Introducing Cora Rae Welch. Our sweet little girl came into this world on Wednesday, October 25th at 6:18pm. What a journey to get her here. We’re so in love!!
Introducing Cora Rae Welch. Our sweet little girl came into this world on Wednesday, October 25th at 6:18pm. What a journey to get her here. We’re so in love!!
Introducing Cora Rae Welch. Our sweet little girl came into this world on Wednesday, October 25th at 6:18pm. What a journey to get her here. We’re so in love!!
39 week pregnancy fit 🧦 We are surviving and occasionally thriving. 🥴🤗 Pregnancy has been a lot of what I thought but a lot of what I didn’t expect. Symptoms I didn’t know about, the intense MENTAL game, feeling simultaneously excited and a little terrified about what’s gonna happen any day now and feeling the heaviness joy of our lives changing forever. 🤞🏻 💛 I tend to get a burst of energy in the morning and then feel pretty wiped 💛 Baby feels lowwwww 💛 Braxton hicks and inconsistent cramping have been happening 💛 Sleep was great from week 32-38; it’s been hit or miss since 💛 Feeling like this cycle of eating, sleeping, PEEING, and waiting is getting old, but trying to remember it won’t last forever. Overall, we’re just so excited she’ll be here soon. I’ve known about this pregnancy for far too long (literally about 3 weeks into this), so it’s felt like a whiiiiile. 😰 We don’t plan on telling people when I go into labor. Being a chronic people-pleaser, I worry that if we tell people, they’ll in turn be worried about me and I’ll “feel” that pressure!! 😅 If you think of us, just send us the good vibes and prayers! We’re lucky to have such a sweet community of family and friends and all those positive intentions are definitely felt. ❤️ Love y’all! Let’s do thisssss (maybe tonight or like in a few weeks) (but really this week) #pregnancy #preggo #thirdtrimester #39weeks #bumpdate #bumpin #pregnantlife #pregnancyjourney
We captured a smile! 😄 And also – I tried to breastfeed in public for the first time. Lots of ups and downs these days, but we wouldn’t trade it for anything. ❤️
We captured a smile! 😄 And also – I tried to breastfeed in public for the first time. Lots of ups and downs these days, but we wouldn’t trade it for anything. ❤️
Our great 🎃
Our great 🎃
Our great 🎃
Birth story, part 7. I just groaned “no!” I didn’t want my sweet girl to be pulled out with a vacuum. I was lost. But then I remembered: We had a daughter coming soon. It was up to me to get her here. I pushed. It had been 34 hours since my water broke. I’d been actively contracting for 21 hours. I couldn’t remember life before discomfort. And then all of the sudden – she was here. No head then body, just all at once, here was our baby. She was crying and looking around with her big eyes. I was in shock it was finally over. Then we learned why things were so hard. Her cord was incredibly short. We couldn’t get her above my belly button. My placenta was high so poor girl had a hard time getting down on her little bungee cord. Kevin cut the cord after it stopped pulsing, and I brought this little stranger to my chest. She was so alert. REALLY cute. I couldn’t believe she was ours. My placenta came out a few minutes later. Poor Kevin looked down at just the right time. 😆 Our little girl nursed right away. The adventure continued as I had a 2nd degree tear which required stitches. But – I had our baby in my arms. Finally!! Despite this not being the plan, despite an incredible amount of pain and interventions that we didn’t expect, I didn’t feel that I had a “bad birth.” I’m so thankful we switched to a hospital birth in advance so I had time to mourn and adjust. I’m thankful we were able to get help when interventions were needed. And despite every new challenge, I’m thankful that all of our decisions felt like a collaboration rather than made for us. We were respected, something that I worried about after hearing hospital horror stories, and so well taken care of. After researching short umbilical cords, I found they double the chances of complications and more often, lead to c-sections. We ended up being where we needed to be with the right team to get this girl safely here. I am grateful for our doulas, Courtney & Lauren, the midwives, and the labor and delivery staff at North Fulton hospital for taking care of us. Labor was another lesson. Make plans, but be open to whatever the universe brings. Thanks for following along ❤️
Birth story, part 7. I just groaned “no!” I didn’t want my sweet girl to be pulled out with a vacuum. I was lost. But then I remembered: We had a daughter coming soon. It was up to me to get her here. I pushed. It had been 34 hours since my water broke. I’d been actively contracting for 21 hours. I couldn’t remember life before discomfort. And then all of the sudden – she was here. No head then body, just all at once, here was our baby. She was crying and looking around with her big eyes. I was in shock it was finally over. Then we learned why things were so hard. Her cord was incredibly short. We couldn’t get her above my belly button. My placenta was high so poor girl had a hard time getting down on her little bungee cord. Kevin cut the cord after it stopped pulsing, and I brought this little stranger to my chest. She was so alert. REALLY cute. I couldn’t believe she was ours. My placenta came out a few minutes later. Poor Kevin looked down at just the right time. 😆 Our little girl nursed right away. The adventure continued as I had a 2nd degree tear which required stitches. But – I had our baby in my arms. Finally!! Despite this not being the plan, despite an incredible amount of pain and interventions that we didn’t expect, I didn’t feel that I had a “bad birth.” I’m so thankful we switched to a hospital birth in advance so I had time to mourn and adjust. I’m thankful we were able to get help when interventions were needed. And despite every new challenge, I’m thankful that all of our decisions felt like a collaboration rather than made for us. We were respected, something that I worried about after hearing hospital horror stories, and so well taken care of. After researching short umbilical cords, I found they double the chances of complications and more often, lead to c-sections. We ended up being where we needed to be with the right team to get this girl safely here. I am grateful for our doulas, Courtney & Lauren, the midwives, and the labor and delivery staff at North Fulton hospital for taking care of us. Labor was another lesson. Make plans, but be open to whatever the universe brings. Thanks for following along ❤️
Happy due date, baby girl
Birth story, part 1. As many of you know, it took a while for us to get pregnant. When we finally did, we were over the moon! There were many lessons involved – lessons in nutrition, lifestyle adjustments, & emotional lessons of letting go. When I imagined birth, I imagined it to be peaceful. I wanted to give our girl the gift of a calm entry into this world. I’d also never been comfy in hospital settings and we’d heard about traumatic hospital births. So – we hired a midwife and started planning a homebirth. At the time, I wasn’t worried about pain. I wanted to do it unmedicated, to prove I could. To be like our ancestors, squatting in a field 😅 In my mind, if I could do that, I could do anything. I was blessed with a normal pregnancy. A low-risk pregnancy is required for homebirth. Although midwives are highly trained, there are scenarios they don’t have the resources for. We also had backup care at a hospital midwife group. I did my labs through them. If anything risked me out, they would have my records. We bought a birth kit. We had a home visit. And then things started to shift. At 32 weeks, I got a high blood pressure reading at the midwives’ office. It went down, but they were concerned. I told them I was just nervous and my BP readings had been excellent at home. Still, I agreed to let them run a preeclampsia panel. It was fine. But then… I saw my BP rise at home. I felt desperate. So I followed the Brewer Diet. It requires you to eat a ton. I worried about food all the time. But within a few days, my BP was normal. However, tensions were high with our homebirth midwife. The way things were communicated were often worded like threats. And at our last visit, she inferred she’d most likely send us to the hospital in labor. I left my 38w apmnt devastated. I knew I wouldn’t get my “peaceful homebirth.” I spent the day crying. That night, we made a choice. To cut ties with our homebirth midwife and willingly choose a hospital birth. I knew this was the right call, although it didn’t make it easier. To let go of something you’ve been planning for 9 months is hard. But just like getting pregnant was a lesson, so was this… “Let go.”
Birth story, part 1. As many of you know, it took a while for us to get pregnant. When we finally did, we were over the moon! There were many lessons involved – lessons in nutrition, lifestyle adjustments, & emotional lessons of letting go. When I imagined birth, I imagined it to be peaceful. I wanted to give our girl the gift of a calm entry into this world. I’d also never been comfy in hospital settings and we’d heard about traumatic hospital births. So – we hired a midwife and started planning a homebirth. At the time, I wasn’t worried about pain. I wanted to do it unmedicated, to prove I could. To be like our ancestors, squatting in a field 😅 In my mind, if I could do that, I could do anything. I was blessed with a normal pregnancy. A low-risk pregnancy is required for homebirth. Although midwives are highly trained, there are scenarios they don’t have the resources for. We also had backup care at a hospital midwife group. I did my labs through them. If anything risked me out, they would have my records. We bought a birth kit. We had a home visit. And then things started to shift. At 32 weeks, I got a high blood pressure reading at the midwives’ office. It went down, but they were concerned. I told them I was just nervous and my BP readings had been excellent at home. Still, I agreed to let them run a preeclampsia panel. It was fine. But then… I saw my BP rise at home. I felt desperate. So I followed the Brewer Diet. It requires you to eat a ton. I worried about food all the time. But within a few days, my BP was normal. However, tensions were high with our homebirth midwife. The way things were communicated were often worded like threats. And at our last visit, she inferred she’d most likely send us to the hospital in labor. I left my 38w apmnt devastated. I knew I wouldn’t get my “peaceful homebirth.” I spent the day crying. That night, we made a choice. To cut ties with our homebirth midwife and willingly choose a hospital birth. I knew this was the right call, although it didn’t make it easier. To let go of something you’ve been planning for 9 months is hard. But just like getting pregnant was a lesson, so was this… “Let go.”
Birth story, part 1. As many of you know, it took a while for us to get pregnant. When we finally did, we were over the moon! There were many lessons involved – lessons in nutrition, lifestyle adjustments, & emotional lessons of letting go. When I imagined birth, I imagined it to be peaceful. I wanted to give our girl the gift of a calm entry into this world. I’d also never been comfy in hospital settings and we’d heard about traumatic hospital births. So – we hired a midwife and started planning a homebirth. At the time, I wasn’t worried about pain. I wanted to do it unmedicated, to prove I could. To be like our ancestors, squatting in a field 😅 In my mind, if I could do that, I could do anything. I was blessed with a normal pregnancy. A low-risk pregnancy is required for homebirth. Although midwives are highly trained, there are scenarios they don’t have the resources for. We also had backup care at a hospital midwife group. I did my labs through them. If anything risked me out, they would have my records. We bought a birth kit. We had a home visit. And then things started to shift. At 32 weeks, I got a high blood pressure reading at the midwives’ office. It went down, but they were concerned. I told them I was just nervous and my BP readings had been excellent at home. Still, I agreed to let them run a preeclampsia panel. It was fine. But then… I saw my BP rise at home. I felt desperate. So I followed the Brewer Diet. It requires you to eat a ton. I worried about food all the time. But within a few days, my BP was normal. However, tensions were high with our homebirth midwife. The way things were communicated were often worded like threats. And at our last visit, she inferred she’d most likely send us to the hospital in labor. I left my 38w apmnt devastated. I knew I wouldn’t get my “peaceful homebirth.” I spent the day crying. That night, we made a choice. To cut ties with our homebirth midwife and willingly choose a hospital birth. I knew this was the right call, although it didn’t make it easier. To let go of something you’ve been planning for 9 months is hard. But just like getting pregnant was a lesson, so was this… “Let go.”
Birth story, part 3. Things picked up. I was buckled in the passenger seat but couldn’t sit still through contractions. I snapped at Kevin for putting all our stuff in the backseat instead of the trunk. I unbuckled and wrapped my arms around the seat, clutching it through each wave. We had a 40 minute drive and contractions were coming every 3 minutes. Ironically, our arrival time was 12:24am – my angel numbers again. A sign. ✨ We finally got to the hospital to meet our doula. I had two contractions I had to stop for on the way in. They took us to triage and swabbed me for amniotic fluid – which was wayyyy more painful than the cervical check. (I’d heard some women say cervical checks hurt more than labor, but they never hurt me). I puked a few times and handed Kevin and our doula, Lauren, my barf bags. The midwife confirmed my water had broken. Despite the pain, I was excited to see how far along I was! Since contractions were coming so close, I guessed I was maybe 6cm out of 10cm. … The midwife told me I was 3cm dilated, and baby was high up. 🙄 It was discouraging. So they took us to our room – pretty big!! I took the water birth class so they gave us a room with a pool. I was still having contractions every 3 minutes and breathing/groaning through them. They tried to get my blood – but couldn’t find a vein because I was pretty swollen. 😬 then they had the ‘IV guys’ come and do it. I was really struggling. It felt like I couldn’t get a break.. intense pain hitting me in the front and back of my body nearly every 2 minutes. I felt sick, like I could pass out at any moment. I had thrown up 4 times now. They gave me some IV fluids to see if it helped. It didn’t. I still had debilitating pain and felt like something wasn’t right. I KNEW something wasn’t right. At 4:30 am, the midwife came in and told us what my body already knew…
Birth story, part 2. Monday, October 23rd: I was 39 weeks and had a routine checkup. We’d met a warm and kind midwife and I requested all appointments with her. She always gave me a hug. 🥺❤️ My blood pressure was elevated but not more so than my last appointments, so she wasn’t worried. No protein in my urine. 🙏🏼 Baby measured 40 weeks and the heartbeat was “happy.” I scheduled my 40 week appointment and we went home. I had a headache and felt really tired. We went on a walk but I had to stop a few times. I had no energy. Felt like my period was coming. I had a headache throughout the night. My cat, Stan, who always lays near me laid ON me.. which was weird. I woke up Tuesday around 8am, went to the bathroom and started breakfast. Felt another cramp, and then all of the sudden, my shorts were damp. More clear liquid dripped down my leg. I was like… “is this it?” 👀 I didn’t want to jump to conclusions. I put on a pad and waited for Kevin to wake up. He was totally unphased. 😅 I wasn’t having consistent contractions so he went to work. My mom wanted to chat. I called her, knowing I needed to keep it chill and not reveal my water was leaking. She wanted to talk, and eventually said I had ‘stuff’ to do. Ya know, like have a baby. 😆 I continued to leak and then saw my mucus plug come out. We told the doulas. I knew there was a risk of infection if my water had been broken too long, but I didn’t want to get to the hospital too early, without any contractions to show for it, and potentially be given drugs. (Our birthplan was unmedicated). We agreed to head to the hospital in the AM if things didn’t pick up. I realized that labor was probably imminent and I should get some sleep. I laid down at 9:00pm.. and then contractions started coming every 5 minutes. They kept coming for two hours. And I realized this was it. Kevin and I said goodbye to our animals, and I couldn’t help but cry. God, how we wanted this. But our lives and our animal’s lives were about to change forever. How could I not be nervous?! And scared? Birth can be so unpredictable. We got in the car.
Birth story, part 2. Monday, October 23rd: I was 39 weeks and had a routine checkup. We’d met a warm and kind midwife and I requested all appointments with her. She always gave me a hug. 🥺❤️ My blood pressure was elevated but not more so than my last appointments, so she wasn’t worried. No protein in my urine. 🙏🏼 Baby measured 40 weeks and the heartbeat was “happy.” I scheduled my 40 week appointment and we went home. I had a headache and felt really tired. We went on a walk but I had to stop a few times. I had no energy. Felt like my period was coming. I had a headache throughout the night. My cat, Stan, who always lays near me laid ON me.. which was weird. I woke up Tuesday around 8am, went to the bathroom and started breakfast. Felt another cramp, and then all of the sudden, my shorts were damp. More clear liquid dripped down my leg. I was like… “is this it?” 👀 I didn’t want to jump to conclusions. I put on a pad and waited for Kevin to wake up. He was totally unphased. 😅 I wasn’t having consistent contractions so he went to work. My mom wanted to chat. I called her, knowing I needed to keep it chill and not reveal my water was leaking. She wanted to talk, and eventually said I had ‘stuff’ to do. Ya know, like have a baby. 😆 I continued to leak and then saw my mucus plug come out. We told the doulas. I knew there was a risk of infection if my water had been broken too long, but I didn’t want to get to the hospital too early, without any contractions to show for it, and potentially be given drugs. (Our birthplan was unmedicated). We agreed to head to the hospital in the AM if things didn’t pick up. I realized that labor was probably imminent and I should get some sleep. I laid down at 9:00pm.. and then contractions started coming every 5 minutes. They kept coming for two hours. And I realized this was it. Kevin and I said goodbye to our animals, and I couldn’t help but cry. God, how we wanted this. But our lives and our animal’s lives were about to change forever. How could I not be nervous?! And scared? Birth can be so unpredictable. We got in the car.
Birth story, part 3. Things picked up. I was buckled in the passenger seat but couldn’t sit still through contractions. I snapped at Kevin for putting all our stuff in the backseat instead of the trunk. I unbuckled and wrapped my arms around the seat, clutching it through each wave. We had a 40 minute drive and contractions were coming every 3 minutes. Ironically, our arrival time was 12:24am – my angel numbers again. A sign. ✨ We finally got to the hospital to meet our doula. I had two contractions I had to stop for on the way in. They took us to triage and swabbed me for amniotic fluid – which was wayyyy more painful than the cervical check. (I’d heard some women say cervical checks hurt more than labor, but they never hurt me). I puked a few times and handed Kevin and our doula, Lauren, my barf bags. The midwife confirmed my water had broken. Despite the pain, I was excited to see how far along I was! Since contractions were coming so close, I guessed I was maybe 6cm out of 10cm. … The midwife told me I was 3cm dilated, and baby was high up. 🙄 It was discouraging. So they took us to our room – pretty big!! I took the water birth class so they gave us a room with a pool. I was still having contractions every 3 minutes and breathing/groaning through them. They tried to get my blood – but couldn’t find a vein because I was pretty swollen. 😬 then they had the ‘IV guys’ come and do it. I was really struggling. It felt like I couldn’t get a break.. intense pain hitting me in the front and back of my body nearly every 2 minutes. I felt sick, like I could pass out at any moment. I had thrown up 4 times now. They gave me some IV fluids to see if it helped. It didn’t. I still had debilitating pain and felt like something wasn’t right. I KNEW something wasn’t right. At 4:30 am, the midwife came in and told us what my body already knew…
Birth story, part 6 The midwife and nurses told me how to push. It shouldn’t be hard, just get her out, right?! We tried a few different positions. After an hour and a half of pushing and straining, she hadn’t moved any lower. I was so discouraged. And contractions weren’t coming as frequently, which didn’t help. One of the nurses said “my uterus was tired.” 😭 The midwife brought up pitocin. I was so wary. There are no natural endorphins to counteract synthetic oxytocin so contractions can be more painful. I was worried it could lead to a cascade of interventions.. as higher levels can cause intolerance in the body. What if the baby was stressed from it? After all our plans and work and pivoting, we were so determined to get this baby out vaginally. But. I agreed with the fact that we needed regular contractions to evict this child. And I’d already been in labor for so long. So they hooked me up to the lowest dose of pitocin. And we geared up for more pushing. I could have hit the extra epidural button at this point to counteract the intense contractions. But I wanted to feel something! And I did. 😳 The delivery staff were pretty surprised to see that I didn’t need much help shifting and moving anymore. I wanted to squat, so they had me squat on the bed holding onto a bar. Then I wanted to turn around and hold onto the bed and push. We tried it. But weirdly, what ended up working the best was flat on my back, holding my thighs up, just full spread eagle. The last position I ever imagined for myself 😭 but the midwife was seeing things! She told me there was a black head of hair. 🥺 So I pushed and pushed. For another hour and a half. They kept telling me we were making progress!! The doula and the nurses were excellent cheerleaders. I wasn’t talking. Just waiting for the contractions to push. I felt intense pressure on my tailbone. They told me we were getting close. I hadn’t had anything to eat in nearly 24 hours, and only ice chips to drink. But I was giving it my all. Then – the midwife told me if we didn’t get my baby out in the next ten minutes, she’d have to call in an OB to vacuum assist. I was terrified.
Birth story, part 4. “There’s protein in your urine.” “Your blood pressure is high.” I had preeclampsia. What I’d been running from for so long had finally come. She said this was one of the reasons why I felt so shitty. She wanted to give me meds to lower my BP. Okay, fine. But after 4 more hours of contractions 2-3 minutes apart, how far along was I? … 4cm. Out of 10. All that work – for what? ONE centimeter?? And then I asked something I never expected to ask. “What can we do about the pain?” The midwife said an epidural would help with my blood pressure. Our doula said that would be a compassionate choice, given my condition. Kevin remained sweetly silent. This wasn’t the plan. So many things weren’t The Plan. But once again, I knew it was the right thing to do. So I said yes. Being terrified of needles, I didn’t look. Sitting still for an epidural in the middle of contractions while you’re bent over like a snail is torture. I squeezed Kevin hard. And then – sweet relief. I couldn’t believe that I could talk again. Contractions were still coming but I couldn’t feel them. I was on a cloud. And then our oxygen dropped. The nurses didn’t panic as they put a mask on me. They said that baby and I just had to regulate after the meds and we’d be okay. Luckily, we were. Another cervical check a few minutes later. 9cm. What?! When did that happen? We were all in shock. Had it happened in between, when I agreed to an epidural? Or did the epidural finally allow my body to relax? Either way, we were finally getting somewhere. Around 6am Wednesday morning, they told us all to get some rest. And then they left. Kevin and Lauren got as comfy as they could. They drifted off. I was hooked up to so many wires and had a blood pressure cuff going off every few minutes, so I didn’t. Still, I felt okay now. Completely out of my element, a vision I didn’t predict, but at peace.
Birth story, part 4. “There’s protein in your urine.” “Your blood pressure is high.” I had preeclampsia. What I’d been running from for so long had finally come. She said this was one of the reasons why I felt so shitty. She wanted to give me meds to lower my BP. Okay, fine. But after 4 more hours of contractions 2-3 minutes apart, how far along was I? … 4cm. Out of 10. All that work – for what? ONE centimeter?? And then I asked something I never expected to ask. “What can we do about the pain?” The midwife said an epidural would help with my blood pressure. Our doula said that would be a compassionate choice, given my condition. Kevin remained sweetly silent. This wasn’t the plan. So many things weren’t The Plan. But once again, I knew it was the right thing to do. So I said yes. Being terrified of needles, I didn’t look. Sitting still for an epidural in the middle of contractions while you’re bent over like a snail is torture. I squeezed Kevin hard. And then – sweet relief. I couldn’t believe that I could talk again. Contractions were still coming but I couldn’t feel them. I was on a cloud. And then our oxygen dropped. The nurses didn’t panic as they put a mask on me. They said that baby and I just had to regulate after the meds and we’d be okay. Luckily, we were. Another cervical check a few minutes later. 9cm. What?! When did that happen? We were all in shock. Had it happened in between, when I agreed to an epidural? Or did the epidural finally allow my body to relax? Either way, we were finally getting somewhere. Around 6am Wednesday morning, they told us all to get some rest. And then they left. Kevin and Lauren got as comfy as they could. They drifted off. I was hooked up to so many wires and had a blood pressure cuff going off every few minutes, so I didn’t. Still, I felt okay now. Completely out of my element, a vision I didn’t predict, but at peace.
Birth story, part 4. “There’s protein in your urine.” “Your blood pressure is high.” I had preeclampsia. What I’d been running from for so long had finally come. She said this was one of the reasons why I felt so shitty. She wanted to give me meds to lower my BP. Okay, fine. But after 4 more hours of contractions 2-3 minutes apart, how far along was I? … 4cm. Out of 10. All that work – for what? ONE centimeter?? And then I asked something I never expected to ask. “What can we do about the pain?” The midwife said an epidural would help with my blood pressure. Our doula said that would be a compassionate choice, given my condition. Kevin remained sweetly silent. This wasn’t the plan. So many things weren’t The Plan. But once again, I knew it was the right thing to do. So I said yes. Being terrified of needles, I didn’t look. Sitting still for an epidural in the middle of contractions while you’re bent over like a snail is torture. I squeezed Kevin hard. And then – sweet relief. I couldn’t believe that I could talk again. Contractions were still coming but I couldn’t feel them. I was on a cloud. And then our oxygen dropped. The nurses didn’t panic as they put a mask on me. They said that baby and I just had to regulate after the meds and we’d be okay. Luckily, we were. Another cervical check a few minutes later. 9cm. What?! When did that happen? We were all in shock. Had it happened in between, when I agreed to an epidural? Or did the epidural finally allow my body to relax? Either way, we were finally getting somewhere. Around 6am Wednesday morning, they told us all to get some rest. And then they left. Kevin and Lauren got as comfy as they could. They drifted off. I was hooked up to so many wires and had a blood pressure cuff going off every few minutes, so I didn’t. Still, I felt okay now. Completely out of my element, a vision I didn’t predict, but at peace.
Birth story, part 5. They switched over from night to the day shift and we met our new nursing staff and midwife. They worried that mine and baby’s fluids were low.. did you know that you can only have ice chips after an epidural? 🫣 Also, my pee bag from the catheter was a disgusting brown color. They gave me more fluids. Around 10am, I was fully dilated! I was feeling contractions and pressure (not quite as painful as the night before but still intense) and we hoped pushing would be soon, but baby remained too high. I put on affirmations and focused on breathing her down. Near lunch time, they noticed baby’s heart rate was accelerating and I had a fever. My water had been broken for over 24 hours now. I was given Tylenol, and luckily it brought both of us back to normal. Another check. Baby lower, but still high. They thought my bladder was in the way of her descent – they tried several different catheters, all of which I felt, but I guess baby’s head and my bladder were fighting for space. They said they’d empty my bladder after birth. I was hurting. I didn’t push the epidural button. I wanted the hurt to help move her. I felt like she would never descend. Why wouldn’t she move down? We’d learn why after her birth. Then, around 3pm, I was told she was low enough to start pushing. I couldn’t believe it was finally time. After experiencing some level of contractions for over 24 hours, I couldn’t believe we were finally reaching the end. I didn’t remember what life was like before the pain. I almost forgot why we were all here. There’s a baby coming.
