It started with my grandmother telling me "you better get back up and keep walking, I wanna meet my great grandbaby". She was telling me how walking constantly really helps with inducing labor, it had been about a week since my due date so my family was very excited.

That night, I noticed a dropping feeling, and then I felt an ache in my pelvis, it was very weird. But there was no bad pain other than that, so I told myself it was from all the walking I did.

That next morning, it was about 7am, I thought I was about to take the ultimate dump in the bathroom. It was that pain you get when you're about to have diarrhea, I ate a deli ham sandwich the day before so I thought to myself: "Oh no, I ate that deli sandwich yesterday and I'm pregnant, it's making me sick." Because the pain I was feeling made me think it was sickness.

I went to the bathroom and nothing was happening. But the pain waves were getting more intense. I thought it was just taking a bit because it does that sometimes when I'm sick.

I went to go sit on the couch because something was just really happening. Then it crossed my mind and I'm like "Okay, I guess it really is go time!"

I lived with my mom at the time, so I told her that I need to go to the hospital. She told me that she's been experiencing stomach problems herself and that she can't take me. So she called my grandma and by the time my grandma got there, I bolted out the door to get in her car because the contractions were HITTING.

I was crying at this point because I really thought the contractions was me having to go to the bathroom but it was actually real contractions so these waves were waving on the car ride.

When we get to the hospital, I am already starting up the semi-yelling with the contractions, they put me in a wheelchair and get me to a room. I'm yelling like the wheelchair is like a rollercoaster ride or something.

When they get me to a room, two of the nurses help me walk into the room towards the hospital bed, halfway there my water BROKE. It felt like I crapped and peed my pants at the same time but it was neither of those things. And it was that dropping feeling again from the night before but much more intense. I could barely walk the rest of the way to the hospital bed.

They put me on the bed and started with the questions, my birthday, all my info, the important stuff they need for paperwork, I was understanding but I couldn't speak properly at all. I was having full blown contractions. After the questions, I managed to ask "Can I have epidural?" And they told me they needed to check how dilated I was first. And the contractions kept hitting so hard, I could not function at all.

They told me I was almost 9 cm dilated and that it was too late to get an epidural. And that it's actually almost time for me to push. The woman who was my primary ob doctor was there and she was helping me breathe through the contractions, one of the nurses were feeding me ice chips and I think they put a mask on me to help me breathe as well.

My OB doctor said she thinks the labor and delivery doctor is almost there but then they checked my dilation again and my OB doctor said it was time for me to push now. I was almost screaming at this point and my grandmother was by my side. She told me it pushes the baby back in when you scream so I tried to focus on my breathing. The ob doctor was also a midwife so she was helping me push, she coached me to do Lamaze breathing, it was honestly helpful. I focused on breathing and thinking about a happy thought. Which was baby seals. And how kind the nurse was who was feeding me ice chips. And how blessed I felt to have my grandmother next to me, comforting me.

Before I knew it, my baby was placed on my chest and all of the pain almost vanished. It was like coming up for air after diving into a huge body of water. My baby girl was placed on my chest and that pain was worth it. I immediately started talking to my baby, "you're okay, honey, we're okay" ❤️ because I was thinking about how HARD that was, and I understand why babies cry when they're born. Labor is something the mother and the baby go through.

The nurse helped me situate the blankets so I could do skin to skin with my baby. The nurse helped me and my baby with latching her first breastfeed, and then we just relaxed. As much as I could with them stitching me up. That 2nd degree tear was stinging. My Mariella weighed 8 lbs and 7 oz when she was born, she was born at 10am on the dot 😄 My heart was complete and still is today ❤️

I can't thank my labor and delivery nurses enough, and I got to see my OB doctor at my first postpartum visit afterwards. It was such an incredible, wild experience.

I can't believe I thought I just needed to use the bathroom! 😆