{birth story}

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It all started on Friday September 6th.....
It was my last day of work. 
I got home around 5:30pm and was excited to finally be on maternity leave. 
I had ten days to prepare for the baby and relax before his arrival. 
Little did I know he had plans to come early!

When I got home that evening I put on my favorite pajamas and had planned to finish organizing some clothes and things in the nursery.
My husband was upstairs preparing to work on some finishing touches where we had remodeled.
We ate Pad Thai for dinner (my favorite!), I did the dishes and at 7:15pm as I was walking up the stairs; my water broke.
I ran to the bathroom because initially, I thought I had peed on myself!
I called my husband and we both agreed that my water broke and that I needed to call the nurse.

Side Note: when someones water breaks in a movie, they instantly have pain/contractions and rush to the hospital and within minutes they are in active delivery.
Real life is nothing like this.
I had absolutely no pain at first (so that is why I wasn't sure if my water broke!)

I called the hospital and asked them if I should come in now or wait at home.
Because my water had broken, they told me to pack my bags and head in.
I was completely unprepared so I quickly threw a few items in a travel bag and we were off!

As we drove away from home I became so nervous!
I was not mentally prepared to have this baby!
It was only the 6th, not the 16th!
My husband was so excited and he assured me that it was all going to be OK.

When we arrived they checked me into a room, I changed into a gown and began filling out a bunch of paperwork as the nurses came in and introduced themselves and hooked me up to all sorts of monitors - including the monitor that tracks the babies heart beat.
The staff was amazing and they made me feel so comfortable.

About two hours past before I finally started having contractions.
By then it was about 9:30pm.
My sister had also arrived and we just hung out in the room for a few hours waiting for some movement.

As the hours went by and my contractions began getting more intense and closer together, the babies heart rate was fluctuating.
Every time I had a contraction, his heart rate would drop.
When the contraction was over, his heart rate would be normal again.
This made us very nervous and the nurses were constantly watching to make sure his heart rate doesn't drop too low.
 
I ended up having contractions for about 12 hours before deciding to have the epidural.
As I saw the sun coming up and peaking through the window, I was tired and in too much pain to continue without it.
Once they gave me the epidural I was able to relax a little since I was no longer in pain.

At that point (since it had been 12 hours) they decided to see if I had dilated at all.
When they checked me I had only dilated 2cm!
The nurses were surprised that I had not dilated more in the past 12 hours.

They decided to let me wait a few more hours to see how things progress.
However, with each hour my contractions were getting worse, I was not dilating and the babies heart rate was not getting better.
It was getting worse.
At one point I had about eight nurses and doctors rush in and hook me up to an oxygen mask and try to get the babies heart rate back up.
His heart rate had dropped so low that they may have had to do an emergency c-section if it didn't stabilize.

After a few minutes his heart rate came back up.
This scared me so bad.
In those moments all I could do was pray that the baby would be OK.
I could not bear the thought of something happening to him!
This is when the doctor came in and gave me my options: either continue laboring in hopes that things progress OR do a quick c-section and have the baby out within 45 minutes.

 By now it had been 17 hours and I was still only 2cm dilated!
My husband and I discussed our options and decided to have a c-section.
All we could think about was getting our son here safely and as soon as possible!

As soon as we gave them the go ahead, I was literally in and out within 45 minutes as promised with our son in my arms.
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He was so beautiful and perfect.
The moment they removed him for my belly and I heard him cry was so amazing.
We were filled with overwhelming joy - I can't even describe the feeling when you first hear your baby.
In those moments nothing else mattered.
It was just me, my husband and our little babe.

Once we were back in our room we just enjoyed our little bundle of love.
It was so fun to fill out his birth certificate form and just soak in the fact that we are parents.
The way we felt in those moments can not be put into words.
Moments that truly take your breath away.

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It's already been one month and my recovery has been excellent.
I feel wonderful and Charles is as happy as can be!
He is an excellent sleeper, eater and just a happy calm baby.
God has been so good to us.

Coming later this week:
1 month photos of Charlie boy and a little October love at the pumpkin patch!
Happy Sunday
♥


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