My handsome little man is 8 days old today 💕 I loved reading these birth stories while I was pregnant so I'm super excited to finally be able to share mine ❤ Fair warning its long! 📚

So, January 19th At about 1:30 am I woke up with the same lightning pain I had been feeling for about a month & 1/2. This time however it was coming & going. I felt this pain 3 times about 20 minutes apart. I curled up to my husband in bed & just told him that I was hurting. He asked if there was anything he could do & I said no but if it continued I'd let him know. I didn't sleep well that night & finally got up from bed at around 8am. I told my SIL about my pain (still coming & going but nothing consistent) & she told me that I might be having contractions so she started timing me. I went about my business & at about 10:30am noticed that they were happening more frequently but still no pattern (20 minutes apart then 15 then nothing for 45 minutes). I was convinced that it was false labor (BH) because it was more uncomfortable at this point than painful. At about noon my family came in from SD & I downloaded an app to monitor the contractions myself. At about 2:30/3pm they became the real deal to where I was sitting up in my chair bracing for impact. At 4:30 we sat down for dinner & by 5pm I was telling my husband that the pain was so bad I might cry. We gathered our things & our Brady Bunch (SIL/niece/mom/grandma/sister/brother/myself/& my husband) & headed to the hospital. By 5:30pm we were in Labor & Delivery. They checked me & told me I was at a 6. At my doctors appointment the week prior I was at 3cm & 80% effaced. I was pretty proud of the progress I had made at home alone. They offered me pain meds in an IV, an epidural, or both. I chose door #3 😄 They gave me 100 mg of Fentanol. Now as someone who barely even takes Ibuprofen it kicked my butt. Within minutes I was feeling immensly sleepy & not all there. I asked the nurse if there was a paper I could fill out to have my husband make decisions on my behalf if I couldn't do so on my own. I also had a heat flash so bad to where both my mom & husband were fanning me while a nurse was putting a cold wash cloth on my face. At this point I had an anxiety attack & started sobbing uncontrollably. All that was going through my mind was that sometimes women die in child birth. I was afraid for my baby, for myself, for my family. Most of all I was afraid that I'd die & never get to meet my baby. Eventually I calmed down. While on Fentanol I dilated from a 6 to an 8. I'm not going to sugar coat it...it hurt bad. The anesthesiologist walking through the door was welcomed with open arms. I'm not a fan of needles & was having contractions as he did his thing & let me tell you I cried like a baby. The nurse had me hold her because I was shaking so much. Despite that experience the pain relief the epidural gave me was BEYOND worth it. 10/10 would recommend to a friend. After that it was smooth sailing & I felt nothing on my adventure from an 8 to a 10. By 10:35 we start pushing & by 10:53 baby boy was here 😍👶🏻 I did have minor first degree tearing but I'm healing well. To God be all the glory for an easy pregnancy, labor/delivery, & healthy happy baby ❤

If you read this far thank you & hope you enjoyed my birth story💕 Here's pictures of my love bug