Birth is Beautiful: Abby's Birth Story

At 37 weeks and 6 days pregnant, I was sitting on the couch with my husband, planning a home repair project, when I felt a light -POP- in my belly, and like my period just started. I tried to get my husband’s attention while he was on the phone, but he didn’t realize anything was going on until after he hung up. He thought I had peed myself, which is not a problem I struggled with during my pregnancy. After two changes of clothes, I got him to believe it was my waters breaking.

I wasn’t feeling any contractions at that point, so I really didn’t know what to do! (First-time mom here!) After some frantic running around the house, we decided we should call my doctor’s office. It was after hours, so a different OB was on call, and he told me to come into the hospital. So, I sent my husband out to get Chick-fil-A, since I knew it might be a while until I could eat again.

We left our house around 8 pm, and I was finally feeling my contractions - around 2 minutes apart lasting for about a minute. We were checked into my L&D room by 8:30 pm, where I got my IV and my COVID test, and we were ready to go. I didn’t have a set birth plan, I only knew I wanted an epidural before I hit the transition stage. I had contractions until 11:30 pm when I decided to ask for the epidural so I could try and get some sleep. I was 5cm dilated then - I couldn’t believe I had progressed that quickly! But I never ended up falling asleep, just laid there listening to music with my husband.

By 3:30 am, I was fully dilated! I had a little bit of Pitocin added to my IV because my contractions had slowed a bit, so I think that got me to 10cm quickly. The OB came into the room at 4 am, and though my baby was only at +2 station, he had me start pushing. After about 3 rounds of pushing, my blood pressure fell to about 54/25. My nurse and husband both had noticed my face go white, and they got me on my left side before I passed out. She had epinephrine ready to add to my IV, and I came back quickly (I think). My baby didn’t do well when my BP went down, her heart rate dropped, so the OB said if it happens next time I push, we will have to do a C-Section to be sure the baby was safe. I understood, and we took an hour to rest, pray, and prepare for the next round.

By 5 am, my BP was remaining stable, and my baby’s heart rate never had dipped again. My nurse had me start pushing while on my side, and we were successful in getting baby down to the proper station. My husband actually could see her head when my nurse told me to STOP so she could go get the doctor. Once he came back into the room, my baby was out in two pushes!! This was at 5:43 am, so from waters breaking to birth was just under 12 hours.

She was 7lbs 1oz, 19.5inches long, and doing great on the outside. My placenta was delivered within ten more minutes, and I only needed two stitches after birth. She stayed on my chest for her whole first hour of life before they got her cleaned up and got her measurements, and of course, my husband had cut her cord.

I am still very pleased with my birth story, and would honestly be ready to have another right away if I knew it would go that smoothly again! I am so blessed to have had a successful epidural and relatively no complications throughout the process. My baby is now 8 weeks old, remains above 50th percentile in height and weight, and is one of the happiest babies I’ve ever met. We are still so in love with her and praise God for keeping us all safe and healthy.