Throughout my entire pregnancy I thought that I would give birth to my son fairly close to his original due date. He was expected to "arrive" on the 21st of May, and I had placed my bets on the 26th. I had had a fairly routine pregnancy, so I didn't think my delivery would be anything but.

I went for my final OB appointment on Wednesday, May 29th, expecting to get the all clear and to head into the hospital to be induced the next day, which was when my doctor had scheduled me. I was measuring at 1.5 cm and 0% effaced. She asked me to go get my fluids checked, which I had done the week prior as well. The technician checking my levels told me I needed to go see my doctor again immediately. She was trying to play it off, but I could tell that she had a nervous hitch in her voice. Come to find out, my fluids were measuring at 3.8, which is much lower than the level 5 at which doctors initially become concerned. I was sent straight to the hospital to be induced.

Luckily, my bags were packed and already in my car, just in case. Unfortunately, in all the excitement, my husband and I didn't think to stop and go grab some dinner! It was already 5:30 PM and I was hungry, but not as hungry as I would come to be...

I got checked in and put in a L&D room. They started me on Cytotec at 7:45 PM and I had three four-hour doses of that before they then began the Pitocin. Thankfully, I had asked to have an epidural before they started pitocin. My contractions weren't unbearable yet, but I had heard horror stories about contractions with the pit, so I wasn't taking any chances. I was 4 cm dilated at this point and 80% effaced. Because my fluid levels were so low, they were measuring my boy's heart rate very closely. Thankfully his heart rate remained strong through every contraction.

By 9:45 PM, the epidural was starting to wear off, and I was so close they didn't want to hit me with another dose, because they wanted me to feel when I had the urge to push. By 10:45 PM I was pushing with every other contraction trying to get my little guy past my pubic bone. I got to feel him when he was crowning! At 12:45 AM, my doctor instructed me to push with every contraction. I was bearing down and trying to focus on my booty as much as possible when my doctor calmly told me to stop pushing for a moment. I was so confused, but she said, "His cord was wrapped around his neck twice, but we got it. Okay, keep pushing!" I was horrified, but she was so calm about it that I knew he would be just fine. Just a single push layer and my little Malachi was born! He had swallowed too much fluid while in utero, so it took him a second to cough it out and start crying, but once he did it was like music to my ears.

My little boy is now 11 weeks old and so happy and healthy. We had a lot of trouble with the initial adjustment, but once we got past that first month, life started to have more of a rhythm.

Malachi Masahiro born 5/31/19 at 1:35 AM. He measured 7 lbs 12 oz and 20 in.

Here he is growing and learning!