Danielle Ford

My due date was July 30 and by week 37 I was 1cm dialated and 70% effaced. I hated walking around, going to work everyday and not knowing what to expect, so when my doctor offered to induce me at 39 weeks, my husband and I seriously considered it. We read up on the pros and cons and after speaking with our doctor we decided to go for it. Unfortunately, I kept feeling that I was making the wrong choice for my baby and wavered a lot on our decision. The day before I was scheduled to be induced, I got a pedicure and grabbed some Mexican food with a friend. Around 9pm that night, I walked into my kitchen and immediately felt something running down my leg. Thanks to staying active with yoga during my pregnancy I hadn't had any incontinence issues, so I assumed my water had broken but I wasn't having any contractions. We slowly made our way to the hospital where they confirmed my water had broken. I was also surprised to find out that I was having contractions about 3 minutes apart, but for whatever reason I couldn't feel them. I was admitted into labor and delivery around 12am, still feeling nothing. The nurses said they were going to give me pitocin around 6am Sunday if I still hadn't dialated more. From 12-6 I steadily dialated, however I didn't feel my first contraction until around 6am. Honestly, it wasn't what I expected. I didn't feel anything in the front. It was just excruciating back pain on my left side. I tried several different positions I learned at my prenatal classes and the nurses showed me some others to alleviate the back pain and help move the baby, to no avail. I finally caved around 7am and received an epidural. I'm not sure what I expected but I continued to feel everything on my left side. After complaining that the epidural wasn't working, they finally gave me some pain medication to help with the back pain. By 11am the doctor came in and said that I was completely dialated. She had me start pushing. I'm not sure if it was because the epidural didn't work, or all the techniques I learned in prenatal yoga, but I could feel every contraction coming on and had no problems feeling myself pushing the baby out. After pushing for about 45 minutes, my son made his way into this world. He came out sunny side up (which explains the back labor) with the cord wrapped around his neck. My doctor did a great job of unwrapping the cord quickly, and even had me pull him out when she was finished. It was an incredible, unexpected experience. Truthfully, it was not how I imagined giving birth would be. I never felt contractions in my belly and I would've never been able to time them myself, so I'm happy we went to the hospital when we did. I was also extremely happy with the nurses and my doctor at the hospital. She never once suggested a C-section, even though it became apparent the baby was not facing the right direction. As hard as it was, it was truly amazing, and I'm happy to have experienced such a life changing event. (And it's super exciting to finally be a mom!!)