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My Journey to Becoming a Mom
Pregnancy

My Journey to Becoming a Mom

Today, Olivia is 35 weeks and 1 day old. Why is this so important? Because Olivia was born at 35 weeks, 35 weeks and 1 day to be exact. I’ve always wanted to write my birth story, more for myself so I could revisit those sweet memories and what better time than now to share our story.

a little bit of background before I went into labor:
On Saturday, Eric and I took our labor and delivery crash course. It was a quick one day course to help us prepare for what we were about to experience. Who knew we would experience it so soon. After the course we spent the evening together. We went to USF so we could go to the bookstore and buy a few things for Olivia’s nursery and then I convinced Eric to go to Target so we could do the remainder of Olivia’s nursery shopping. He said we had plenty of time but I was persuasive and convinced him to do it sooner. Thank goodness. That evening we did a 3 mile walk - this was routine for us.

On Sunday night we went out with some of our best friends to see John Mayer. When we got home from the concert is when everything changed.

and so the story begins

We got home from John Mayer at 11:30, by midnight we were asleep and in bed. That didn’t last long because at 1:00 I woke up to my water breaking. But I didn’t know my water broke. I literally thought I peed my pants.

I went to the bathroom and got back in bed. It happened again. So I got up, changed my underwear, went to the bathroom, and got back in bed. Then it happened again. I got up and this time Eric woke up. He asked if everything was okay and I said “yes, I just can’t hold my bladder.” This time when I got up I put a wash cloth in my underwear and then got in bed (yes, again). But I knew that didn’t seem right. So I woke Eric up and told him “I think my water broke.” The reason i kept getting into bed was because in our crash course we were told not many waters actually break. And since I wasn't having any contractions I honestly thought I just couldn't hold my bladder. Back to the story... Eric got up and was immediately flustered. Who wouldn’t be?
The funniest thing I remember from that night is me giving Eric the phone to call our doctor and him saying “I’m dizzy, I need to lay down.” All I was thinking at the point was that I was going to be driving us to the hospital. Well he quickly pulled himself together and we got ready. He went to grab the hospital bags, I told him not to because I was convinced I wasn’t in labor, luckily he was smart enough to grab them. I didn't want our dog Molly seeing us leaving the house with bags because that always gives her anxiety. We went down to the kitchen to grab all sorts of snacks because I thought we would be in labor for hours. I even brought board games for us to play. We left our house around 1:30.
On the way to the hospital I started to have my first contractions. Just small ones. So we even took the slow way to the hospital instead of using the toll way. We thought we had all the time in the world. We got to the hospital at 2:00 and they put us in triage. When the nurse checked me I was 6 centimeters. She told me she would order an epidural and be back.

She came back in about ten minutes later and I was throwing up. So, she checked me again. At this point her face dropped, she yelled for other nurses, and multiple people were in the tiny triage room. One nurse was yelling at me to close my legs because they didn’t want Olivia to come and us not be near a warmer and then before you know it we were all running down the hallway to get to a delivery room. Just imagine Eric running down the hall after the nurses with my pink Victoria’s Secret bag on one shoulder and my Coach purse on another.


We got to the delivery room and they moved me from the stretcher to the bed. I asked if I was going to get my epidural and the nurse literally laughed. Then she said “no sweetie, it’s go time.” So with no epidural and not even time for IVs, Olivia was ready to come. Two pushes and she was here. 2:53 AM!

Olivia came out crying and it was the best noise I have ever heard. They immediatly put her on my chest and Eric cut the umbilical cord. The moment that we became a family of 3 is the best moment of my life. The NICU team was in the delivery room because of how early Olivia was. After holding her for a few minutes they then took her (she was still in the room with me) and checked her. Once they found that she was a healthy little girl they gave her back to me.

As we were settling down, one of the nurses informed Eric and I that we are known as a "drive-by" because of how quick our labor was. She told me when we have our second that we better fly to the hospital and not call the doctor or come slowly like we did with Olivia. So basically I am thinking we need to live at the hospital from 35 weeks on.

Having Olivia so early helped me escape all of the uncomfortable parts of pregnancy that many women complain about. I always think about how thankful I am to not have a complaint when I think about my pregnancy. I hope my second pregnancy goes just a smoothly as my first. I am often asked if I would skip an epidural next time, and honestly I don't know. I didn't willingly skip the epidural this time. Normally my answer is, if I knew my birth would be so quick again, then I would definitly pass on the epidural. But beggers can't be choosers can they?

What is your birth story like? It always blows my mind how different each and every birth is. I'm just hoping when it is time for our 2nd baby, the birth is just as easy.



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Chelsae L

Hi there! I’m Chelsae - I’m a wife, first time mom, and dog mom. I’m a teacher turned stay-at-home-mom. I’m a born and raised Florida girl and have the constant itch for travel. I love sharing about our adventures as a family and my journey through parenthood.

www.alunderfullife.com
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