So let me start by giving a backstory leading up to my birth: I was 31 weeks pregnant when I started having contractions. I had to be admitted to the hospital to stop labor, and since I have a history of preterm labor, I had to get two steroid injections. I was only 1 cm dilated at the time, but the next week at 32 weeks, I went back to the hospital with contractions again. The doctors were able to stop the labor, and I was discharged from the hospital.

Basically, for three weeks straight, I was in and out of the hospital with contractions. I was also 5 cm dilated and 50% effaced. At 33 weeks and 4 days, I lost my bloody show, which is a sign that labor is close.

On 11/11/23, when I was 35 weeks pregnant, I pranked my family by telling them that my water broke. I did this because I was having what I thought were Braxton Hicks contractions. Everyone told me that I was going to go into labor soon and that no one would believe me if I told them that my water had broken.

I was having contractions, but they were not that close together. I think it was early labor. I got home at 6 pm and had intense back pain with contractions. I told my husband that I thought I might be in labor, but the contractions went away after two hours. I still had back pain and pressure, so I decided to go to bed at 9 pm.

I woke up at 3 am to a contraction. It was quite painful, but I thought it was due to my bladder being full because that's my normal bathroom routine. I got up and went to the toilet, but as soon as I was done, I heard water hitting the toilet. I thought that was weird because I was not still peeing. I stood up and pushed a little bit, and water gushed out onto the floor.

I ran to my room in a panic and woke up my husband. I told him that I thought my water had broken, but he said to wake him up when I knew for sure. I said okay and ran back to the bathroom. Sure enough, my water had broken.

I got to the hospital, and the contractions were kicking my butt. It was 4:00 am, and the doctor checked me. I was still only 5 cm dilated and 80% effaced, and the baby's head was not down. I asked for an epidural, but I didn't get one until 7 am.

Thank goodness my labor stalled once I got to the hospital, and they had to give me Pitocin because my contractions were not close together. They were every 5 to 7 minutes apart, and the doctors wanted to get things going since my water had broken and the baby was premature.

The OB doctor came in to check me at 9 am, but she couldn't find my cervix or see if the baby's head was down. They called a doctor to come do a bedside ultrasound, and the ultrasound tech said that the baby's head was down but that my bladder was too full. They emptied my bladder, and things picked up quickly.

At 12:02 pm, my baby boy made his grand entrance. He swallowed a lot of amniotic fluid on his way out, so he was grunting all day. I had skin-to-skin contact with him since he came out, and he was grunting softly at first, but then got louder as the day went by.

At 7 o'clock, he was sent to the NICU because his lungs were mildly premature and he needed to be on oxygen. He is doing fine now and is hopefully coming home soon.

Thank you for reading. Sorry for the long story.