This is the birth story of Elijah, told by his mom Stephanie. If you're a crier, grab some tissues. Stephanie told the story so beautifully!
"I found out I was pregnant at 3:00 in the morning!! I had miscarried the month before and I didn't have high hopes of another pregnancy so quickly. We were flying out to Montana at 6:00 am for on of my good friend's wedding. My husband had asked me if I had gotten my period yet and I said no not yet, that I was a little over a week late. He asked if I had taken a test and I said no. I think I was a little hesitant because I didn't want to get my hopes up. He thought I should take a test though just to make sure before a weekend of celebrations with my friends. Turns out.... I WAS PREGNANT! We were completely elated! I obviously didn't drink while in Montana. I had to "fake" it so that my friends didn't catch on because I wasn't ready to tell everyone yet, seeing as it was brand new to us and I wanted to wait until we were at least 8 weeks to tell anyone. One of friends somehow managed to guess!! So she was the first to find out! We told each of the grandparents around 8-10 weeks along. We got 2 different books and put a note inside from their grandchild. Saying something along the lines of "Grandma and grandpa, I can't wait for you to read this to me when I join the world in April 2018!" We told each of our siblings and friends separately over the next couple weeks. Everyone was so thrilled for us!
I had a mediocre pregnancy. Nothing terrible, but I did have some difficult times. My first trimester was hard. I had severe nausea and zero appetite. I also had a very hard time sleeping. I bought a bunch of different pillows to try and help but I would just lay awake all night. So I was very worried that I wasn't doing enough for my baby. The second trimester got much easier. The nausea subsided and I was finally sleeping better. I got to just enjoy feeling the little kicks and watching my belly grow! The third trimester was a little more difficult. I was told I was anemic so I had to start getting weekly iron infusions. I also suffered from severe itching all over my body for a few weeks, which made me very uncomfortable. I had pretty awful sciatic nerve pain which made it hard to walk sometimes and then for the last month, my feet were so swollen, I couldn't get my feet in my shoes!! Overall, event through some pain and discomfort, I enjoyed being pregnant and I can't wait to do it again!
I was due on April 20 and I delivered on April 19!! I had a feeling I would deliver pretty close to my due date because baby boy was growing so fast and at my 39 week appointment, I was already 4cm dilated! I didn't have any kind of contractions though yet. On April 18th, I was having a LOT of pelvic pain. It was severe pressure. It felt like what they call "lightening crotch" but it was for prolonged portions of time and would come very few minutes. It was incredibly painful. My husband was trying to tell me they were probably contractions, but I was pretty sure they weren't. It was our first child so neither one of us really knew what to expect, but the pain was inconsistent and was in my pelvis, not in my uterus so I was pretty confident I wasn't having contractions. The pain got worse as the day went on. We got into bed that night around 9pm and the pain got severely worse. It started to get unbearable. I was sitting on the exercise ball leaned over the bed but nothing seemed to help so we decided to call the doctor on call at the hospital. I described my pain and she told me I should come in. I started to panic. I immediately started bawling because I couldn't believe that we could be meeting our son that night!! I was so scared! We headed to the hospital and got checked in. I was at 7cm dilated. They put the contraction monitor on me and I wasn't having any contractions. The pain also started to get better. They expected that my water was gonna break any minute and that baby was going to be here soon! They put me in a room and told me to try and rest while I could! They came to check on me every hour or so and I stopped progressing. They came in around 3am and my water still hadn't broken and I was still at 7cm. They said that if my water doesn't break by 6am, they would break it manually, which they ended up doing. As soon as they broke my water, the contractions started!!!!
Labor was relatively short for me but really hard. Because I was at 7cm when they broke my water, the contractions escalated SO quickly. Right out the gate, my contractions were 5 minutes apart and would last 1-2 minutes. By 9am my contractions were so terrible and I felt like I needed to push. The nurse came to check me and I was only at 8cm. I was shocked! I figured that since I got 7cm with no contractions at all, that I would have gotten to 10cm quickly! My husband was extremely supportive. He was there to hold my hand and to rub my back and to help me breath through each contraction. We were both exhausted already because we didn't really get any sleep. My L&D nurse and doctor was also AMAZING! They were so incredibly helpful. My doctor even came in to rub my back and help me get into different positions to help baby descend more. I got to a point where I felt like I couldn't NOT push. They checked, me and I was finally at 10 cm!!!!! This was at about 11:30 am when I started pushing.
I pushed and pushed for about 45 minutes. They realized that baby was "sunny side up" (face up, instead of face down). I was pushing really well but they said I was struggling to get past the shoulders. They told me to try and rest for a little while. If I wanted to still bear down some, I could, but try not to fully push for a little while so that I didn't over-exert myself. They wanted my contractions to do some more of the work for me. I rested for maybe 30 minutes but after that, I felt like I needed to get him out. So we called the doctor and nurse back in and we started pushing again. We were able to see baby's head since the very first push but I could not get past the shoulders!!! I pushed for another hour... still no more progression. They decided to give me some pitocin to make my contractions stronger because my body was getting so tired that they thought that stronger contractions would make my pushes more productive. I was getting close to having pushed for 2.5 hours. They warned me that they can't let me push for more than 3 hours without an epidural. So if I didn't get the baby out in the next 30 minutes, that I was going to need a C-section (which I really didn't want). I was so so so exhausted. At the time, a C-Section didn't seem so bad, because at least we could be done sooner! I really didn't think I could do it. My doctor was so great though and knew I didn't want a C-Section so she did everything she could to help me. I hit 3 hours. Baby still wasn't out. My doctor told me I had one more contraction. If I didn't get baby out, we would need to go into surgery. I didn't get baby out. She gave me ONE MORE. Told me it was my absolute last chance. I pushed and pushed SO HARD.... And baby was born. I pushed for a total of 3 hours and 20 minutes. Baby boy was finally born at 3:17pm on April 19th, 2018. It was just my husband and I in the room. Well... and the labor and delivery nurse, my doctor, and the hospital newborn pediatrician. I was straight up exhausted. But words can't describe what it felt like for me to hold my baby boy for the first time. I was completely, totally, and utterly in love.
Naturally, I was so unbelievably happy to finally be holding our son. I remember holding him... giving him a kiss on the forehead, saying "I love you, Elijah David" and then looking up at my husband and I uttered "He is seriously perfect. Absolutely perfect" The afterbirth process was a little difficult for me though. Not all of my placenta came out so they had to do some work and get all of it out, which was very painful. And I had a second degree tear so they had to stitch me up. The lidocaine wore off halfway through, so they had to give me a second dose. The afterbirth process took almost an hour. We finished up at about 4:30, and could not have possibly been more relieved.
My first days of postpartum were hard, but wonderful. As every new mom experiences, I had an incredible flood of emotions. I remember I went up to take a shower after getting home from the hospital. And I could not stop crying. I called my husband up and I remember telling him that I didn't know what to do. I was completely alone for the very first time in 9 months. I was so used to having my baby in my belly that I didn't know what to do when I wasn't hold him. I was tired of just passing him off to family. I felt like I hadn't gotten enough time to just be with him as his mommy. It did get easier though over the next couple days. Physically, I was in some pain. I went through the normal stuff... adult diapers, the spray bottle, the dermoplast spray, tucks pads, etc... Struggled to walk and get up and down the stairs. My body went through quite a bit since I pushed for so long without an epidural. Then... my breastmilk came in fast and furious! So I had a lot of pain from engorgement. By the end of that first week, everything got more manageable. My in-laws were in town and then my family was there to come help and visit over the next few days. My husband was a rockstar. I could not have done it without him!
I didn't have an epidural. People often ask me if I wish I had one or if it was my plan all along to do it without pain management. I had planned to take it one step at a time. To decide when the time came if I wanted one. I wanted to see how I did with the contractions. I wasn't against having one, but if I could do it without one, then I would prefer that. My contractions escalated so quickly that I by time I thought I may have wanted one, I didn't think I'd be able to sit still enough to get one, so I went without it. Was it painful... Heck yes. But I'm generally glad that I didn't get one. I'm glad that I had the experience of feeling what it was like completely naturally. Will I do it again... I'm not sure. I think it would totally depend. I think I wouldn't mind not having an epidural next time, but we'll see!
I think I would tell my past self to just never give up. I wanted to quit so many times during delivery. I am SO glad that I didn't, that I was able to deliver the way I had always intended. I would remind myself and every expectant mother, that we, as women, are unbelievable. Our bodies are truly miraculous. We are so strong, even if we don't know it or feel it. And even though the process is painful, scary, and emotional, it is SO SO SO worth it. All of the pain goes away quickly and the magic of holding that baby in your arms, knowing that it was YOU that brought him/her into the world, is truly unbeatable."
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