My mom, husband, and two older sisters were in the laboring room with me. I moved from rocking chair, to birthing ball, to standing and swaying, to walking down the halls. I got my wish to be mobile! The next time they checked me after that first time was around 10:00 am, and I was at 7 cm. I knew that the next time they were going to check me was around 1:00 pm, and as it was getting close to 1:00 the contractions started to get really bad. I decided that after they checked me I wanted the epidural. But really, the whole time leading up to that was calm and happy for me, even with the contractions getting worse.

Well, when they checked me, I was still at 7 cm. Even though I had been mobile and moving, the contractions got to the point that I couldn’t relax through them, and I would get so tense that I couldn’t progress. At that point I was discouraged because I didn’t want a long labor, and I thought that the epidural would only slow things down even further.

I got the epidural, which took a little bit longer than normal because he said he struggled to find one of the “holes” in the spine. But I have to say, getting the epidural was one of the best decisions! I felt great after I got it and went back to talking/relaxing with my husband, Mom, and sisters. They also put me on a little bit of pitocin, but I didn’t feel a thing thanks to the epidural.

At one point, sometime between 3:00 and 4:00 pm, several nurses came rushing in and staring at the monitors. One asked how I felt, to which I said that I felt fine. But after a minute I started to feel dizzy, light-headed and very warm. What had happened was my blood pressure had dropped to 70/40, and the baby’s heartbeat dropped below the line. They tilted the bed head down, and for about 15-20 minutes they watched and worked to g

et my blood pressure back up. Finally, after giving me something that the Dr. okayed, my BP came back up, and so did the baby’s heartbeat.

The next time they checked me, around 430-4:45 pm, I was at 9 cm! My nurse told me that if I started to feel any pressure at all to page them. Nervous because I wasn’t quite sure what that was supposed to feel like with an epidural, I finally called her back in to say that I thought I felt pressure. She checked and said, “

Oh, wow, he is right there and ready to go!”

So at 5:05 pm my sisters left and the the nurses did two practice pushes with me. After the second one she said, “Ok, don’t push because he is right there and it’s time to get the Dr. in here!”

She came and a few pushes later Elias Karter was born at 5:16 pm on August 9, weighing 7 lb. 11 oz and 20 in long! We are smitten with him. And the labor and delivery was such a positive experience for me! We are so blessed! 💙💚