My Labor and Delivery With Baby #1

My PoppiPudding was born August 18, 2015 at 10:41pm 8 lbs 5 oz, 20.5 inches long with a big head, kissable lips and an appetite I was NOT prepared for initially. His actual due date was 9/2/15 (so you do the math)... With him coming 15 days early was a blessing because never ever did I pray to push out a 10 pound baby nor will I ever in life. 

Around 36 weeks I lost my mucus plug. Later that week at my appointment which was always on Fridays, I described to Doc what it looked like and all and it was definitely it. Nothing like what I had googled which is always worse looking. Why is that? She started asking me questions and I told her, "Look, I know this sounds strange, but is it possible for your child to gain like 6 pounds over night?" Of course she chuckled and responded "No, that's not possible" (chuckling). I mean I knew that but that's what it felt like. So she checked me and I was 3 cm dilated and almost 100% effaced!

...BackStoryTime: So that week I knew something was up because I woke up on that Monday (which was my turn day) and I attempted to spring up out the bed like normal but it felt sooooooo different. That's the day the mucus plug passed and the start of what felt like a "whole different pregnancy." My exact words to doc at that checkup days later. That week I had slowed down and just felt WEIGHT in their. 

She asked me if I was ok with the baby coming at 38 weeks and I said, "UMMM YESSSS! I'M SO OVER IT ALREADY AND THATS PERFECTLY FINE WITH ME!" She also said there's just no way I was going to make it with how I was feeling and my cervix as soft as it was already. Also, she said that if I didn't come the following week then she would induce me at 38 weeks but that she expected a call from in a few days. Oh yea and I forgot to mention that when she checked me, she immediately looked up at me before she was even all the way in and said, "Omg he's SO low, I can feel his head." This was my face in real life 😳😩😶...

Ok so the next week came and I had my 37 week checkup. WAIT!... Let me back up, so NESTING IS REAL! As soon as we left that day, we went straight to Buy Buy Baby to get his car seat and anything else we could think of. I was a cuh-razy mama organizing, cleaning, scrubbing any spot I could find on anything, carpet included. Trust me, until you have scrubbed on your hands and knees at 9 months pregnant, you don't know what real work is. You have had it easy ALL YOUR LIFE...I scheduled my maternity shoot,  and everything for the beginning of that next week. 

So on 8/17/15 at 2:30pm I came for my 37 week check up which ended up being closer to my 38 weeks this time because Doc was on vacation... Everything was still the same down there but I could feel the weight was up again that week for baby boy.

...SideNote:  I could feel the change for the second week straight. At that point, I had felt what every woman says at the end, "I'm so over it it's not even funny." I felt every mother from the past, present and the future's frustration that had been at this point and told me what it feels like at the end. I was there and wanted to cry but I couldn't. I was focused and determined to stay positive, calm, and grateful for such a healthy pregnancy and baby so I didn't want to complain. My words when asked how I felt were, "We are as close as we'll ever be for the rest of our lives. There's no more room for him in there and we are definitely all over each other at this point... but I can't complain." Lol!!! People would crack up at me with that. For starters, the only thing he was really able to move were his feet and hands on my bladder😳. I mean I couldn't even sit down without moving his feet from under or over my ribs for crying out loud! Literally, once I bent just a little to sit down or pick up something, his feet were in the way. My lower ab muscles and pelvic floor muscles down there would tighten up when I would walk because they were working so hard holding his big butt up! I could barely lift my foot to wash it or put on my bottoms so Hubbie had to help. Those lower muscles were working for there life! 😂...Nonetheless I was still working out still managed to get a workout in 3 days before he was born (jumping jacks, squats, etc). My dad thought I was crazy but he was so tickled. He said, "I've never seen a pregnant woman do that before." 

Ok so when she checked me, it was the same but while in there, she swiped my membranes which in turn stimulates the cervix and can a lot of times get labor started. NEVER heard of this until this moment. Well after I got dressed, I had what I've never really been familiar with which were the infamous "period cramps." Never had those but maybe 3 or 4 times in life so didn't quite know nor could I describe what I was feeling to the nurse. Well they sent me over to the hospital, hooked me up to some machines to see if I was having contractions and if they were strong enough to keep me. WASTE OF TIME AND A HIGH BILL LATER ON! This was 2 more hours of sitting and with those hideous ugly gowns they give you! #JudgeMeNot 

Y'all we didn't leave til like almost 7pm. I was starving and ex-hausted to say the least. Because I chose to have my baby in my hometown, we had come with all our stuff days before for that appointment to stay at my sisters house in case the baby came. On top of that my Hubbie had to be at his new job still where we lived which was 90 minutes away from Birmingham at 5 a.m. He had commuted that day and got back in time to take me to my checkup but this second night, he said,  "Babe, I'm not going tomorrow because you may have this baby." 

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Labor

1:30 am I started feeling contractions but because of my method of choice for my natural delivery, hypnobirthing, I didn't really know that's what it was until almost 3am. They were about 10 minutes apart. I would feel the contraction and either lay there or get up and go to the bathroom to not disturb Hubbie. It would sometimes make me have to do a "doozie" which is what we call the #2 in my house🤣. Maybe that's why I didn't think anything of it. Haha!... Well when it hit me that I could be in labor, I started timing and writing the times down. At this point they were down to 7 minutes apart. 

4:00 am came and they were fluctuating between 4 and 7 minutes apart. Then I get the hiccups which lasted way too long at 4:32 am. This with the contractions lasts for another hour. I called my doc around this time and was told to come when they get down to 4 or 5 minutes apart. So we left and went to the hospital around 6:30am. Texted and called my family to let them know. (A decision I quickly regretted once they all arrived.) We stopped and grabbed a chicken biscuit from Jack's on the way🤣🤣🤣... What! I was hungry after all that! 

We arrived around 7:30 and then I labored for another few hours but then they started to slow down due to all my family in my room and the noise. I plugged in my earphones and listened to my hypnobirthing on my ITunes to get me back in the zone. This wasn't really helping after so long with all the background noise getting worse.

5:15 pm Around this time, Doc came in and told me to start walking.  That didn't help because I was too much in shape so I had to do slow and short jogs down the hallways and do squats! This worked quick and they were back in no time. The nurses, doctors, and others would slow down and whisper when they saw me and with me being a little shy back then, I would stop until they walked by so they wouldn't see me and think I was crazy. My Hubbie AKA doula was with me every step of the way coaching me from then on until the last push. 

6:30 pm hit and I was at 7cm so Doc asked if I wanted her to break my water. Hesitant, I looked at my Hubbie and he gave me the ok so she did it. She informed me beforehand that the contractions would become way more intense so to prepare myself. WELL... She was RIGHT people! They did so and after about an hour of that, I got in the water (jacuzzi/birthing tub) to help ease the contractions and almost fell asleep because the water calmed them down to the point they STOPPED an hour later! Never heard of that but that would happen to me. Smh... So of course I got out and banned that for the duration. They started back after that and now I was 10cm dilated and ready to start pushing... But there was a problem, I had NO URGE TO PUSH, ONLY CONTRACTIONS. By this time my doc had to leave and she left me in the hands of an amazingly seasoned Doc whom was just as bomb. She looked at me and asked, "Hey why are you not pushing? Do you not feel the urge to push with these contractions?" I replied, "No." she said, "Well baby you're going to have to push on your own." I didn't have the capacity to understand any of this because the contractions were so intense. They never went shorter than 4 minutes apart for some odd reason which made the 4 hours of pushing a nightmare and longer than ever. The contractions weren't the worse part for me. I was able to breathe through those smoothly because of hypnobirthing and so it was not pain in my mind, but just a lot of "pressure." What was devilish were those pains I would have when the pressure was gone and the lingering of this pain that went from the inside of my hip down my groin towards my cookie (vagina people) area. That pain. Was. No. Joke. Scarred mentally til this day it was so bad. I would rub on both sides up and down and they didn't know what the heck I was doing but I looked like a crack fiend for sure. It got to the point I would grab Hubbie yelling because it hurt so bad. I tried different positions squatting, standing and using the bar to pull up on midway through but I was just too weak from doing all the work that I couldn't even hold myself up. Also, my cervix was in the way when I would push so she would help push down on it so his head would go downward when I pushed to help. Yet, I still had the stamina and strength to hold my pushes for 7-10 seconds.

Delivery

I was determined to get that baby out of me! Well after going through  that for 3.5 hrs with all kinds of emotions filled with thoughts, questions, moments of denial, anger, frustration, you name it, I couldn't take it anymore and I said softly in between one of those contractions, "Lord if you don't help me, I won't be able to do to this and I refuse to have a c-section or any other." Before these words, Doc had asked me if I wanted them to give me pitocin to speed up the contractions to help get him out faster. Upside: Contractions every 1-2 minutes vs every 4 min. Downside: No time to catch my breath, especially, and I was doing all the work without any help from my body besides the contractions; and this would have been double the pain. Also those side pains after was too much and to have it come sooner than it was, I may have passed out. I said "No." That's when I prayed those words. Once I did a few minutes later he started to crown. HALLELUJAH! Won't He do it!... For the last hour, she had been massaging the outside of my cookies (the perineal) as it began to stretch to decrease or possibly eliminate tearing but when the crowning began, she saw where I would so she asked me If I wanted to tear naturally or let her do an episiotomy instead which would be a cleaner cut. I couldn't think straight so I looked at Hubbie and he opted for the cut. I asked which is better so I said "cut" too. 

After a few more pushes, I hear, "His hair is showing. He's crowing!" She said. "Would you like to reach down and touch it?" I nodded my head "no" because I was out of it and didn't care about any of the cute and endearing moments I had seen over the years and plans I had of my own of doing all those things when the baby crowned or pulling it out myself. I cared NOT. I just wanted him out of me! She said ok and they all kind of looked at me... Lol! ... So she says, "Ok we're at the end finally mama! Give me a few more good strong pushes and we will be done!" I pushed and held it for almost 10 sec. That got his head out. She says 2 more and were done and that was just to his torso 😳. I look up and I see this filled out specimen that didn't look small like she had been saying the last 2 hours AT ALL.  I was confused. Then she pauses in shock herself and says hesitantly, "Ok I need 1 more and that should do it." I give it a go and everyone's looking at him in shock. I could hear the nurses trying to whisper and saying, "Where was he in there? How was he in there? She was not that big to be carrying all that!"...

I look to my left and my Hubbie AKA Doula AKA Baby Fava just starts tearing up. I knew he was going to ball even though he said he wouldn't. He was sooooo happy and heart exploding like I've never seen before. Then I look to my right behind the nurses, and my sister is finally not looking like she's been watching a horror film the last 4 hours and is now looking normal and crying tears of joy too. She can't stand to see people in pain especially her loved ones. She's just like my mom. 

Meanwhile I'm trying to catch my breath which took a good 15 minutes. They tried to give him to me but I couldn't hold him once they put him on my chest because he was heavy and my lungs were beat. I couldn't breathe with him on me so without any filter, I said, "Get him off me." They looked at me crazy but realized quickly why when they took him. I was breathing like I had ran a marathon without any training with a 20 lb vest on. It was AWFUL! Meanwhile, my placenta passed about 5 minutes later and then they had to do all that pushing on my stomach that they do in order to stop the bleeding and prevent blood clots. Finally after about 20 minutes of them checking him, my family and friends seeing him (BEFORE ME!), and a photoshoot, they weigh him and all my crazy family are taking bets on how much he weighs! Like who does this!? Don't worry about me over here breathing for dear life! It's cool! I'm good! Then, one of my crazy friends walks in, lifts the covers and says, "OMG! Your stomach is flat!" Y'all the people in my life are not ok and clearly have issues. I'm looking at her sideways because no you did not just do that! 

...SideNote:  When I stood up it wasn't flat because my uterus was still stretched out from being a baby hotel for 9 months.  Afterwards, I had to wear those big, awful, uncomfortable pads they give you because you pretty much have a really heavy period over the next few days and then it starts to lighten up gradually over the next several days, or for some weeks. That wasn't a shock to me. What was a shock was the next day when I was up walking, I couldn't believe how weird and awful my belly felt and it jiggled too! No one told me about the JELLY BELLY and I was pissed! It was like that for about 7 days! I called all my mommy people and snapped when I got home! "Why didn't you tell me about this!??!" They thought I was crazy for not knowing. Like who anticipates that?! I was done with everyone after that. I hate when people don't give me ALL the details when I ask questions about things!... Oh yea I got a hemorrhoid too from all that pushing and didn't know until the next day when my Doc's nurse came to check on me. 😳

We Finally Met

Finally held my PoppiPudding and it was like he knew who I was. I didn't have any feelings or anything because it was so weird. I couldn't believe I was in that moment. You dream of it for years, you plan for it, you anticipate the moment and then when it happens, I'm numb. We were staring at each other. His body was so warm and cozy and I was talking to him and he knew me better than I knew him. He was so calm and alert. It was surreal. I just kept thinking, this is my baby? Like in real life? How? Like we really have babies in our bellies? How is it possible? I was just in awe. 

I asked if I could nurse him and his nurse told me yes and assisted me. It went well on one boob but the other was a challenge.

The Weird Part: When I got up to get in the wheel chair to go to my room, I literally felt EVERYTHING drop! Inside me, that is. Like I literally felt my organs drop when I stood up. WEIIIRRD! Made me think twice about wearing those all day corset waist trainers. 

The nurse came to wash his hair and bathe him and he did such a good job. He loved her washing his hair. He was so sweet about it. He was up for a couple hours after he came out. That's the difference between having an epidural and not having one...Drug-Free baby deliveries are waaaaay different. Hubbie and I just stared at  him for the longest.

My Condolences and My Advice

I am sorry for you non-mothers if this may have been like birth control for you reading this but it's the real. This was like a walk in the park for some moms because they had life and death decisions to make. On the flip side, some moms had the "cute" version where they Labor for a couple hours and then in 1 or 2 pushes, they're baby is here, perfect and they didn't even tear. (Screw you... JK! Lol)... 

My advice is to go into and through pregnancy on purpose no matter what with a positive mindset. I do not care what your situation is or what you've experienced before.  No 2 pregnancies/deliveries are alike. I would have had a different outcome had I not prayed at the end or been in shape my whole pregnancy. My Doc told me the only reason I was able to make it through on my own like that for so long was because I took care of my body during pregnancy. They would check his heart rate every 20 minutes and he literally was on a yacht in there chillin' like it was nothing while I was about to push him out with my uterus and all my organs! His heart had also been conditioned as well because I worked out even in those last months which is when the fetus's heart shows the effects of exercise if you can maintain it.

At the end of the day, the goal is for you and baby to be healthy when it's all said and done.  Be grateful no matter what your experience is if you and your baby at some point were able to leave that hospital and go home. There's women who left the hospital alone with an unfortunate ending so be grateful no matter what.  Remember this moms and future mommies.

As always, have an amazing week Beauties and remember you're absolutely already AMAZING!!!