I went in for my OB appointment on Thursday February 21st. I was 38 weeks and 6 days pregnant. I had asked my OB if she could strip my membranes and she said she could, but she doesn't recommend it because it normally just hurts and doesn't do anything. I decides not to do it. She checked my cervix and said I was 1-2cm dilated and short and soft. I had been that way for 2 weeks. I was discouraged, but knew that I was close to having my baby because my OB appointment the following Thursday we were going to schedule an induction. I got home from my appointment and had to pee. When I wiped, I had bloody mucus discharge and quite a bit of it. I didn't think anything of it because I knew that could happen from a cervical check. I had some contractions here and there, but they were mild and very inconsistent. I went about my normal life and made dinner and cleaned the house. This time I decided to get on my hands and knees and scrub my floors instead of using a mop because I've heard women swear by this putting them into labor. I continued to have mild inconsistent contractions throughout the evening. We finally were getting ready to go to sleep and I asked my hubby to rub my back. As soon as he started to rub my back I got a really strong contraction. My OB told me to walk whenever I got a good contraction in order to make them stronger and more consistent, so that's what I did. I walked around our bedroom for a good 3 hours, but got way too tired, so I decided to lay down. I woke up about 3 hours later to feeling something wet come out, I just figured it was discharge so I didn't think anything of it. I went to the bathroom and then went back to walking around our bedroom. My husband woke up around 5:30 to start getting ready for work and he was so confused by the fact I was still walking. He was like "what the hell are you doing!?" I told him I was walking and he asked if I had any sleep. I said, "yeah, about 3 hours. " He thought I was insane, but at this point I was determined to have my little girl. He stayed home from work and we went ahead and got groceries because my mom had to stay with our 20.5 month old while we were in the hospital, so I wanted to make sure she had everything she needed. We went about our day very normally. I danced around with my daughter like I do every day and did my normal stuff around the house. My contractions slowly got stronger throughout the day, but they were still very inconsistent. My mom was at work and I didn't want her to have to leave until things got more serious, so we just waited and waited. We didn't end up leaving for the hospital until around 10pm, by that point I had to stop and breathe through contractions. I held my husband's hand the whole way to the hospital and I would squeeze his hand every time I had a contraction. He was able to time them because I had stopped once we left home. They were about every 3-4 minutes. We got to the hospital and got checked in. And I was wheeled up to labor and delivery. I had to use the restroom, then I changed into my gown to get my cervical exam. Because of the liquid I had felt at 3:30am, they wanted to test and make sure my water wasn't leaking. Come to find out, it was. While we were waiting for the results, they checked my cervix (had to use sterile gloves since they didn't know results yet). As soon as I felt the nurses whole hand go up, I knew I was pretty dilated. I was 5cm dilated! Halfway there! Hubby and I were so excited, we couldn't believe how close we were to meeting our little girl. My labor plans got changed since my water was leaking because I wanted to labor mostly in water. I got moved to an actual delivery room and had to fill out paperwork when we got in there. I had to do that while being asked questions by the nurse and having to breathe through contractions. Things went really quickly after we got admitted. I wanted a natural labor and delivery, but man those contractions were killer. I decided to get an epidural. It was so hard to stay still because I was shaking and having to breathe through each contraction. Once I got the epidural, the nurse checked me and I was at 8cm. A couple of minutes later I was at a 10 and had an involuntary urge to push. The nurse kept telling me not to push until the doctor got in there, but it was SO hard not to. My epidural didn't work because of how quickly everything happened, so I had the natural labor and delivery I wanted. The doctor got in there and I pushed for 10 minutes before our sweet girl entered the world at 2:38am on Saturday February 23rd. She weighed 7lbs, a height of 19.5 inches, and a head circumference of 13 inches. She's perfect! She's covered in hair thanks to her daddy (he's Mexican). She latched onto my breast a few minutes after she was put on my chest for skin to skin. She is a pro at breastfeeding. She is now 6 days old and today was her due date. I have no idea how time has gone so fast already. Her big sister loves her and she's amazing at helping us with her. I thought she would be mean to her, but she's absolutely amazing. Welcome to the world Liliana Grace! Mommy and Daddy love you SO much! ❤

My husband with both of our girls