I'm so excited I get to write my birth story! It's long, but I'm hoping it will help other new moms out there.

Baby was due 9/7 (we didn't find out gender) but I was woken up at 4am on 9/1 with cramps. I wasn't sure if they were the real deal, because I had been having lots of false labor for the past couple of weeks prior. Also, they didn't feel like I was expecting contractions to feel like. I didn't feel any tightening, only pain very low in my abdomen. I waited to see if they got worse, or closer together, and sure enough I started to feel the 'wave' of pain that would build then fade. At some point my husband was woken up by me breathing through them, and he started timing them. They were 15 mins apart at first, then quickly went to 10 mins, then before I knew it they were 3-5 mins apart. It was 8 am, and he made the call to go to the hospital to get checked. I still wasn't convinced it was the real thing!

Another thing I wasn't expecting was the nausea that would hit me after each contraction. As soon as the pain would peak and start to subside, a wave of nausea would peak. I was the super classy pregnant lady leaning out of the passenger door throwing up in the hospital parking lot.

We went to maternity, and when we walked up to the desk I was having a contraction and couldn't talk. My sweet quiet husband just told the lady "um, we think my wife is going into labor." We went to the back monitoring area, got all hooked up, and kept throwing up my ice chips. I had been walking around at 4cm and 75% effaced for over a week, so was thinking that some major changes must have happened between 4 am and then. Nope. Still at 4cm but 80% effaced. At this point the contractions were on top of eachother and I couldn't talk or even think through them. After 45 minutes, they checked again, and I was slightly more effaced, but that was it. Dissapointed was an understatement. Because of the frequency of my contractions and the amout of pain I was in, they didn't want to send me home. They talked to my doctor and gave me my options.

I could get checked in and "augment" my labor with pain medication and possibly pitocin, or take an oral pain medication and continue as I was. I had hoped for an all natural birth, but was open to listening to my body and doing what it needed. At this point, I could tell that I wasn't able to relax into the pain and let my body do what it needed to do to open up. I was so tense, that I knew I'd be at it for hours with little to no results. So I talked it over with my husband and decided to get checked in and get the epidural.

Once in the room, I had two back to back contractions and threw up so much I couldn't catch my breath. That was the worst. She gave me 'something to take the edge off', an anti-nausea med, and an injection to space out my contractions so they would have time to build properly and do what they needed to do. When she said that the meds would go straight to my head, she meant it! Apparently I was talking to hubby and would just trail off. I also thought I was sitting there with my eyes open being normal, but they were tiny little slits that he took a selfie of and sent to a group message with all my girlfriends saying "It's baby time!" Lol. They loved that. In my medicated mind, I still wasn't sure that it was actual labor. The nurse had taken away my contractions, so I thought they would send me home. 😂

The anesthesiologist came in for the epidural, and he was amazing. He took his time, took one attempt, and my favorite thing was that he didn't just give me the standard dose and leave. He gave me a half dose, let it take effect, and made sure not to over-do it. I could still wiggle my toes and move my legs, just had no pain. He was awesome. It seemed like as soon as the epidural was in, the other loopy drugs wore off. I was able to be my normal self when my family got into the room.

Husband was texting and calling everyone to keep them informed, and we were barely able to get ahold of my sister who is in college 9 hours away before she kayaked off into the wilderness.

They let me labor with just the Epidural at first, and within an hour I was at 7cm. My body really did just need to relax. I'm so glad that I wasn't too stuck on my birth plan to listen to what my body was telling me. I labored a little longer before they came and broke my water. For the last hour of my labor, I was started on a very low dose pitocin drip, to even out my contractions and give them the extra umph they needed. It was surreal watching the monitor and seeing them immediately even out and start peaking off the chart. Again, it's what my body needed. When the nurse came back in, I was at a 10! She had me sit up in bed with the soles of my feet together to help baby continue working down while the room was converted into delivery-mode!

I went from only wanting my husband in the room with me, to inviting my parents and my mother in law to stay and find out the gender of their first grandbaby with us! They just stayed up toward the front of the room. No money shots. ✌

I started pushing with the nurse, and a couple mins later my doctor was there and I finally accepted that it was actually happening. My delivery nurse was amazing, she was constantly helping to massage and stretch me so that I wouldn't tear. Toward the last set of pushes, I saw concern on both the doctor and nurses' faces, and they told me the baby's heartrate had dropped big time. They propped me to one side with pillows, and gave me an oxygen mask. We needed baby out NOW. It took two more sets of pushes, but she was out! I was able to reach down and feel baby's head while crowning. My husband got to announce that IT WAS A GIRL! Everyone in the room celebrated with us. Doctors, nurses, grandparents, and us. She had been born with her arm pressed against her neck, which had been cutting off circulation. Born at 4:52 pm. It was a total of 13 hours

of labor and 12 mins of pushing. I had two very small tears that took one or two stitches each.

I am so happy with how my delivery went. It wasn't what I had 'planned,' but ended up being so much better. I was surrounded by young, powerhouse women on my doctor and nursing team, and having my family in the room created an amazing memory for me, and for them.

We checked out of the hospital 24 hours later, with a healthy new mom and baby girl. ❤ Aida Frances ❤