I went to see my OB on Monday, October 23 at 38 weeks exactly. I had him check my cervix because I was POSITIVE I was making progress. Nope. None. Zilch. I had mentioned before that there were only 2 days I was avoiding delivering on: October 27 (my son’s birthday) & Halloween. Unfortunately, since I wasn’t dilated, I couldn’t be sent to the hospital & he couldn’t induce me at only 38 weeks. I left completely defeated. My 5’3” frame couldn’t bare to carry 205 lbs anymore..my knees hurt, my back hurt, my hips hurt, I was swollen from head to toe, I had carpal tunnel, the list goes on. I. Was. Miserable. I knew I was supposed to be uncomfortable at that point but not THAT uncomfortable.

I went about my week. At this point I had officially gone on maternity leave. Being a hair stylist, my back & wrists couldn’t take much more.

I started feeling different that Thursday, the 26th. My mom had stopped by and without my saying anything she asked if I was in labor. I told her I wasn’t 100% positive but i thought so. I decided not to mention it to my SO so he didn’t freak out for no reason. My mom & I went to Wally World that night; I wanted to walk around to see if that jump started anything plus I needed a few things yet. When we got back I wasn’t having hardcore contractions so I told her it was probably a false alarm & to head home.

8am the next morning I woke up out of a dead sleep saying “ow ow ow!” I had to pee SO bad! I’m trying to push my fat ass cat off my bed out of the way but he’s too lazy to move so I started climbing over him trying not to pee all over. I was trying to hold it to the bathroom when my efforts failed because MY WATER WAS BREAKING EVERY DAMN WHERE! I woke up my SO so we could get things together. After an hour I decided we should head to the hospital since I heard your second usually goes quicker. Quick pit stop to Dunkin donuts & we were on our way to meeting our baby girl.

Checked in, gown on, IV in, we were good to go! I opted for the epidural at a measly 3cm. Shortly after my first nurse mentioned baby had had a bowel movement because she saw some meconium had came out of me. I panicked a bit but she said it was normal. A couple hours later was shift change. The next nurse came in, checked me, more meconium, LOTS of meconium. She said she thought baby might be breech so she checked me again & said she thought she could feel a butt but wanted a second opinion. Ultrasound tech rolls in. Sure as shit, she’s breech. Bing bang boom, next thing I know we’re having an emergency c-section and I’m PETRIFIED. Crying hysterically, hyperventilating and then all of a sudden, I’m calm. (The anesthesiologist had gave me a sedative to calm me down.) So at 530pm, October 27, my son’s birthday (remember how I wanted to avoid that day? Yeah, didn’t happen.), Francesca René came into the world at 6 lbs 9 ozs & lit up our lives!