Long labor.. short birth.. long recovery🙃

Guess it’s my turn!! I had a looooong labor so it’s going to be a bit long but interesting😵

Baby girl was due April 1st & I was beyond anxious from the second it hit 12:00am 😂 but of course baby girl decided she didn’t want to be an April 1st baby.

So the next morning I meet up with a friend and go on a very long walk to maybe get labor to start! I had been 1-2 cm dilated and 85% effaced for the past month so I was waiting to budge!

Once 2 o’clock comes around, I’m back home and getting on our computer so I can start working and within 30 minutes I have stomach cramps like I have to poop. I had diarrhea and something just told me not to get up... I started getting hot and kept having the same poop pains (or so I thought they were) until I realized they were coming every 5 minutes and they were lasting longer & longer!

Called my mom and she talked to me and kept track of the contractions and said ‘Nikki those really are contractions.. go to the hospital now’

Called my husband and he came home from work so I washed my face and changed my clothes while waiting for him.

We rushed to the hospital and he didn’t even change out of his army clothes bc he truly believed it wasn’t happening.. and after being hooked onto the machine for 4 hours with strong contractions, I had absolutely no change in my cervix except being a full 2 and could be stretched to a 3.

They decided to admit me at 7pm and start me on pitocin at 4am if she wasn’t born by then. Now being April 3rd, I started pitocin and then had my water be broken at 9am. Oh boy! Once that water was broke, those contractions came HARD!! Within 3 hours of serious pain I was offered the epidural and it did not hurt whatsoever! The first numbing shot was uncomfortable but the epidural was kinda cool and worked within 30 minutes.

Unfortunately even with such strong back to back contractions, baby girl was still very high up and dilation was going SO slow! About a centimeter every 3-4 hours!! That’s when my nurse said ‘you’re starting to run a fever and that’s sign of an infection.. your baby is sunny side up too and feels like she may be stuck in your pelvic bone. We’re going to call your doctor and see what she prefers us to do, wait or do a c section’

That’s when my mom said my husbands face went white and he started tearing up and left the room. He was so nervous and was never expecting a c section to be part of the plan for me. But it was.

Nurse came back in and said were doing the c section at 2am on April 4th. So in just an hour! I was fine with it until the second my husband and I were holding hands and they said they just opened me up. My heart was pounding, mouth was so dry and every bad thought went thru my head...

‘What if I die? Just make sure my baby is alive and safe. Idc what happens to me.. but what if I really do bleed out?! She can’t live without me! Omg please just let me hold her and see her for a minute, then I’ll be able to die happy and complete..’

My arms were shaking so bad, I couldn’t keep my eyes open and the tugging and pulling was so uncomfortable, not painful. Then I heard it.. I heard the most beautiful cry in my entire life! My husband went to her to see her and told me ‘baby she’s the most beautiful thing ever.. you did so good!’ And kissed my forehead. They held her in front of my face so I could see her and I got enough strength to open my eyes for just 2 seconds and my heart was so full. I told myself ‘okay I’m ready to go now. That’s all I needed..’

Obviously I didn’t die. But it was scary after a 36 hour labor. I stayed in the hospital from the 4th til the 7th to watch my temp and my pain from surgery but omg I really would do the entire labor and delivery all over again just to have my baby girl here!

It really is true when they say you never know true love like the love you feel when you have a baby!

💗Mariah Jayde Batts💗

Born April 4, 2019 at 2:46am! 7 pounds 8 ounces 20 inches long! And the most perfect thing in my life!