Birth Story: Part 1

There comes a point in your pregnancy when sh*t really hits the fan. For me, that was somewhere around 37 weeks, when I packed my hospital bag and realized that I would, somehow, someway have to get this baby out of me. How in the world? I felt like my belly was so huge. No way was this tiny human coming out of me!

I was always TERRIFIED of labor. I couldn’t watch the videos they show in school, never wanted to witness labor, didn’t know if I could survive it…just the thought of it made me feel like passing out. Yet here I was, at the end of my pregnancy realizing I had no choice. The baby was coming whether I liked it or not.

I had planned on working up until the day I delivered (which I later realized was a terrible idea). So that Sunday was business as usual. I was doing a 4 hour drive, delivering orders to customers of our then-business. As I was driving, I felt a slightly uncomfortable, but regular, cramping (early labor) which I passed off as Braxton Hicks contractions. I figured that they would go away on their own, so I just drank a ton of water and tried my best to ignore them. I went home late that night, quickly got ready for work the next day, and went to sleep.

Day 1

My contractions woke me up early that morning. I knew these were the real deal! I was so excited! I just knew my baby would be in my arms by Monday night. I called the school to let them know I was having Baby and couldn’t make it to work.

Here’s where things started to go sideways. The contractions were painful. They were long in duration. However, their frequency was irregular. I downloaded a contraction timing app for my iPhone and sat on an exercise ball, timing each contraction as my fiancé slept. I sent my family screenshots of the app and everyone knew I was going to the hospital that day.

As the day progressed, the contractions got unbearably painful. Like, stop you in your tracks painful. Each time one hit, I had to stop talking just to be able to focus on riding the wave.

This was just the beginning!

I called Kaiser to let them know what was happening. I was due for my 38-week appointment anyway, so I went in. I was shocked when they said I was only 2cm dilated! However, after seeing the frequency and duration of my contractions, the OBGYN performed a membrane strip (totally painless, btw) and told me to walk around the facility…surely baby would be here any moment.

At this point, I was exhausted. Powering through each contraction really took it out of me. So I decided to go home after a few hours of walking around the hospital courtyard. We weren't progressing.

Little did I know, I would be suffering like this for three days straight.