So I went into labor on the holiday Labor Day, I was 40 weeks 1 day and it was 6 pm when my water broke! It wasn’t how I’d heard stories or seen in the movies where it was a big gush and I immediately knew to go to the hospital, instead it was a small continuous trickle so I figured I’d at least call my doctor to see what I should do. My doctor recommended I come in to labor and delivery to get checked out so we headed over there. At 7 they started doing two different tests to see if my water had broken. Both tests came back negative that my water had broken so they started suggesting I go back home. Before we were about to pack up and leave my doctor recommended one more test where they did an ultrasound to make sure she had a good amount of fluid in her amniotic sac. As soon as they pulled up the ultrasound I felt a gush and they realized from the reading that I was very low on amniotic fluid meaning I had been leaking it for a decent amount of time and that could be dangerous to me and the baby! Immediately they decided they were admitting us and it was time to have this baby!

They started me on pitocin to get my body in labor mode and we basically started to just wait out. My contractions started around 8 and my doctor let me know I could get the epidural at any point. I decided to wait till my contractions were so bad I couldn’t take them anymore, which was the wrong move because as soon as I asked for it I was told I’d be on a waiting list since the anesthesiologist was busy. So I dealt with the painful contractions until 3:30 am when I finally got the epidural which was not nearly as scary as I’d imagined it would be. I got relief within 10-15 minutes and was so grateful to finally be able to relax and get some sleep. One thing I didn’t know about epidurals was that once you get one you can’t eat or drink anything that wasn’t a clear liquid.

At 4:35 am I got checked and I was at 4cm and needed to make it to 10 cm to push. They took me off the Pitocin because they figured I would dilate the rest on my own. The next day around noon I had only dilated to a 6 on my own so they put me back on it. At 4:30 pm my epidural started to wear off, first my back then my lower stomach and then all over very fast, at this point I was 8 cm and still on Pitocin so the contractions were so intense I was screaming. If I thought the contractions were no joke the night before, these were INSANE. I let the nurse know and she said it was going to be awhile before the anesthesiologist could check me out. I struggled through the splitting pain for an hour or so before he came in and checked out my epidural which had to be removed because it was dirty from blood the nurses hadn’t cleaned properly and it was failing and had become “patchy” with pain relief. He put in a second one after taking this one out and it was a world of a difference, I was completely numb from waist down.

At 6 pm I was at 10 cm and my doctor wanted to start pushing at 7 pm. I hadn’t eaten anything since Monday or gotten more than 3-4 hours of sleep so I was so afraid I wouldn’t have any energy to push her out. I pushed for about 4 hours before she got stuck in my pubic bone and my doctor said we couldn’t push anymore. She said we had two options I could take a risk and do a forceps delivery where there would be a big chance it wouldn’t work. This would mean she would put clamps up and try and pull the baby out while I pushed at the same time (ugh! I was terrified of this option) or I could get an emergency c section that could’ve been dangerous as well because I’d already pushed her down far. I wasn’t about to have been through 20 hours of labor, two failed epidurals, empty stomach, intense contractions, hard pushing just to have a c section I could’ve had from the start. I have nothing against c sections it was just at that point I felt so discouraged all my hard work was going down the drain, plus I was scared of the recovery of surgery.

We decided on the forceps and luckily I was still numb from the epidural where it counted so I didn’t have to feel it. I had to push while she had the forceps pulling the baby and after five minutes they told me to look down & see baby coming out. I was shocked at how big she was because at her last ultrasound a week or so ago they said she was going to be itty bitty! She was 7 lbs 8 oz born 9/9/2020 at 12:44 am and so adorable I forgot everything I’d been through as soon as they put her on my chest. Baby had a couple scratches & bruises from the forceps & mommy had to get stitched up but I was just so happy to have her here.

I didn’t go in with a birth plan, just knew what I wanted and didn’t want, but even so my labor went completely different than I ever imagined. I always thought I’d go in get the epidural because I was afraid of pain, push her out and be done! Child birth was always something that scared me and made me hesitant to even start a family right away. I never in a million years thought I would be in labor for days, or that I would even take long to push her out. But wow did I feel strong when it was all over I’ve never been more proud of myself in my life, I feel like I can tackle anything now. I would do it all again a billion times over to have this beautiful girl in my life!