Our first was born November 6th, 2022 @ 10:44am. 7Ibs 2.6oz, 19 and a half inches long.

I went into labor around 11:30pm on the 5th. I didn't realize I was having contractions until about 1am. I honestly just thought I had to use the restroom so that's what I did, then I went back to bed and fell asleep, I did this about 3-4 times before even thinking the crampy pelvic pain I was feeling could be contractions. I began to track them, texted my mom to possibly confirm my suspicions, I then woke my boyfriend up about 30min later. We tracked my contractions for another hour to hour and a half until my mom came over and confirmed that we needed to go to the hospital. The pain was already bad and started to get worse. By the time we got to the hospital and they checked my cervix I was 3 and a half cm dilated, at this point, it hurt so bad just to sit or lay but I was stuck having to lay in a bed with wired monitors on my stomach for a couple hours, the only time I could get up and walk was to use the restroom. It was excruciating.

Once they had finally transferred me to the labor and delivery room all I did was walk/stand because it made me feel more comfortable and the contractions were not as painful compared to when I would sit or lay down, a contraction would come on and i would lean over the counter while my boyfriend rubbed my back. I tried the laughing gas and it had helped to a point but not as much as I had hoped, especially when the contractions started getting closer.

My midwife finally arrived around 8am, she checked my cervix and I was 7cm dilated, I had gotten up to use the restroom after this and as I went to try and pee my water broke into the toilet. I was not expecting it so it startled me to the point where I jumped up and grabbed my boyfriend, now the pain was even worse.

They laid my down in the bed, checked my cervix again, I was 8cm dilated. They offered an epidural, I said yes hoping it would have time to kick in before it was time to push... boy was I wrong. They put the epidural in while I was 8cm dilated. At this point the pain was horrible, I was asking my midwife to check my cervix because it hurt so bad, not even 5min later I was 9cm and in another 5 I was 10cm and ready to push. The epidural had not and did not kick in at all so I basically had an un-medicated birth, it was so painful and I was so exhausted I really thought I wouldn't be able to get through it.

My midwife said that as I was pushing baby would take "one step forward" but as I would stop pushing baby would take "two steps back" so he would go right back inside. The nurses would tell me "just a few more contractions and he should be out" my response to that was "yall said that a few contractions ago and he's still not out". He really was a stubborn boy coming into this world and still is 2 weeks later but we couldn't be happier.

I could not have done this without the love and support of my s/o though if he weren't there I don't know what I would have done. He was so sweet/supportive and held my hand every step of the way, especially gave me those words of encouragement while I pushed. I could not have asked for a better partner to start a family with.

I definitely love my boys 💕🥺