I feel blessed to feel my labor & delivery was good. Nothing special about my care, they asked if I had a birth plan and I said "I want an epidural and I want us both to leave here healthy and well". My nurse said she could handle that. I checked in to be induced at 41.5 weeks at 7 am on Thursday morning. I was contracting all day but didnt feel a thing. No discomfort or pain until 10 pm that night. Waited until Friday morning to get tylenol or something for the pain and did a few rounds of that while dilating. When I sat up to get my epidural we thought my water broke. However when I dilated to 8 cm without any other progress we did an exam to see if perhaps she was just too large to come via the birth canal and a c-section was needed. During that check is when my water broke, and I went back down to 4 or 5 cm. Because it was the water sack pushing on me, not the baby. So I kinda started over. I was disappointed that I continued laboring at 730, because I really liked my day nurse but wasnt a huge fan of my night nurse. Ended up on supplemental oxygen because babies heart rate kept dropping between contractions. I spent an hour pushing her out, watch the movie "The Island" the whole time.. she came out with her arm up, elbow by her face and hand by her neck so I got a pretty good tear. But besides enough blood to freak out my doctor (I remember my foot slipping off the bed from it), no complications from that. It was now 920 pm Friday night. My doctor says it was 39 hours of labor, since I was contracting when I checked in.. but I say 23 because I didnt feel any different until 10 pm Thursday night so that's when I started counting.

What a crazy labor and delivery! You are a rockstar! She was sassy then and she’s sassy now haha keeping you on your toes! Thanks for sharing!!

My first birth with noah was crazy and scary. My water broke at 36 weeks and we went in to have him but labor wouldn't progress. So they decided to induce me. After about 10 hours I couldn't take the pain anymore and begged for an epidural. Pitocin was HORRIBLE. I felt great for about an hour and then all of a sudden I could feel EVERYTHING again! I was like what is happening I had an epidural what happened. APPARENTLY it fell out. And I had to wait a while for them to come back in and put another one in. By this point I am exhausted and I am having the worst back labor known to man kind. I get my epidural and fast forward to 21 hours into labor. They told me that I had been stuck at 9 CM for a while and they wanted to try to move me see if they could get him in a better position. That was when he got stuck and his heart rate dropped. I was SO scared. 20 years old and my baby could die? So they told me what was happening and I had to make a decision to keep trying or have an emergency C section. Obviously we chose the C section. We rushed back and it was horrible it was bright in the room. That over clean smell. Sean couldn't even come in yet. All I wanted was him to be there with me. They had been numbing me and I remember seeing Sean walk towards me and all of a sudden I was out. I woke up about 2 hours later and I remember seeing sean over on the couch holding Noah. Apparently he was stuck and the cord was MEGA wrapped around his neck and had I not had the c section he would have died. Terrifying. What a roller coaster. Grateful that I was able to have surgery. Later I found out my pelvis was funky making it hard for babies to pass through. SO I ended up having my girls through scheduled c section as well which was the safest route for them.

I could go on for days about my deliveries. My first, and biggest, was natural delivery. She got stuck resulting in three hours of pushing and several stitches. Worth it. My second, smallest and easiest came on his due date with zero pushes. My epidural was amazing! My third was super relaxed. Peanut ball, birthing ball, and epidural were my favorite things to use. I love that all my babies had delayed cord clamping and immediately latched. I'll keep having babies as long as my body will let me!

Thank you for sharing mama! You are a rock star and make such beautiful babies! That is so wonderful that you were able to experience immediate latch that is such a blessing!

Both my labors and deliveries were textbook. Nothing insane happened, healthy mama and babies.. BUT they were totally different experiences because with my first I was NOT informed on what I could do during labor and after delivering in the hospital. They didnt tell me that they expected an hour of skin to skin, when all I wanted was a shower after 36 hours of laboring. They didn't tell me that they didnt bathe baby until the next day. They didnt want to weigh or measure or ANY of that. It was just so weird to me but just because I had no clue what to expect and instead of telling them I'd rather get me and baby clean and weighed and comfortable, I just went with it frustrated and confused. With my second, I knew what to expect, WHY they want skin to skin, WHY they want to wait on baths, WHY I'm not allowed to shower right away etc.. theres reasons for all of this and if you dont want any of it, its YOUR say. Inform yourself about what to expect right after birth and what you agree/disagree with and tell your nurses right away what you want so everyone is on board. Another thing... ask for the epidural IMMEDIATELY. Both times I was too far along in my dilation when I asked for it to get it.. first time that was okay, I wanted to experience it unmedicated..second time I had every intention to not feel a thing.. when I was finally brought back to my room from triage after only 4hours of labor, the nurse told me I was too far and had to do it unmedicated.. i was so upset hahaha. Im happy now that I did both unmedicated but man.. that second birth turned me into a damn demon possessed sailor.. wasnt pretty..😂

I guess I didnt really share my labor and delivery stories.. With my first, I started contracting on her due date after getting my membranes swept 12 hours prior. Not sure if it helped but I had NO signs of labor and then I woke up with contractions. Had her about 36 hours later. I was in early labor FOREVER. Got admitted at about 9am the next day, labored all day, water broke at 6:30 with meconium in it so I had a NICU team there just in case, pushed her out just a few pushes at 7:41 and she was perfectly healthy. The water breaking was a game changer. That's when I finally asked for an epidural but as my nurse came in with all the stuff to do it, I had to push. So no go on the epi lol. With my second, I woke up at 4am in labor, had my membranes swept 12 hours prior just like my first. Contractions were immediately 3 minutes apart, dilated from 3 to 10 in 3 hours and had her at 8:50am the day after her due date just like my first😊 my water never really broke with her which was weird. My doctor didnt feel the sack, just her head when he checked me. Lots of fluid came out with her but I feel like more came out with my first. That part was odd. Wasnt leaking prior or anything🤷‍♀️ but she was happy and healthy as well!

This is GREAT information taylor! I think it is great that you went in the second time KNOWING what you needed to know! I totally agree know what you want when you go in. That is a huge part of my job as well is informing parents what they can and should expect, what they can decline, what can go wrong ect. I was the same when I went in to have noah i had ZERO idea what to expect so everything was just scary and frustrating and I sounded rude but I really had no idea what was going on. Good for you mama rockin those births pain med free! You are awesome! OMG demon possessed hahaha

You are totally fine I loved that you just SHARED that is important to just share whatever piece of advice you have for others! Rip that band aid off and let people know what's up! Thank you for sharing your labor stories! YAY for healthy babies <3

My first child was born in 2007. I was 24 and thought I was prepared for delivery but I had no idea what I was in for. I had a fairly smooth pregnancy until the last 5 weeks or so when my blood pressure was getting high. At my regular OB appointments they would monitor me because my blood pressure was high. A few times they would send me over to the hospital to be monitored some more. Everything would look fine and they would send me on my way. At one of my final OB appointments my Dr requested that I do a 24 hour urine test to check for protein in my urine. If the levels are above a certain number it can be an indication of preeclampsia. My dr asked us to bring my jug of urine into the hospital on a Sunday morning because she was the Dr on call that day. After testing my urine, she was concerned and decided to admit us. I was 38.5 weeks and was in shock! I thought we were just there to drop off the sample and leave. I frantically made my husband a list of all the things I needed him to bring me from home. I was not dilated at all at the time they decided to induce me. The dr first used a foley bulb to try to dilate my cervix and they started me on pitocin. After several hours the dr checked me and I was only dilated to .5 centimeter so they left it in for several more hours which got me to 1 centimeter. At this point I was having regular, painful contractions. I was walking and bouncing on a birthing ball to try to get her into position and get labor going. I never got to a point where I was able to have an epidural or where the dr could break my water. It was long and exhausting and very discouraging. Each time a nurse or dr would check me, I had made very little progress. After 36 hours of labor the dr who was on call recommended that I have a c section. I was only dilated to 4 centimeters and was not progressing. I trusted that the dr knew what was best in this situation. I was prepped for surgery and not long after my daughter Olivia Grace was born. She was 7lbs 9oz and perfectly healthy. It was a very difficult experience but I do it all over again for her <3

What a great story Cora thank you for sharing! 🌺 isn’t it amazing the things we go through for our kids! 🌸

I was induced with all three kids, which I’m fine with since I’m a very “planner” type person. My first two were pretty uneventful (at least that I can remember - so that’s good right?!) With Brynn (3/2020) all went well until the epidural. I had them with the first two and no problems. With her it took 90 minutes and two different anesthesiologists to place! So many pokes. Ouch! I got a massive headache two days after being at home, likely from the epidural. I don’t regret getting epidurals since otherwise my labors and births were wonderful, but sometimes I can still feel tiny pokes in my lower back.

Thank you for sharing! I am so glad all of your babies are here and well! I am sorry to hear about you needing all of those pokes! With my labor with noah [oldest] I had an epidural and then it FELL OUT I could feel EVERYTHING. They had to give me another one! what a mess!

I have to say my labor and delivery was actually pretty easy, on Saturday 9/12/20 being 38 weeks and 4 days, I was having pretty bad lower back pain, I really didn't think anything of it, just thought my back was hurting didn't even think it could be back labor (which it turns out it was) I decided to take a shower and then I was going to go to bed, well right after that shower my water ended up breaking at 10 pm. My fiancé and I had already gotten all our hospital bag packed which was nice, we gathered our things and headed to labor and delivery. Where it was confirmed that I was indeed in labor, with Covid being a thing this year we had to wait in triage until my Covid test came back, thankfully mine was negative. Going in I did't really have a delivery plan, I wasn't against getting an epidural but I wanted to wait and try and labor without it for as long as I could handle it. By 4 am on 9/13/20 I was more than ready to get that epidural in, only had to wait about 15 minutes until the anesthesiologist made his way in, getting the epidural was super easy and fast for me. They finally checked my cervix and I was 1 1/2 cm dilated, they doctor decided to put me on Pitocin to get me going more. Once that was going I laid down and was able to sleep all night, with the random wake ups from the nurse to switch me from side to side. By 9 am I was starving, so I was able to eat a wonder liquid diet. At 10:45 they checked my cervix again and I was fully dilated and ready to go, started pushing at 11 and baby girl came at 12:10. I wasn't opening up all the way for her head to fully come out on her own and to keep me from getting a super bad tear the doctor decided to give me an episiotomy to help her out. From start to finish I was in labor for 13 hours and pushed for an hour. I honestly feel like I had a super easy labor and delivery and for that I am extremely grateful. I gave birth to a beautiful 6 lb 7 oz baby girl and my life is forever changed. :)

Wow what a wonderful story thank you so much for sharing! Great job on going as long as you could without meds I know how hard that must of have been! You did a great job start to finish and I am so glad she is here safely and you and your family are well <3 What a lucky little girl!