**Long post alert**

So I totally skipped posting my little guys birth story because I couldn’t barely handle those first few weeks of newborn life. But, we’re figuring things out and I feel more rested so I’m here to late share our story!

I was 39 weeks when the midwife agreed to schedule and induction. This was Thursday afternoon. She scheduled it for Tuesday morning. Well, Monday afternoon I had an appointment and my blood pressure was elevated again. I had severe swelling with no explanation from 28 weeks on so the elevated blood pressure was concerning. It went back down before the end of my appointment but the midwife there decided it was just time to have a baby. So I went home, grabbed my bags and my husband, and headed back to the hospital.

We got there around 7:30 PM Monday evening. First they did my IV (most painful one I’ve ever had and it bled like crazy when they finally removed it), and ran some blood work. Then they started a pitocin drip and inserted a balloon into my cervix. I was 2-3cm at this point. They left the balloon in all night and took it out Tuesday morning. Honestly, even with the pitocin I couldn’t feel any contractions. I just felt sore from the balloon stretching my cervix. When she took it out the next morning I was 6-7 cm. They upped my pitocin to 4. I still wasn’t feeling any contractions. Then they broke my water. Then, I suddenly felt them like you wouldn’t believe. But I didn’t want to seem like I wasn’t good at birthing so I just quietly breathed through them. I swear my husband thought I wasn’t in that much pain because I wasn’t making any noise. 😂 the woman next door was screaming bloody murder. Come to find out she wasn’t as far along as I was and her water hadn’t broke yet. 🙄 Here I am waiting for screams-McScreamerson to get her epidural so they could come do mine next. Finally, after what felt like 10 years but was more like 30 minutes the lovely lady with the good drugs came in and stuck her needle in my spine. That was the BEST moment ever. Not going to lie, I didn’t even feel my epidural. After I had it I felt so good and I relaxed and enjoyed spending time with my husband. Then about two hours later it began to ware off and I was feeling some SUPER intense contractions. So they brought the anesthesiologist back up and she upped my dose. After that I truly felt amazing the rest of my birth experience.

The nurse told me to tell her when I started to feel any pressure. However, I didn’t want to push long and I knew the benefits of letting my baby just labor down. So I didn’t say anything until I could literally tell my husband when I was having a contraction (just a weird sense of pressure-no pain). So the midwife was super busy because ever single L&D room was full. So when she finally got to me little man was about 3-4 inches from crowning. So, she announced it was time to have a baby! I was honestly terrified at this point. I had no idea how to have a baby (FTM) and I just didn’t feel ready. But, there really wasn’t another choice now. 😂 So the midwife left again, and my amazing L&D nurse got everything ready and ran through some “practice pushes” with me. Well I did so good with those that by the time the midwife came back, he was right there. She was in there for literally two pushes and that’s it. I was pushing with my eyes closed because I was pushing so hard. So I had no idea he was even out until I heard her yell “STOP PUSHING STOP PUSHING” and then I opened my eyes and half his body was out! 😳 He had been completely inside before that push, head and all. Then she told me to reach down and grab my baby! So I did. And at 2:03 PM on Tuesday July 21st Jameson Daniel came into the world and became the best part of our family! 💙

My husband was totally grossed out by cutting the cord and didn’t want to do it. So, I cut my own cord! That was awesome and I totally recommend it! He scored a 9 on both of his apgar tests. He weighed in at 7 lbs 3 oz and was 18 inches long.

Fast forward to August 21st. My baby is now 1 month old and doing amazing! We had some severe latching issues and attempted to breast feed but only made it to 4 weeks exactly. Now we bottle feed a combination of formula and pumped breastmilk. I’ve been freezing milk so that I have some breastmilk to offer him in the future alongside his formula. He weighed in at 9 lbs 4 ounces at a month old. I was able to snap the most adorable 1 month pictures of him!

I’m totally obsessed with this little guy and can’t remember my life before him! 💙

Thank you to all you mamas who answered questions and made me feel less alone throughout my pregnancy. He’s our perfect little rainbow baby 🌈 and I couldn’t be more in love with him!