(Unfortunately I cannot post pictures of our beautiful baby girl her dad does not approve )

I remember with my first when I was dilated to 1 for a month and having Braxton Hicks constantly , he came two days before his due date I remember the painful contractions and labor .

Ok so now this is my second , at 36 weeks I was feeling tightening on my tummy . 🤷🏻‍♀️ no biggie they were Braxton Hicks , but my husband insisted on timing them . They were consistent and 2-5 min apart so we went in . Come to find out I was 1 1/2 dilated and was having real contractions ( not painful just tightening of my tummy ) . So of course I was sent home !

Well 37 weeks comes up and my doctor gives me the okay to self induce at home ( at this point my hip pain was horrendous and I couldn’t sleep or walk barely or make it to the bathroom on time ) . We are trying sex everyday , yoga ball, raspberry leaf tea . NOTHING

38 weeks comes up now my doctors appointment is on a Thursday and I go in and tell her everything we have been trying with no avail , and just feeling the tightening ( You would think they are Braxton Hicks ,just wait ) . Doctor says let’s check you at first she’s like where is your cervix ? And I’m sitting there holding my husbands hand going what do you mean ! She finally after some moving goes OH! Your 4cm dilated ! So she scraped my membranes we go home and nothing still :/

So at this point I’ve done walking up and down stairs , walking , yoga ball , sex , raspberry leaf tea , pineapple .... ANYTHING. Till finally I have a doula friend who suggests castor oil , now I know a lot of you would go “ oh your stupid for doing that , I can’t believe you’d put your baby in danger “ blah blah ... I took a tablespoon in a Jamba Juice . I had diarrhea twice and that was it! I made sure to drink water but the tightening on my tummy started all over again . We went in and I was contracting ( even if I didn’t feel them they were a little uncomfortable) well I wasn’t progressing so we went home . That night i sneezed and felt like my body was launching her at my cervix ... the most painful thing ever and it kept going ! So my doctor said induction was a good option and we set a date for 3 days after I had taken the castor oil . ( the doctors knew I took it and were not concerned at all )

So at this point my husband was getting mad because he believed I was contracting and wasn’t feeling them and they kept saying it was false labor . Well then comes .....

Induction day . So we went in after all this prep at home and I was head set on the pain that was about to happen from pitocin . We check in and they struggle to get two IVs in me ( I’m a hard prick ) . They offered me food, then my doctor comes in to check me before they start pitocin , well apparently I was already in labor , didn’t even know it and was not feeling the pain ! I was 51/2 dilated with a ripe cervix that was still dilating , so she pops my water . No pitocin for me !!

My husband was right lol

BAM ! Contractions hit and omg painful , I was able to finish my food and I asked for an epidural , when they came to check me I was at a 7 cm a hour after my water broke and they said okay , if your getting one get it now . So the guy came in my husband holding my hand the nurse helping me breathe through contractions and the screaming pain of the needle in my back ( mainly the numbing needle ) . Then he put it in and he had 1mm to put it in one spot if he moved away from that spot my hips nerves would be in excruciating pain ! So for 30 mins I was crying and yelling “ right hip ! Left hip ! Right hip!” Finally it was in and I got position and my toes start getting tingly .

After that I couldn’t notice my contractions and neither could they so they put a monitor on her head and put a contraction monitor thing inside me ... I felt very awkward with so many cords including the catheter sticking out of me . So I finally got to sleep for maybe two hours ? ( I couldn’t sleep the night before ) they came in and checked me and I was at about an 8 still hadn’t progressed . So I got some sorbet since I felt like I was going to puke and water . This point my right leg is completely numb and my left is too but not as much .

So after I eat the sorbet I take another hour nap and all of a sudden I feel sharp pressure in my vagina and I thought they were contractions so I pushed my epidural button for the first time . Then it kept going and the nurses came in and were showing the new nurse how they set up their tables and I tell them what I’m feeling . So she checks and she’s like oh I can feel babies head there’s literally no more cervix . So they get Everyone in there , both my legs numb as all fucking hell so they lift my legs up and my husband is helping me grab my leg my ob helping with the other .

So mind you I can’t feel my contractions so we are watching the monitor waiting for the next one to start and then I start pushing , still feel absolutely nothing just know I need to push like I’m pooping lol. 30 mins later and the last and final push I just feel a relief as she comes out

, all that weight gone ! She’s so beautiful with the softest girly cry ever and a head full of

Hair lol .

Then I got her to latch and she fed for 15 mins almost more ! But then she pooped aaaaalllll over me lol . The nurses come in and clean her up and wash her hair for me . They clean me up and I have to use a sit to stand in order to go to the new room .

We get settled in first night was hard getting sleep , second day the day we were supposed to leave my husband brings me a necklace that says my love with a mollusk to open and get a pearl to put inside the necklace ( so sweet ) . As I am trying to set up a lactation appointment and feed her she chokes on a flem ball :( scares me so bad because she stops breathing . So I am trying to calmly suction what I can and we call the nurse in . Matter of seconds the NICU team

Is there and get her to breathe again . They want to keep her overnight . So scared we went to the nicu with her and got checked out ASAP for me after I reaped the benefits of lunch and

The oh so comfy underwear !

We stay the night with her ( I got no sleep me and my husband are both miserable ) she’s fine but then we find out she has jaundice ! ( not

High enough for treatment ) so we are told to supplement formula and my breast milk to help her poop and pee it out. ( in nicu I used donor

Milk and I pumped and gave her my colostrum till my milk came in the day we discharged !) so we finally took her home and every day until day before yesterday she went in for testing because her bilirubin levels were still high .

I layed her in the window sill for 3 hours and give her vitamin d drops and now she’s back to birth weight and the bilirubin is dropping :) she’s becoming way more interactive also a week later

Seranabelle élise

8lbs 14oz

20 1/2 in

( she got her first bath too and absolutely loved it ! )