It’s pretty long, but I put a lot of detail especially because people had a lot of questions about the Cholestasis diagnosis and as a FTM I know I had TONS of questions about labor, delivery, induction, the whole bit! I think I made it pretty interesting, plus my baby is SUPER cute, so that’s a bonus at the end! ❤️

Thank y’all for the support y’all showed me through this whole ordeal! Y’all are amazing! Can’t wait to read all the birth stories of the mamas with little ones still on the way!! October is in full swing, so let’s get these babies out! ❤️❤️❤️ Here goes!

My birth story started like many... just me, waiting for my due date. Waiting for the contractions to start. Waiting for my water to break. Waiting for any sign that my sweet little baby was coming soon! Originally, I was due October 20th. I felt like I’d been pregnant so long, time moved backward at certain points.

Around 10pm Friday (38 weeks), I started having a weird itching on the bottoms of my feet. So I tried a few things and A few hours later, my feet were still itchy and now the palms of my hands were going nuts with itching! It was so uncomfortable that I couldn’t possibly fall asleep. There was no rash that I could see. Just this weird, sub-dermal itching. I started doing some research. Cholestasis kept coming up over and over and aside from the yellowing, I met pretty much all of the symptoms. Meanwhile, the itching was getting worse and had spread to pretty much everywhere – my face, my legs, my neck, my stomach, my butt... everywhere. Still no rash.

So far, I hadn’t slept more than a couple hours through the night and the itching had not slowed down at all. I decided to call my doctor’s after hours line to talk to the on-call around 4:30am Saturday morning. When I spoke to her, she told me it probably wasn’t cholestasis and that I should take some Benadryl and try to get some rest. She wanted me to wait until my scheduled appointment on Wednesday to talk to my doctor about it. She said if I was still concerned after the Benadryl, I could come in to the birth center and get checked. This didn’t sit well with me, but I tried it anyway. Benadryl didn’t help at all. Go figure. At this point I had already figured out what was wrong with me, my only issue was figuring out how serious this was and if I should wait it out, as she suggested.

My husband had gone to work about 4 am and was clueless to any of the things going on with me. I didn’t want to worry him if it was just a false alarm. Around 9 am I fell asleep for 2 hours and when I woke up, still itching, I called my best friend to bring me to the hospital.

Bestie came to pick me up around 12:30 and I let my husband know to be on standby because it was possible I would be induced, though I was pretty certain of the impending outcome. We decided to go load up on food before hand just in case I was induced (which I HIGHLY recommend to anyone in a similar situation), so we are Raising Canes and headed to the hospital.

I walked up about 2:45 and told them I thought I was experiencing symptoms of cholestasis and almost everyone at the counter clearly didn’t believe me. Lol. They were professional about it and followed protocol, but you could tell they got a lot of “I’m itchy and I don’t want to be pregnant anymore so induce me” walk-ups. They got me all weighed in and put me in triage and the on-call doctor came in to asses me. Before she even finished walking through the door, she said, “Okay, so you don’t have cholestasis and let me tell you why...” and she proceeded to list off reasons as to why I DEFINITELY didn’t have it. So after she was done, I smiled and said “Okay great. But you’re still going to test my blood for it right?” She said she’d send the lab tech in and within 45 minutes, my blood had been drawn, sent off and come back. The doctor and my nurse walked in laughing and the doctor said, “I don’t get to say this much in my career... but I was wrong and you were right. Your levels were elevated and you have cholestasis. We’re getting your room ready and we’re going to need to start your induction ASAP. You’re not going anywhere until you have this baby.” We all had a good laugh and she took the blow to her medical ego pretty well. 😂 And now I’ll do a play by play of my timeline to speed this story up...

5pm: First cytotec inserted vaginally to soften cervix. I went in 50% effaced and 1.5 cm dilated. The plan was to administer cytotec every 4 hours for 12 hours. That didn’t happen.

1:30 am: I was dilated 3 cm. Still 50% effaced. I felt no contractions, though the nurses swore I was having some pretty substantial ones. 🤷🏼‍♀️

2 am: My contractions were too close together to continue cytotec. Pitocin drip was started after only 2 doses of cytotec. I labored for the next 10 hours with very little change.

12:30 pm: My doctor came in to check me and I was only at 2 cm. She decided to break my water. THAT WAS INSANE YALL. Let’s just say, everyone in the room was shocked at how much fluid was actually in there. The nurse said she hadn’t ever seen anything like it. 😂

8 pm: I had been in labor for 27 hours now and was only at about 60% effaced and 4 cm out of all of that time. I was dealing with the contractions pretty well... For the record, THE SHOWER IS A LIFE SAVER. I was too active with my pain techniques to use the external monitors, so the inserted an inner catheter contraction monitor. Basically, it was a little tube that they slid in there to rest inside my uterus right beside the baby’s head and it measured how strong my contractions were. It wasn’t pleasant getting it up there, but after it was there, it was completely unnoticeable. My contractions began to get stronger and I now realized that sleep was going to be impossible for the third night in a row. I had a tough decision to make.

I called the nurse in with my husband and we talked about my sleep deprivation and her honest opinion on our safety if I continued to labor naturally without any sleep. We all three came to the conclusion that an epidural was the best option for me and the baby so I called my birth plan quits and got the epidural.

10 pm: EPIDURAL - WHEW! Sweet INSTANT relief. My contractions were completely painless almost instantly. I was still able to move a little, but I was FINALLY able to relax enough to see how tired I was. The nurse did some assessments after my relaxed state had set in and told me that the pattern showed that my uterus hadn’t had a full “release” since the first round of cytotec so basically, I had been having one long contraction for more than 24 hours. 😩 I slept like a baby, y’all. It was amazing. I was instantly glad that I got the epidural.

3 am: Started to wake up here and there with pretty strong contractions even though I had pain meds. Only right side. I was still able to sleep though. I was still amazed at how much better my mind felt after relaxing. Apparently my body felt it too because I was FINALLY making progress.

5:30 am: I had finally made it to 7 cm and 80% effaced! (Hint for those in labor: request the peanut to help you get there) Contractions were starting to get painful, but the nurses said that’s not uncommon.

6:45 am: I woke up and my doctor came in and checked me. I WAS FINALLY COMPLETE!!! she sent out for the medical team and told me to get ready to push!

7:02 am (Exactly): Everything was set up and ready for me to push!

7:14 am: It took 4 contractions and 8 pushes and she was out. ITS A GIRL!!! Dr said she’d never seen a FTM be so good at pushing. I was just winging it, so I guess that’s pretty good! 🤷🏼‍♀️ And I DID NOT POOP DURING DELIVERY! Yay! 😂

My cervix was completely worn out and wasn’t contracting back so they had to basically pound it to get it to start so I’d stop bleeding. My placenta detached and came out on its own without pull or push. It Just sort of fell out... so weird. I had a second degree tear. I didn’t feel it happen and I didn’t feel them stitch it up. She had meconium so we couldn’t delay clamping. She was fine though! They put her on my chest and she started nursing pretty perfectly right away. She fed for over an hour. Both sides twice. SHE IS PERFECT!

June Austen Bullock

6lbs 14oz

19.5 inches