After passing my due date by one week and one day I was so excited to wake up with contractions on September 7 around 4am! Mind you this is also my hubbys birthday 🎂 prior to this I had been about 4 cm dilated and almost fully effaced for about 3 weeks. My heart melted imagining our little girl sharing a birthday with her daddy. We headed to the hospital around 11 am because my contractions were about 4 minutes apart although not that strong yet but I wasn’t sure how quick I would progress as this is my first so thought rather safe than sorry.

Well we get to the hospital and I’m still at 4cm dilated and my doctor was out of town until that afternoon so we patiently waited until the doctor decided to break my water around 6 pm. Up until this point my contractions were painful but definitely manageable. I had a lot of pain in my lower back however and realized in hindsight the back labor to come. After my water was broke the contractions intensified like crazy and I dilated to 10cm by 10pm. With great hope to still deliver this baby on my husbands birthday.

I began to push and was told by my doctor and nurses I was one of the best pushers they had seen. However baby was not wanting to pass my pelvic bone. After two hours of pushing (and passing September 7) my doctor recommended some pitocin in hopes that stronger contractions would be able to push this baby out as they were able to see her hair. Although baby was facing the proper way for delivery previously my doctor was thinking maybe she was now sunny side up based on my back labor and the difficulty pushing her out.

They started my pitocin and we continued to push increasing the pitocin every 15 minutes. After another hour and a half and some success the doctor asked if I wanted her to use the vacuum to help baby past my pelvis. After this long of pushing I was ready for anything to get this baby moving in the right direction. With vacuum the doctor only attempts 3 times and if unsuccessful I was likely looking at emergency csection. The first try the vacuum popped off. The second o could definitely feel progress of this baby moving down. The doctor decided this would be a good time to give me a little more room down there and some performed an episiotomy. Third time was a charm and our girls head made it past my pubic bone finally. A couple more pushes and she was free!

We were all shocked to see she most definitely did not look like the average newborn. She tipped the scales at 11 pounds 12 ounces and 22.5 inches long! Doctor nurses myself and husband were all shocked! This explained why there was such a struggle and my back labor was through the roof most likely. Even though it was long and so difficult mentally I would do it all over again ❤️ welcome to the world miss Jaelynn Lee ❤️