After 1 month of giving birth I finally have time to sit down and write it lol.

On April 14th in the evening I had realized I hadn't really felt my baby move much. I have a busy job so I hadn't paid much attention. I finally was able to start feeling her move and decided to go to sleep. The next morning the doctors office called to confirm my appointment for the following day, at that time I decided to talk with the nurse about the night before. They recommended I come in for a stress test and a ultrasound. The stress test went good, but baby was measuring3 weeks behind on the ultrasound. So I was 38 weeks 5 days, but she was measuring at 35 weeks 5 days. Due to the decreased movements from the night before and the measurements they decided to induce me, which scared the hell out of me. I always heard induced births were more painful, but I agreed to the induction.

We go to the hospital and I was started on pitocin at 5pm 4/15/2020. I was 1 cm dilated. By the next morning my doctor came in. Still only a 2. He asked if I wanted to stop the pitocin for an hour or 2 to take a shower and eat some breakfast and then restart. This was amazing it was a nice break. We restarted the pitocin about 2 hours after we stopped it. At this time my doctor didnt think I needed a foley catheter to help with dilation. I was so relieved. Fast forward to that night. Still only a 2 cm. Doctor decided to do the Foley. I was upset because again I heard they were painful. Now first let me clarify that I have an EXTREMELY sensitive cervix so even routine paps cause me major discomfort. My hospital doctor was a student. But getting this placed was the most painful part of my labor. They couldn't get it placed and I was in so much pain that I made them stop and give me some pain meds. They gave me a small dose of iv morphine. This helped enough to get it placed. Fast forward to 4/17/2020 early morning about 3am. My water broke, it literally felt like a water balloon popping. But then instantious back to back hard contractions. I immediately opted for an epidural. About 40 minutes later I got the epidural, my husband had to leave the room so I held onto the nurse. Let me tell you from somebody who was TERRIFIED of getting an epidural, I barely felt a thing. I was so focused on my breathing. My iv hurt more then the epidural. 3cm dilated

After an hour or 2 I woke up in a lot of pain on my right side. The epidural only was working on my left. After trying to fix it, we had the anesthesiologist come back, she repositioned the epidural, had to pull it slightly back, and this fixed it. I fell asleep again. Woke up at 3pm to feeling pressure. 10 cm dilated. Once I started practice pushing with the nurse she told me my epidural meds were out so I better work hard to get the baby out. I was uncomfortable by this. When my doctor came in and the nurse moved away for a second I told him I was worried by this and he immediately ordered more epidural meds. This nurse was extremely nice, but she was a go getter and wanted the baby out. Side note likely because baby heart rate would drop with a contraction. We had a c section consent form signed already thinking we likely would need it.

I pushed for 1 hour. We needed small forceps use to get her from under my pelvic bone. Felt some pressure, not painful at all. I was in virtually no pain at all during pushing. I felt some minor right groin cramps, but it was barely painful.

Annora Rose was born on 4/17/2020 at 4:06pm. I had a 47 hour labor, but it was extremely positive and I feel that for the length of my labor, I was in barely any pain for 95% of it. I did need a few stitches as I had "barely" a second degree tear.

I'm so thankful for my doctor. The nurse kept telling me he was super patient with labors, but she was saying it almost as if it was a bad thing. I 100% believe that I could have easily had a c section had I had a different doctor. I felt so relieved that I didnt need surgery. We also gave birth during the covid pandemic. Luckily my husband could be with me, we just both had to have our temps checked regularly.

So to anybody who is afraid, just be confident. Dont think about the bad things that could happen or the pain you may feel. If you over stress yourself, it could make it a lot harder. Just ride the waves and accept things as they happen.

Pictures are a progression over the month❤