Lucy's Birth Story

It has been over a month since Lucy entered the world. A whole month since I became a mom, wow! I always said and hoped Lucy would make her debut early, but I never anticipated her coming when she did. Regardless of timing Rudy and I both feel that she arrived just in time, however, I do wish she would have given me a bit of a heads up so that way I could have had all my affairs in order. Washed my hair, styled it, get my nails and toes done, wash and change my bedsheets, tidy up the room a bit more, etc haha. At the end of the day, none of that even mattered all that I cared about was finally having my baby in my arms after years of waiting and praying for this moment. I had really good and easy labor which was all I ever hoped for. I was inactive labor for less than 24 hours, pushed for less than an hour, and Lucy and I were both safe and healthy. It's taken me a lot longer than I wanted to type up this post but I'm so happy to finally share the story of Lucy's birth.

Thursday, October 8, 2020

I had been feeling Braxton Hicks contractions off and on since thirty-one weeks pregnant. On Thursday I had my thirty-six weeks prenatal appointment, and a few days prior the BH had been way more intense. They felt very much like period cramps, some were stronger than others. With this being my first pregnancy, I wasn't sure if they were still Broxton Hicks or if they were the beginning stage of the contractions. They would come and go but weren't consistent at all. I kept telling Rudy "I hope my doctor checks my cervix for dilation because these BH have been so intense I hope something is going on down there".

During my checkup, I had mentioned to my doctor that I had been having a lot of cramping for the last couple of days. I had my Strep B test done and while she was down there she went ahead and checked if I was dilating. She told me that the baby's head was down, I was already 1cm dilated, and the baby's head was at station -1. I was so excited when she told me all of this. I was only thirty-six weeks and was already making progress so I was left hoping that the baby would possibly come early. Since I had high blood pressure my doctor wanted to induce me at thirty-eight weeks, so during that appointment, we scheduled my induction date for October 22. For some reason, I didn't think I was going to make it until then. 

As the day went by I was lightly spotting as my doctor mentioned I would due to the exam, and I noticed I was having a lot of discharge. I knew it was all due to the exam, however, as time went on I was noticing a lot of discharge and it wasn't until a couple of days later maybe Saturday or even Sunday, I began questioning if it could be my mucus plug. I had no idea what a mucus plug looked like so Rudy looked up photos on Google and it was identical to the photos he found.

The days leading up until Sunday I continued to feel a lot of cramping off and on. Again, they weren't consistent. There were no patterns so I wasn't sure if they were contractions or not. They were identical to period cramps and some were more painful than others nothing I couldn't handle. 

Sunday, October 11, 2020 

It was a day like any other, Rudy was at work and I was doing my typical chores around the house to keep me busy. Just before noon, I headed out to hang out with a cousin of mine for a few hours, and I don't remember feeling any different. I don't remember even feeling much cramping that morning at all.

While at my cousin's house, I wasn't even at her place for two hours. As we were sitting at the kitchen table catching up I felt a gush followed by a very warm sensation. Immediately I asked myself if my water had just broken so I got up and went to check myself in the bathroom. I knew I couldn't have peed myself since I had no sensation of needing to pee. As I got to the bathroom to check it was clear liquid and I knew it has to be my water breaking or at least starting to leak. I always thought when your water breaks it would look a lot like what you see on tv but clearly, that's not the case. It was a big enough gush that soaked through my panty liner, underwear, and leggings. Once I cleaned myself up I let my cousin know what was going on so I had to go home and call Labor and Delivery along with letting Rudy know what was going on.

Once I got home I immediately called L&D. I let them know exactly what had happened and that I thought I was losing or lost my mucus plug. The nurse asked me to put on a clean pad and walk around for an hour to see if I continued to leak. As time passed, I waited a total of two hours before calling L&D again. I hadn't felt any gush of water like I did earlier but my pad was a bit damp. I wasn't sure if it was from me still leaking or maybe it was sweat since it was a hot day and I was a bit sweaty from the nerves haha. The second nurse I spoke to told me it sounded like my water did break and for me to go in to get checked out. She told me to bring all my stuff to the hospital, to leave it in the car because she had a feeling I'd be getting admitted, and if so Rudy could just go to the car and grab all our stuff.

We arrived at the hospital and as we were about to walk into the hospital doors I felt another gush. By this point, I knew my water was definitely breaking. As we got to L&D we were put into a room before 5 pm so that the doctor could check if I was indeed leaking amniotic fluids. Turns out I was so then I was asked If I wanted to go ahead get admitted, basically get induced. I said yes which meant they would get me started on Pitocin. I was then put into my labor and delivery room just after 5 pm. The nurse started my Pitocin and the doctor on duty let me know they wouldn't check me for dilation until I was experiencing unbearable pain that I needed the epidural. Since my water broke they wanted to avoid checking my cervix to prevent infection. Things were going pretty smoothly at this point I was feeling some cramping here and there. My nurse even asked me a couple of times if I was feeling my contractions, I wasn't, because apparently, I was having some strong ones. 

Since the baby most likely wasn't going to arrive by tonight Rudy and I decided it was time for us to try and get some sleep. By 11 pm I was feeling a lot of pain I almost wanted to cry. I told my nurse I was in a lot of pain and I was considering the epidural. She asked me if I wanted to get a different medication called fentanyl that would be given to me through the IV and it should relax me enough to get some sleep. I decided to go ahead and try that before getting the epidural. 

Monday, October 12, 2020

The fentanyl only lasted an hour, I barely was able to relax with nurses coming in and out then changing shifts and introducing themselves to me. By midnight I was waiting to get my epidural. I was in so much more pain by this point my contractions were coming in every 2-3 minutes. It felt like the anesthesiologist was taking forever to finally arrive with my drugs. I was never scared about getting the epidural, I've heard women say that they didn't even feel the epidural needle go in because the contractions were so painful. Well, I felt the needle. The entire duration of getting my epidural was tough. It hurt, it felt weird, lots of pressure, and it couldn't be done quick enough. Finally, once it was all over and done with I felt such relief. I'll tell everyone they need to get the epidural, it's godsent! The numbing kept wearing off on my left side though. Whenever this would happen the nurses would have me lay on my left side because the way they explained the epidural to me was like this, it works like gravity so if I was starting to feel pain on my left side I have to lay on my left side. Now that I was feeling way better and not in any more pain it was time to rest as much as we could.

Almost 4 am and I finally had my cervix checked, I was at 5cm. I was ecstatic and hoped I would continue to progress and quickly. Every chance I got I tried to get as much rest as I possibly could especially with having the epidural. 

As the hours passed the nurses continued to up my Pitocin doses and just before 7 am the doctor came in to recheck me and at this point, I was still at 5cm. I was so discouraged I was really hoping I'd be at least 7cm or to have had some kind of progress. Since I was still the same as the previous check my amazing nurse suggested I use a peanut ball. It's basically a yoga ball that's shaped just like a peanut and you lay on your side with it in between your legs. She swore it would help me progress, so I agreed to try it out until my next cervix check which would be in two hours.

About two hours later around 8:30 am the doctors checked on me and I was 7cm! I was hoping this meant baby would be here within two hours at the latest haha. I was so excited to meet her, still not the slightest bit nervous. After this Rudy and I hung out for a few hours until I got checked again. We even got to enjoy a popsicle in the meantime while I called some friends and family members to give them some updates.

One thing I failed to mention earlier is that I was shaking a bit. I heard of this happening to women due to the epidural but I remember I started getting the shakes off and on before getting the epidural. My nurse said it was normal with being as far into labor as I was. This came and went throughout labor. Finally at 11:30 am it was time for another check and I was already at 9 1/2cm this was so exciting because we were getting close! 

The next time I got checked I was still 9 1/2cm. Apparently, a piece of my cervix wasn't dissolving "softening" so it wasn't allowing me to get to 10cm which also wasn't allowing the baby to pass through. The doctors then did an ultrasound and discovered that she was head down but instead of having the top of her head facing down towards my cervix it was her ear. So her head was kind of sideways and the doctors were going to have to turn her. I was so scared this was going to be extremely painful, thankfully it wasn't and she was able to turn the baby quickly. Now that the baby was turned to the correct position they had me lay on my right side for a bit to keep the baby in that position. 

A while after laying on my right side, the nurse had me get on my knees on the bed and stay in that position for as long as I could. She assured me this was going to help get the rest of my cervix to soften. This totally worked but I was feeling a lot of pressure and pain from the contractions since the epidural was wearing off on my left side from laying on my right side so long. We were trying to get the remainder of my cervix softened it sucked! As the contractions got stronger I continued to feel it on my left side and it was brutal, I couldn't wait until I was able to lay on my right side again to level out the epidural. Rudy kept pushing for more doses of the epidural as often as it allowed him to. Rudy was also massaging my left side which was where I was feeling the most pain.

By 3:30 pm the doctor came in for one final check and finally what we've all been waiting for, I was 10cm! This clearly meant it was going time! I practiced pushing with my nurse and Rudy for maybe 10 minutes. Easy peasy, my nurse kept telling me how good I was at pushing giving me all the confidence I needed. The nurse finally had me stop pushing to call the doctors and let them know I was ready to start the real pushing. 

The practice pushing was easy, then the real pushing and trying to get the baby out was the hardest part of my entire labor. I now know why it's called labor, it was such a workout. I pushed and pushed, at every push I was pushing my absolute hardest. It was draining. To me, it felt like forever and never-ending. As time went by, very slowly, I was becoming more and more exhausted. I was so scared that with how exhausted I was becoming something would happen to my baby. I was so scared that maybe her heartrate would drop or something and we'd need to do an emergency c-section to get her out. So every time I would try pushing even harder. I was so tired and after each push, I remember my forehead was drenched in sweat. I also remember thinking to myself that I couldn't do this anymore. The doctors, the nurses even Rudy at times would tell me how close I was getting. One more push, one more push was all I kept hearing which to be completely honest was pissing me off! I don't know how many times they told me one more push making me want to give it my all only for them to tell me again one more push. 

At last, less than an hour of pushing, the baby's head finally popped out and after one more super-strong push my daughter was born. Lucy Moon was born on October 12, 2020, at 4:31 pm. She was perfect and I was immediately in love with her. 

Everything, after she was placed immediately on my chest, is a complete blur. I remember crying so hard, she was finally here. The daughter I had been praying for my whole life was finally here, she was finally mine and in my arms. I was also pretty damn happy that I was done pushing haha. 

Rudy and I are both so in love with this tiny human, there is nothing I wouldn't do for her. I would go through it all over and over again. IVF, pregnancy, and labor everything for this perfect angel.

Life now truly feels complete. I don't know how I lived before Lucy. She is everything I wanted and has such a personality already! She's brought the most joy into our family we're all so thankful for this blessing. I can't wait to watch her grow. My life is all hers now.