I’m 21 years old and my boyfriend and I have been together for 3 years and 3 months. I usually had irregular periods all my life until a few months before I got that positive test, they were regular for about 3 months prior. I was a few days late and I just felt off. We had a few scares throughout our relationship, so when I took the 2 home tests and saw negative on both I figured I wasn’t pregnant. I took a blood test at the ob just to make sure because you never really know. I waited for a call from the office and a few days later they called. I’ve always been a kid/family type of person, but for some reason when they gave me the results and said it came back positive, my heart dropped. All I could do was cry and ask what the next step would be. As I scheduled my first neonatal appointment I tried to stop crying and think about what I would tell my boyfriend. I was planning on visiting his work that day and I was so shocked/excited I had to tell him the same day. I was crying when I told him and didn’t know how he would react. He says, “Are you serious?”. I knew it would be okay because we hold each other together well and a baby wasn’t an issue in our aspect, even if we weren’t ready yet. Pregnancy was hard. I was nauseous every single morning for the first 15 weeks. I worked in the kitchen of a restaurant and everything made me feel sick. Once the nausea stopped, I patiently waited for the kicks and flutters, once they came I couldn’t stop poking her to keep moving. I have severe hypothyroidism and had to have my dosage upped like 3 times to keep it controlled or else my baby may have ended up mentally challenged (was told by my endocrinologist). At about 24 weeks she was head down and measuring in the 46th percentile which isn’t much smaller than normal babies. But then at about 31 weeks she was measuring at the 25th percentile and being only 7 weeks later that was a drastic drop, but still not too small to worry about. At 34 weeks she was measuring at the 8th percentile and they were monitoring her heart rate twice a week now; at this point if she didn’t arrive on her own by week 39 I would be induced. My 36 weeks I was 2cm dilated but not effaced. On Monday, March 18th 2019, the doctor says the blood flow going into the placenta through the umbilical cord is resisting and that I should head to the hospital immediately to be induced. I was 37 weeks and 2 days. My due date was April 6th. I was so nervous as I head home to shower and get my things together. All I was hoping for was a vaginal birth - no c section. But you get what you get! I get to the hospital and they start doing a few tests and a vaginal exam. They tell me I’m about 3cm dilated but not effaced at all yet. They put me on pitocin to try to bring on contractions. I’ve been in the hospital about 5 hours now, with being on pitocin for 3 and still nothing. I was starving so the nurses finally decided to take me off of it and let me eat dinner. They then put an insert in me overnight to try to thin out my cervix (a tampon looking thing). I had it in for about 12 hours and at 6:30 am they took it out to let me shower before breaking my water at 7am. I had such bad cramps overnight while the insert was in, the shower relieved it well. They broke my water and it felt gross. I didn’t like the warmth and unsettling feeling it gave you, like you couldn’t help yourself from leaking all over. I started feeling contractions about 10ish and ended up getting some IV meds to ease the pain. They didn’t feel as bad at first but since I had been cramping all night the mixture of the two was really uneasy feeling. They got stronger and stronger from there and I almost didn’t ask for the epidural (I was not against it though), the nurse came in around noon-1 o’clock and asked me if I thought I’d want it soon because the dr had already had 2 other girls’ to do at that point. I said yes because it was almost unbearable but I could wait that long just not any longer than that. By the time I got the epidural, I could barely hold still long enough for them to do it. I sat there in that awkward position and contracted 2 or 3 times only minutes apart gripping up the side of the bed so hard. The nurse told me it only took about 10 minutes to kick in but mine took way longer than that. Once it came onto me I felt so relaxed, but when it was time to push about 2 hours later I couldn’t. I tried but wasn’t feeling anything so I couldn’t as hard as they wanted me to. They’d have me push and then take a 10 min break or so, then have me push again until her head was showing, and within 45 minutes of pushing, she had arrived! She came out not breathing for a few seconds or so but the nurses and dr did a great job of helping me deliver my healthy 5 pound 7 ounce baby at 2:59pm on March 19th 2019! She had jaundice for about 24 hours but after being under a phototherapy light she was relieved from the hospital and we were on our way home. Here’s my now 6week old baby girl Evelynn Jade at about 8 pounds. 🎀💞