Born 4/30/18 via unplanned c-section and weighing 8lbs 12oz and 21 1/2 in long.

I started having contractions at 5:00pm on 4/28, 6 days past my due date. They were around 10-15 minutes apart and lasted through the night. The next day they continued and became stronger and closer together. My husband and I walked on the beach, went to breakfast, walked on the beach some more. By 1:00pm based on the 5-1-1 rule, we decided to head to the hospital. I was 3cm and fully effaced. I had planned to have a natural childbirth, so my husband had our doula on standby. My baby’s heart rate was decelerating after each contraction, so the hospital admitted me and called the on call doctor to come evaluate the situation (my OB was out of town that day). She decided it would be best to start a saline drip, rupture my membranes, insert an internal fetal monitor, and give me an amnio infusion. Baby’s heart rate was doing much better after those interventions. By then my doula had arrived. I knew my hope of having a natural childbirth was going to be much more difficult, as now I was confined to the hospital bed. My contractions progressed really quickly and I was having intense contractions every couple of minutes. They became increasingly intense and closer together so I finally asked to be checked (in my birth wishes, I wanted minimal exams and did not want to know how dilated I was). By midnight I had only dilated to 4cm...1cm in nearly 32 hours of labor! I couldn’t take the pain anymore and decided to get an epidural so I could get some much needed relief and sleep. Best decision I could have made! I was checked again around 2am and was at 5cm, so I tried to get some sleep and woke up at 5am. My OB was back on duty and came to check on us around 8am. She discovered that baby was sunny side up, my cervix had become really swollen, and that I was still only 5cm despite consistently good, strong contractions through the night. I received another amnio infusion and we attempted to get baby in a better position using the peanut ball. My OB said she would check back in two hours, but if there wasn’t improvement we would need to have a c-section. At 10am baby’s position was still bad and my cervix had swelled even more...and I was still only 5cm. The decision was made to schedule a c-section at noon. Around 10:30-11am, I spiked a fever and baby’s heart rate skyrocketed to nearly 200. I had ended up with an infection. All the nurses started hustling to get me prepped for surgery and get my OB back to the hospital immediately. I was rushed to the OR, as our situation had now become emergent. Baby was born at 11:51am. The nurses worked to stabilize him in the OR. After several minutes, I finally got to meet my son, as they allowed him to be placed briefly on my chest before he was rushed away to the NICU. Though my labor and delivery was nothing I had expected or planned for, my beautiful baby boy is finally here and we are both doing well! My husband and doula could not have been better sources of support and I’m so grateful to them and the hospital staff for taking such great care of me and my baby and ensuring we both made it through this experience healthy.