My LO is going to be a year old next month, and it’s making me reflect on what an amazing first year it’s been for us, and how amazing his birth was!

I was about 40+2 when my midwife had me scheduled for an induction for the morning of February 13th. The 13th just happened to also be my husbands birthday, so we were super excited that there was a chance our son would be born on the same day, and we were hoping he wouldn’t hold off until Valentine’s Day lol.

We live in New England, where weather is unpredictable. The weather said a storm was coming for the night of the 12th into the 13th, and we lived about a half hour from the hospital, so we decided to book a hotel room next to the hospital for the 12th so that we wouldn’t have to worry about bad roads in the morning.

We checked into the hotel and immediately went out in the city for dinner, to celebrate my husbands birthday since we’d be in the hospital on the day of. I’d been having Braxton Hicks for several weeks, and was feeling a bit uncomfortable—so in the middle of dinner the cramping started to feel more intense. I chalked it up to the BH and was able to get thru dinner (high pain tolerance over here lol) and we went back to the hotel to relax the rest of the night. While lying in bed watching some tv, I suddenly started feeling wet, like maybe I peed myself (which I had done before), so I quickly went to the bathroom so I wouldn’t wet the bed. I figured out quickly that it wasn’t pee, but my water had possibly broke, because I was trickling uncontrollably and saw a pinkish tinge in color. I decided to start timing the contractions I was having (still assuming BH) and realized that they were getting more intense and closer together, so I called my midwife and was told to come right in thru the ER.

I got set up in a labor room and they tested the fluid to confirm my water had broke, which it had!! I guess little guy decided that he didn’t want to wait for an induction! I labored for about 24 hours, with the last 6 hours stalling at 9cm. The nurse on call came in to discuss options, and told us we should start having the conversation on whether I wanted to continue and wait and see if I’d dilate fully (which she wasn’t expecting me to after being stalled for so long), or opt for a c section. I’d never even sprained an ankle, so having a major surgery like that terrified me. But in the end we decided to go with the c section because I wanted my baby to come safely, and my body wasn’t budging on dilating anymore, even with medical assistance.

At 11pm on the 13th I was wheeled into the surgery room and prepped for my c section. It was the scariest moment of my life, but as soon as I heard those cries, I immediately started bawling my eyes out from joy, happiness, and exhaustion. My little man decided to join this world at 11:33pm on February 13th, 2020, at a whopping 10 lbs (no wonder I stalled, doctor said there was no way he was coming out vaginally with how huge he was lol)! Now my son and my husband share a birthday, which is so amazing, because I share my birthday with my husband and my wedding anniversary (we got married on my 30th birthday).

Only downside of my birth story? The money that was lost from the hotel room booking when my water broke, spent a total of 4 hours there and obviously couldn’t get our money back lol

THEN:

NOW: