I found out I was pregnant on Father’s Day by my boyfriend of only 5 months. We were both terrified and I honestly thought about adoption a lot. We both decided it would be best to keep our our little man.

Fast forward to 30 weeks. I started having contractions at work and was sent to L&D. The nurse there told me I was not having contractions, but instead ligament pain. Seeing as this was my first pregnancy, I didn’t know the difference so I thought this was normal and was sent home with light activity instructions.

Fast forward to 33 weeks. I began having more contractions but they were far more intense than last time. I went in again and a different nurse was there. She told me that I was having contractions so they decided to admit me and gave me a low dose of morphine, a steroid shot, and a shot to stop the contractions. They stop, and they send me home and tell me to come back if they start again. The next morning, they started back up so I went in and they admitted me and continuously gave me shots to stop them. They were picking up again as soon as the shot wore off. I hadn’t dilated any and since I was a day away from being 34 weeks, which is their cut off date for stopping early labor, they sent me home and put me on a no work restriction/bed rest until my son made him arrival.

The days leading up to his birth were horrible. I was unknowingly in labor for those three days before with horrible hip and back labor. I had an appointment the day before he was born and was told I was dilated to a two. I was sent home and that night, after another night of not being able to get comfortable or sleep, my water broke on my couch at about midnight. I thought I had peed myself, so I got up and water kept gushing out. I was sure that my water had broken and I needed to get to the hospital ASAP. My doctor had told me I had a bacteria in my birth canal that needed to be treated with antibiotics before my son could be born so if I any suspicion that my water broke I needed to go in immediately. I woke up my boyfriend and he was still half asleep. I told him that my water broken and he wanted me to go in and make sure before he got up to go with me since he had work in the morning. I get to the hospital and they swab me to check for amniotic fluid. Before she even sent off the swab, she checked me. I was dilated to a 3 and she could feel his head. She pushed on his head and a whole bunch of water rushed out. She told me I was for sure in labor and they were going to admit me. I called my boyfriend, my mom, and his mom and they all rushed to the hospital. They all stayed with me the entire time. They started me on pitocin and gave me the epidural at 5 centimeters. At 1:30 pm my nurse came in to help me do some practice pushes and at 2pm my doctor came in. I began to push and at 2:15 pm on January 25, my son, Lucas Michael Keeler was born at 36 weeks. 💙💙💙

This is him now at 7 weeks old 💙