My Birth Story

My due date was May 1, 2021 but my daughter decided she wanted to break my water 3 weeks early. I was not surprised as she was quite the kicker during my pregnancy. Everyone is still convinced that she accidentally kicked the water bag open but was not ready to come out into the real world yet.

Going into labor was daunting with the thought of no longer being pregnant in an instant. I was always excited to meet my baby girl but at the same time anxious for what was to come. I am always someone who is prepared for anything I do in life, so when I went into labor 3 weeks before my due date I felt as if I was not in control. Even though all of my planning and researching made me feel prepared, I was still nervous.

Early Labor

Labor began at around 3A.M. on April 10, 2021. I was sleeping when I felt the urge to pee. I then got up to use the bathroom and as I was walking back to bed my water broke. I proceeded to wake my husband up who had just fallen asleep maybe an hour ago. We started to time my contractions which felt like mild period cramps. They were pretty irregular at first and not strong. My husband called the hospital and they wanted me to come in right away since there was a higher chance of infection with my water broken.

Arriving at the Labor and Delivery Center

When we got to the hospital we got taken into a holding room where they had to test for amniotic fluid, do a COVID test, and watch for the baby’s heart rate to indicate that she was active. They wanted to start me on Pitocin immediately but I wanted to hold off and try to get labor going naturally. Once being admitted into a labor and delivery room, I started to do labor exercises trying to open my cervix and get contractions to be more regular. After about 12 hours of doing every exercise possible, I had only dilated another 0.5 cm, which was frustrating to say the least. Making the decision to start Pitocin was the most difficult decision I’ve ever had to make. I was scared that my contractions would be so intense that I would need pain medications and even an epidural which was what I wanted to avoid at all costs.

We made a few phone calls to friends who had been in similar situations before we made our decision. Ultimately deciding to start Pitocin is what was best for me and my baby. Once the Pitocin started to kick in, my contractions started to get stronger and more consistent. With the Pitocin level at 1 the pain was not too bad with the contractions. After about an hour they bumped the level up to a 2 and the pain became more unbearable. I just remember laying in the bed holding on to the side railings and holding my sisters hand. I considered getting pain medications but the nurse told me it could possibly make the baby sleepy because it was so late in the process, so I refused.

Pushing and Meeting Maliyah

After many intense contractions, my body was starting to push on its own. We told the nurse but she said it was not time to push yet because I was not fully dilated. Trying to prevent my body from pushing was probably the most painful and difficult part of labor and delivery. During my pregnancy I had taken a few classes on ways to relax my body and muscles to relieve some of the labor pains and to help labor progress quicker. Trying to prevent my body from pushing was the complete opposite of everything that I had learned. I had to tense up my muscles to try to stop the pushing.  After about an hour of not being able to push when I felt the urge to, we told the nurse what was happening and she told us that there was no way I was fully dilated and ready to push yet. We insisted that she check again and to her surprise I was fully dilated and ready to push. Everyone involved was shocked how fast I progressed after the Pitocin.

When it came time to push it was almost a sense of relief to listen to my body and push with my contractions.  I pushed for about 2 hours until it was finally time to meet my baby girl. I know I always heard people talk about the “ring of fire” but never believed it until I experienced it for myself. It is 100% true and it is intense. I felt like I was ripping from all sides and was terrified for the recovery after. Thankfully I did not tear at all and did not need stitches. While in the delivery room, the bed had 1 bar on each side of the bed that were intended for me to grab onto and pull on during my pushes. Doing that multiple times made me feel like I had just done a years’ worth of arm and back workout in 2 hours. Needless to say I was extremely sore and tired after delivery.

April 11^th, 2021 at 3:28AM will be a date and time that I will never forget. The moment I finally got to meet my precious baby girl. It almost felt like a dream to finally be able to hold her in my arms after carrying her for eight and a half months inside of me. Although I was extremely grateful to have my daughter in my arms, I was also extremely tired and in pain. To make matters worse, they had to force her to breastfeed due to the fact that I had gestational diabetes and she had some jaundice. Forceful nursing is something I did not want to experience but I knew that if she did not nurse they would possibly need to give her formula. It was difficult to watch them also need to prick the heel of her foot to test her blood sugars repeatedly. Luckily everything turned out fine with the baby and me being healthy.

Overall I would say that my birth experience was positive. I am so grateful that I had a pretty smooth and easy labor and delivery. I owe it all to my husband, sister, and the amazing staff at Eden Hospital. Ultimately every decision we made lead to my amazing birth experience. I have grown extremely over the past year and would do it again in a heartbeat. Let me know your birth experiences in the comments and if you would go through it again if you had the choice.