Since I’m blogging about being a mom, I thinks fitting to share my daughters birth story. She just turned 7 months old and I’ve been reminiscing her birth day again for the 7th month in a row lol.
I will preface this by saying that I had no expectations going into her birth. I know that birth plans don’t always go how you want them to. The natural method was the goal, but I was open to using the meds if I needed them. My due date was July 28th.
Let’s Start from the Beginning
From the beginning, preeclampsia was a risk factor. I had some really high blood pressure readings so I went to Labor and Delivery on Friday, July 7th, to get checked and make sure everything was ok. Some tests were ran and the protein levels were extremely high, but the blood pressure had went down. I was sent home with a 24 hour urine test. I stayed home all weekend to do the test and had to go back for an appointment on Sunday to collect my sample from that test and check my blood pressure again. Everything looked good so I was sent home.
On Monday, July 10th, my mom picked me up and drove me to work. Obviously, babygirl could come anytime. My husband and mom thought it’d be best for someone to be with me at all times, just in case. I felt good, but exhausted and my line of work can require me to walk a lot. The doctor calls me and tells me that my protein levels were still extremely high and that it would be best to induce me on July 21st to prevent anything further happening.
Tuesday, July 11th, comes and my mom picks me up and brings me to her house to work from home. Again, tired but not feeling any contractions or pain. Later that evening, after a very eventful day, my husband, Marc, asks me to check my blood pressure. It’s elevated above what it should be. I check it again, same thing. I call my mom and ask her what she thinks I should do. The consensus was to call Labor and delivery and get checked out again.
Say What Now?!
Marc and I go get checked and my blood pressure readings are consistently high. The doctor comes in and says they would prefer to induce me that night. Of course, in shock, I call my mom to come up to the hospital and prepare for them to admit me.
At this point, I wasn’t sure what to expect. My body and my baby weren’t fully ready to start the laboring process so they had to force it to be ready and it was a long process.
A pill had to be entered vaginally every 4 hours to soften the cervix. Then a foley balloon was inflated to act as baby’s head to begin the dilation process. That was in for 12 hours! I got to about 4 1/2 centimeters and they were able to remove the balloon and break my water. That’s when the contractions began.
Birth Day
On July 13th, my birthday, my body was finally ready. The contractions started and the pain was getting to be unbearable. My blood pressure kept spiking every time I had a contraction so I opted for the epidural. The anesthesiologist took forever to come to my room and when he got there, he took another 30 minutes to put in the epidural.
I was still feeling a lot of pain so I let my nurse know. She called the anesthesiologist back and he told me he would have the anesthetic nurse come take a look at it. When she came in, she had to remove the epidural and redo it because it was in wrong. It took her 5 minutes after my last contraction to put it in and start the spinal block.
I was finally able to rest and let my body continue to prepare itself. I went to sleep for an hour so I had energy to push later. When I woke up, the nurse decided to check my progress and realized I was 10 cm plus 1 dilated. It was time to push!!!
At 7:57pm, on her Mama’s birthday, our beautiful Eden Monroe was born and she is perfect! I wasn’t expecting to have a birthday twin, and honestly I was against it. But now, you couldn’t tell me nothing. It was literally a double blessing. We’re birthday twins and I can’t be happier. Our life has changed drastically, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.
I would love to hear your birth story. Can you relate?