July 30th, 8:30PM.

I was getting out of the shower & getting ready for bed when I turned to Kenny & said… Well tomorrow is July 31st, tomorrow could be the day! It was weird that I had been fixated on this date for the past few weeks, as one of my best friends kept telling me that she would be born on Harry Potters birthday which is July 31st. Kenneth & I for some reason would joke July 31st, July 31st. So when the night before came around, I had this stillness that till this day I can’t explain. I knew that the next day she would be here in our arms… and I was so relaxed about it (Which if you know me… it’s so NOT me).

During the middle of the night I started getting lower back pain, which had happened to me a handful of times during the end of my pregnancy. I would get up and use the bathroom and after a few minutes the pain would go away. I would usually wait and see if it would go away on its own before getting up – at 5:25am the pain had gotten sharp so I got up and before I could even make it to the bathroom I thought I had peed myself.   NOPE – I had small traces of blood & fluid dripping down. I called for Kenny, and said “I think my water had broken?” (Still in the stillness from the night before, because to me I wasn’t shocked this was happening). All i wanted to do at this point was to text Yiselle YOU GOT THE DATE RIGHT!!! Lol.

Still it was too early to text my friends – so we messaged my parents as they’re up at that time, as well as my cousin & her husband. Once they both wrote back immediately it hit me that it was officially game time. I got in the shower & took the quickest shower ever, as my back pain was starting to intensify it had hit me it was contractions. All the while when we were packing the car, the only thing I was thinking was “WOW the one thing I was scared of was if I experienced back labor, and here I am going through back labor (AKA contractions you feel on your back vs. the front) “.  Thank goodness we left when we did   1. it was already 6am and morning rush hour was about to begin.    2. My contractions were now spaced out by 5 minutes and getting stronger by the minute.

We got to South Miami at 6:30am and signed in with triage – We had been there previously, so with great relief I was happy to see the lady DR who saw me before. They hooked me up to the monitors – the contractions were getting stronger and consistent, all the while the screen test showed my water did NOT break & you are at 0cm dilation. Hmmmmmmm was my reaction, like what they hell came out of me then? the mucus plug? and why did my contraction intensify right when that happened?  how are my contractions so close together and so strong… and I am still at 0cm?   LIKE WHAT?!

My OB was called in, Goodness I was so happy to see him! and he told us we were ready to have this baby today. I was full term at 38 weeks 6 days, my blood pressure was a bit elevated, and my contractions were strong & close together. My IV went in & I was being admitted and rolled into my birthing suite around 8:30

THE REST IS SHORT & SWEET…

By the time I got into the suite, my OB had already requested the epidural & pitocin – I love him so much for that, I had read they usually wait till you’re at least 4cm to give you an epidural? so when he ordered it I had no objections. I was SO nervous for it, I had gotten better with needles but this needle is on another level. So you know I started crying lol for no reason because the anesthesiologist was so gentle I literally felt nothing and my Labor & Delivery nurse was so sweet – I just wanted to hug her the whole time.

This is where the ball started rolling – at 10am I was checked again and by the grace of god I had dilated to 4-5cm already – I KNOW FAST!  30 minutes later my water broke on it own, and this is when we realized there was Meconium. All was fine, they just kept a closer look at her heart rate during the rest of the labor and delivery.

12pm – I get checked again and I am 10+cm (which i didn’t even know what possible?). At this point although I was 10cm my OB suggested we wait an hour to start pushing so she could come down more, as she was still a little high. So they gave me a peanut ball, which I still don’t really know what it helped me with? but it was comfortable lol. By this point I was starting to feel my contractions again and they were intensifying, but stubborn me decided to wait it out a bit instead of pressing the epidural button.

1pm – The room is ready for the delivery. The tools have been brought in and are laid out across from me and the delivery lights have been turned on… it was go time. At this moment there was still a stillness over me, never in a million years would I have thought id be this calm. At this point I was able to feel contractions on my left front side, and it was too late for them to administer more anesthesia. My nurse also told me that it was good I could feel the contractions, so that I knew when to push.

1:15pm – and so we begin! I pushed for an 1 hour and 30 minutes, the last 45 minutes were brutal as I could now feel the contraction on my lower left side & my left ribs – making it hard to breath in between contractions. I was losing strength and the pain became unbearable. At this point I didn’t even know who was in the room anymore. My OB told me that he needed these next pushes to be strong or we would need to go in for a C-Section. So here it went the last 15 minutes of pushing – I ended up with a Episiotomy & she was forced out. Baby girl was born at exactly 2:45pm!