Since Layla turns 2 months this week, I guess I should finally share her full birth story! I really wanted to share the story sooner, but babies don’t keep, so I’m trying to enjoy every single moment with my baby girl. She is already growing way too fast. My last month of pregnancy was such a drag, even the day she was born! It was the longest day EVER. 
I was really hoping I was going to go into labor on my own. I was doing everything I possibly could. Walking everyday, dancing, bouncing on the exercise ball, drinking pineapple juice, having sex, evening primrose oil, the list goes on and on. But, nothing was working. So on June 4, 2018 at 40 weeks 5 days, we went in for an induction. I was already 2 cm dilated and 75% effaced. We arrived to the hospital at 8:00 am. The nurse came in and did paperwork and hooked me up to all the machines. My doctor came in and went over the schedule with me on how the day should go. By 9:00 am, they started the pitocin, which is a hormone that can cause or strengthen labor contractions. An hour went by and the doctor came in to break my water.
I have to admit, I was nervous for her to break my water because my body was already not doing what it was supposed to on it’s own. But I knew that it would speed things along and make it a little easier for contractions to strengthen. So at 10:00 am my water was broken and meconium came out, aka Layla pooped inside of Mommy, lol. My husband was a little taken back by the smell and the sight of that, but that’s nothing compared to what he would be witnessing in hours to come. As the hours passed, I was walking around, bouncing on the ball, and constantly feeling like I had to pee. The doctor’s came in to check me about every 2 hours. At 1:00 pm I was 5 cm and still 75% effaced. Things were finally progressing!
Between 2-3 pm my contractions were getting stronger and closer together. They were every 2 minutes, but not strong enough for my cervix to be dilated any more. I was in a lot of pain at this point, so I asked for some pain medication because I was not ready for an epidural. The pain meds gave me more time between contractions so I was able to rest a bit. Around 5:00 I was ready for an epidural. My pain was bearable, but I knew it was only going to get worse and worse. It took a while for the anesthesiologist to get up to me, so I was trying to breathe through the contractions and relax as much as I could. The epidural didn’t hurt as it went in, but once I laid down, I felt SO weird. I got really hot, my blood pressure and heart rate were going up and up, and the doctor and nurse seemed concerned. I had to take off my gown and have a cold cloth on me. Apparently my body reacted weird to the epidural medication. They were trying to regulate my vitals before letting my husband back in. The poor thing was in the waiting room for about an hour, wondering what the heck was going on.
Now we’re around 6:30 pm and I feel a lot better because of the epidural. I just relaxed and waited to see if things were progressing any more. My doctor had left for a few hours, so there were other doctors checking on me while she was gone. By the time she returned at 9:30, I was still only 5cm and she was concerned for infection because my water had broke. I also did not pass my 1 hour glucose test, so she was a little concerned with my blood sugar level. The doctor said we should go in for a c-section. I was really shocked and scared. Things were NOT going at all how I imaged, but I knew I just had to go with the flow. I looked at my husband and asked him if we should just go for it and he said yes. They had me sign the paperwork and got my husband his scrubs. It all happened so fast, I couldn’t believe it!
The c-section room was all white and bright and I will admit I was shaking. I kept telling myself to relax and that I wasn’t scared, but my nerves just took over me. They gave me a higher dose of medication through my epidural, got me on the table and all ready for my husband to come into the room. He came in around 10:00, and by 10:10 pm, Layla arrived! The doctor pulled her out and said, “Yup, she’s a big one!” and I just cried while watching Anthony look over the curtain and stare at our daughter. I kept asking what she looked like as I heard her crying but couldn’t see her yet. Those were the longest moments of my life, hearing my daughter cry and not being able to see her for a few minutes. Then, I finally met her and we took some photos of our first moments together before Anthony and the nurse went into the other room to do vitals and all that good stuff. I couldn’t believe she was finally here.
The doctors sewed me up and got me all set to go to the recovery room. We did skin-to-skin and she latched on my breast right away! What a special moment it was in that recovery room, besides the fact I couldn’t feel anything from my boobs down. Also, my eye was SO itchy from the meds, every photo we tried to take showed my lazy eye, hahaha. Having a c-section is no joke though. I was in a lot of pain for a few weeks. We slowly but surely got the hang of things over here as our family transitioned to a family of 3 (or 5 if you count Sadie and Lola 😉 ). And just like that, I have an almost 2 month old. What a blessing it is to be her mom.
Layla Jean Melito, born 6/4/18 at 10:10 pm at 9 lb 6 oz 21 inches long.
Fresh 48 Photos by Little Moments by Katie
I’d love to hear your birth stories. Were they everything you expected or were you taken by surprise like me? Let me know in the comments!
I had two scheduled c sections so it all went smoothly. What I didn’t plan on was having 3 miscarriages between my girls. They are 9 years apart and such a blessing. Your story just touches my heart and I’m so happy for you. Motherhood is God’s greatest gift!
My story is very similar to yours. I had a hard time reading your story without choking up thinking about how things went for my labor. I was really addressed of getting a c-section and my doctor knew it was really last resort for me. So, I went in for induction on 7/11 and after a night of contractions and doing a round of vaginal cerdivil and 2 rounds of cytotec, the induction was unsuccessful and i never dilated, so they sent us home. I then came home and was trying everything you mentioned to go naturally. All the nurses and my Dr. was convinced they would see me back there in a day or two. Fast forward to a week and a half later, and 5 days past my due date, still no baby. So, they brought me back in to induce me again. This time I was dilated to 1 and we started cytotec again. I still wasn’t progressing much but did dilated a little more so they broke my water. I then shot from being dilated to 4 to 7 with about a hour and a half. We were all so excited to see some major progress. Then I just a wall so they started to give me pitocin. They kept having to turn it off and on because the baby’s heart rate kept dropping. We were more than 24 hours into it and I was finally dilated to 8, kind of 9. So close!!!! Then I hit another wall and stayed there for hours. They noticed my son started to turn and the top of my uterus was getting swollen. The Dr. then says he thinks we need to do a c-section at this point and I sadly agreed. They prepped me and gave my hubby his scrubs to change into. When they rolled me into the operating room, all I could see was white, lights and so many more people than I had expected. It took my husband a moment to get into the room with me and I couldn’t help it but I just started crying as I lay there waiting for it to start. There anesthesiologist and nurses tried to console me until my husband arrived. I also had to tell myself just to relax and breathe. I was actually really surprised that I couldn’t feel any pain during the c-section. Just uncomfortable tugging. There were some complications with bleeding and my uterus contracting when they were trying to see me up, which started to freak me out but I was trying hard to not get upset or emotional. My son also had his first bowel movement inside the womb, so they had to suction him up before giving him to my husband. I was really sad that it took probably a good 5 minutes until I saw my son. I had my heart set on immediate, non-interrupted skin to skin time but unfortunately it didn’t work out that way. Finally I was able to see my son and it was an amazing feeling. When we finally had skin to skin time, he also immediately latched and everything was great. Unfortunately on the 2nd day in the hospital after he was born, we found out he has 2 heart defects. That’s a whole different story that I won’t go into but after 1 week of being in NICU, we were finally able to bring our baby home this Monday! It feels so good to have him finally at his home and with his mommy and daddy! He had to go back for heart surgery soon but at least in the meantime we get our time with him.
Best of luck to you, your hubby and your new baby girl!