My crazy fast induction and meeting our mystery gender babe!

Let me begin by saying I was due with our surprise gender baby on March 27th I joined this group in early August right when I found out I was expecting. Reading everyone’s birth stories has been nothing short of amazing and inspirational to go through this pregnancy with. And today I join you!

I came to the hospital for my induction at 7pm April 2nd at 40 weeks, 6 days.

Last photo of me preggo in front of our house before heading to the hospital:

Got settled in my room at 7:15, and started cytotec at around 8:15. Contractions started immediately. Got IV pain meds at midnight because they had become realllyyy intense but not unbearable. But those meds wore the fuck OFF within about an hour and by then I was legit dying. I have never known pain like that before. NOTHING I have read or been told could have prepared me for that pain. I didn’t scream (which I was proud of myself for) but I was moaning like an animal. It was straight primal. And crazy. I was BEGGING for the epidural. I was 4 cm by 2:30 am but got the epidural anyway. Which was scary, not going to lie, but it was like flipping a switch. I had been afraid of the needle, but I didn’t even feel it after the numbing shot (which I did feel. And I did cuss about. Shout out to my 60 year old nurse Janet who took me leaning into her chest and swearing like a sailor like a champ.) I felt 2749362 times better. Then my water broke! Spontaneously. It felt disgusting lol! They made my husband leave the room for a whole 45 minutes while that got placed and they put in a catheter, which made me sad but I’d already been made aware of that rule so I was like see ya byeeeee. By 4 am hubby and I were alone again and able to sleep for...an hour! I was running on pure adrenaline at that point but poor hubs was so exhausted. At 6 am they check me again and I’m officially at an 8 😳 The whole night my nurse had been telling me that I’d stall at some point, and to expect another dose of the cytotec and then pitocin - but I never needed either. By 7 am I was a full 10, but baby was still positioned too high in the canal. They told me to get comfy and labor down, but again, to settle in for a potential very long wait.

Nope.

At 8:45 I’m ringing the nurse like “I uh, need to push.” She checks me and CAN SEE THE BABY’S HEAD. My husband’s looking like he just took a brick to the face. Suddenly things are happening very quickly. It’s only been 13 hours since I got started and here we go! Three nurses and my doctor swoop in, gown up, and it’s pushing time. FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER, my daughter is on my chest. I had a single 1st degree tear, and two very small superficial cuts on the sides, so three stitches in total. I was worried it’d be much worse than that with such a fast and furious labor but no. My baby girl came in roaring like a lion (literally - she was screaming!) and didn’t leave me too beat up 😂

Celine Sophia D.

Born 9:16 am on April 3rd.

20 inches long, 6 pounds 14 ounces.

Something else crazy about this story is that I started having a very specific dream when I was about 17 years old. This was eleven years ago...but since then I’d had the same exact dream more than ten times.

In the dream, I’m washing a baby girl in the bathtub. She has fair skin and rich dark brown, curly hair. In the dream I know she is my daughter. The dream is short and the baby and I are the only ones in it.

After the second or third time I’d had the dream I told mom about it. I was probably 18 or 19 years old at the time. She told me “That’s your future daughter!” (I guess she dreamed about me before I was born, too. 😳)

Fast forward to age 20 and I meet my future husband. I continued having the same dream about the baby girl in the bathtub, so I tell him about it. Because helloooo - he’s got stunningly curly, dark brown hair. But he laughs it off. I suddenly don’t.

It’s like I’ve known my whole life I was going to have a curly haired baby girl. And here she is. My dream baby girl. The littlest person I had no idea how much I needed until she was laid in my arms. I feel so extremely blessed.