Donovan's Birth story

I woke up early Sunday morning (1/18) to bloody show and I started having hard (not soft, not medium, but HARD) contractions, they were roughly 8 minutes apart. As the day progressed, they softened up and moved to about every 15 minutes, at this point I didn't think I was in labor, possibly false labor. That night I had a hard contraction about every 20 minutes or so, "definently false" I thought, though they seriously hurt!

A sleepless Sunday night to Monday (1/19) morning, my contractions moved from every 20 minutes or so, to every 5 minutes. I was in labor! We headed to the hospital when my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart, but sadly got sent home when it was discovered that I was only 1 cm dilated! I was seriously frustrated with the pain. We had a regular weekly OB appointment later that day, so I was still hopefully that I would have our son late that night/early morning. I spent the afternoon laboring contractions out in the bathtub as that was the only place I could bear them without breaking out into tears. At my OB appt, I was still only 2 1/2 cm dilated, but my OB prescribed something to help me sleep between contractions.
I managed to get a small amount of sleep Monday night, and late Tuesday morning (1/20) we decided to go back into Triage to see where I was. When I arrived, I was 3 cm dilated and they let me sit there for an hour to see where I would be, if I didn't progress to a 4 in that time, they would send me home again. THANKFULLY, I progressed to a 4 1/2 in 45 minutes and I was admitted! Shortly after being admitted around 11:30, I had an epidural, which was my lifesaver! I was able to sleep and get some well needed rest!

At 1:00ish, they broke my water in hopes of bringing the baby's head down further, I hadn't progressed since I had the epidural. My OB came to check on me at 6:15 and to her and my surprise I was complete and ready to push! They let me labor down for about 45 minutes while they got everything ready since the baby was still at a station-zero. I started pushing about 7:30 and gave birth at 8:14pm! The whole experience was amazing, pushing for me wasn't very difficult, we were joking in between contractions and watching some TV. Somehow managed not to break a sweat!

They put Donovan on my chest as soon as he was born and, seriously, the whole pain of pregnancy and labor went away as soon as I saw my son! He is the most amazing little person in my life and I am thankful for every moment that I get to spend with him! He has been an easy baby so far and I look forward to being the best mama possible!