Tightening of Baby Belly

The first time I experienced tightening in my abdominal area I thought the worst and that something might be wrong and I was cramping. I called the doctor and he said that it was normal and this was due to my ligaments stretching as my uterus began to expand. If I remember the doctor referred to it as round ligament pain. Later in my pregnancy I had a lot abdominal pain mainly because of the horrible gas I was having which wasn’t fun at all.

Near the end of my pregnancy I did experience Braxton Hicks contractions which is another major factor to tightening and feeling like your belly is hard.

Really only thing I can say on this is that it’s normal to feel tightening in the abdominal area but if you feel like it might be something more serious consult your doctor

-E
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I didn't feel much tightening in my baby belly till around 35-36 weeks pregnant. I too thought there was something extremely wrong. It got to the point where I could hardly move and hardly walk. Dean & I went to the hospital only for them to completely avoid telling me what was wrong and had me hooked up to the monitor for 2.5hrs.

When I went to visit my OGBYN not to long after my visit I explained the pains I was having. He could see the concerned look on my face. I was relieved to find out that the tightening and pain I was experiencing was only my baby girl lowering her head into my pelvis getting ready to be born. He explained that the pain was because you have two bones on each side of your pelvis, once a baby is engaging, those bones get pressure put on them because of the babies head and start to slowly move apart.

I was relieved when he told me and once she was fully engaged, or at least to my knowledge, the pain went away and I had a very low dropped belly

-X
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I was told early on that your belly stays small during your first pregnancy and it takes much longer to show you're pregnant. Wrong! My belly began to stretch and grow super fast. Toward the end of my first trimester, I could feel how tight it was getting. The skin would feel tight and itch, the belly itself would be so hard. I honestly felt like I could feel the muscles themselves stretching!

I had a great deal of odd little pains, cramps, and aches. Sometimes I would feel a sharp stabbing pain, then it would shift to a dull ache all over. I spent days on the internet researching and told myself "it's just round ligament pain." I was having such odd sensations that I did bring it up to my OB/GYN and she was not concerned in the slightest and said it's normal!

6 months later and I can still feel so much stretching and adjusting from my lower pelvis right up to my ribs.  I've noticed now that the yoga I've been doing and the extra little stretches when I'm uncomfortable accompanied with lots of water has helped tremendously. My belly still fluctuates between being super round and hard and tight to a little more relaxed and soft to the touch.

-K

Xena's Birth Story

At 37 weeks and 3 days, I was ready to meet my sweet daughter. Did I know it would be soon? Absolutely not.

It was the early AM hours of April 5th 2018. I had woken up with the need to use the washroom, just like I would any other night. While sitting on the toilet I noticed that my pajama bottoms were oddly on the wet side. I thought perhaps I wet myself, as many pregnant woman sometimes do. I leaned in to smell it and it was odorless. Still convinced it was urine, I took my pajama bottoms off, grabbed a new pair and went back to sleep. An hour or so later I wake up to use the washroom again only to find that my new pajama pants were soaked as well. Still thinking it was pee I ignored it, grabbed yet another pair and went to sleep. This same process went on one more time, It than became 7AM when I woke up for the morning, saw I was wet, put panty liner on and underwear, then proceeded on with my morning. 

I began to feel a little worried that the wetness was me leaking amniotic fluid, but was unsure because I didn’t feel the “gush” that mother’s tell you you feel when your water breaks. I called the maternity ward at my local hospital, explained what was happening and they suggested I come down and get it checked out because I was early term* and to bring my hospital bag just in case. (A small fun fact, I had just packed my hospital bag the day before and got her carseat ready) I then got off the phone with them and headed down.

While waiting during my Fetal Heartbeat Monitoring in the maternity ward, I had called Dean while he was at work and let him know where I was and to stay by his phone just in case. They swabbed my panty liner and got an inconclusive result to amniotic fluid. The doctor who was on-call came in, examined me, did an internal swab, and came back with a faint positive to a more sensitive test. At 12PM I was admitted into the hospital. Called Dean and said one word, “Come”. He jumped in the car within a few minutes and started driving.

Because I didn’t feel a gush sensation, they applied a gel inside my cervix to help speed up the process. Baby was being monitored and contractions were irregular. Mine and baby's blood pressures were also a little on the high side. When about 6hr of being admitted (6PM) I had finally felt this gush and had to jump out of the bed because I could feel liquid running out of me. My water had finally broken. The leaking would not stop! Contractions started but weren’t very strong.

Dean had finally arrived at the hospital around 8:30PM. He was coming from working on site 8hrs out of town. He had stopped at home, showered, grabbed us dinner and then came. I told him to not rush because baby was making slow progress. 

During the time of waiting for Dean’s arrival, I was checked for my dilation and it was making slow progression. They gave me oxytocin** to help induce my labour because by 9PM, I had been leaking fluid for about 21hrs, and they didn’t want me to have a dry birth so wanted to speed things up. My dilation was checked again around 11PM and I was still 1CM. I was starting to experience very bad contractions and told them I wanted to receive the epidural. 

I never thought that it would be that painful to receive it. I had screamed out and was full on crying in pain leaning on my nurse as a surgical doctor was doing the procedure. Within a half hour it kicked in and I had no more pains. Would I recommend an epidural? Yes I most definitely would. But brace yourself for a painful experience.  

My dilation was checked again at 12AM by my nurse. She made an interesting face, looked at me, and said “I might be wrong, but I feel her labia (outter lips of the vagina), I’m going to get an ultrasound done, she may be breached” I looked at Dean with a bit of worry in my eyes. She comes back in, looks around my whole belly for about 10mins. Tells me she’s going to get another opinion. Her and another nurse come back, they look at the screen. Look at one another, than tell me “I'm sorry that we didn’t find this out sooner, but she’s breached”. My heart dropped. 

The on-call doctor comes back in and apologizes for not catching it sooner. Explains that “sometimes the baby’s bum can feel like a head”. He then proceeds to tell me that “because she is breached, and you’ve been leaking fluid for almost 24hrs, you are going to have to have a cesarean.” I explained that I understood why they had to do the cesarean because we were both at risk of getting an infection. Once the doctors left the room I broke down crying. Dean was holding my hand telling me it was going to be okay. At 1:30AM, I called my mother and told her what was going to happen. Sobbing on the phone. Told her I loved her. Than I called my father, waking him up but he didn’t care, sobbing again. 

At 7AM, the day of April 6th, they prepared me for the surgery. Dean got dressed in a surgical gown to be beside me while the operation happens. We become separated because they needed to prepare me without him there and then were going to bring him in. A couple minutes pass by, they up my epidural dose to make me numb so I don’t feel the surgery. They poke at my belly and I can feel it. They wait longer, poke harder and it feels worse. They give me oxygen, than a few minutes later tell me I’m being put to sleep in 15 seconds. I had no time to think. I was crying as I went going under. Apparently a nurse ran out to where Dean was and told him “You’re not allowed in, there was an emergency, Xena is going under”.

Aurora was born at 8:04AM

Three hours later I wake up from what felt like just a normal sleep. They bring me to a recovery room where we ended up staying for 3 days, which is normal for a mother who’s just gone through a cesarean. They wheel me in, still out of it, and than I hear a little cry out. A nurse says, “she knows you’re here”. I start to cry. Call out for Dean, he comes around the corner and we both get teary eyed. They pass me my daughter for the first time. So precious. Soft. Perfection. She was a healthy 7lbs 1oz.

On the last day of our stay they ran a test to find out if she was jaundice***. Just a normal routine they do on baby’s who were born c-section at my hospital, as well as after a few weeks for mothers who give birth naturally. The results came in and she was right on the borderline of having it. They then proceed to treat here under UV lights which is also completely normal for them to do. 

We are happily home and recovery amazingly. I was blessed to have such amazing nurses and am grateful that the doctors made the choices they made for me and my baby to both be alive, healthy, and happy.

* http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/full-term-pregnancy-defined-more-precisely-in-u-s-1.2159432

** https://www.rxlist.com/pitocin-side-effects-drug-center.htm

*** https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/infant-jaundice/symptoms-causes/syc-20373865

Rudeness

I've been pretty lucky in the area of dealing with rude people. Only have had a few encounters but they were more creepy than rude.

I've been posting photos on Instagram of my belly because I'm proud of how large I've gotten. Even been lucky
enough to have a few other accounts ask to post my photo or say a shout out. But there's been a time where one account just made me feel uncomfortable.

They had seen a photo and private messaged me asking to do a video and of course have my baby bump in it. I had no problem doing so. Seemed like a pretty legit account. Only thing was that I had told them I was having dinner, they than replied with something along the lines of "Okay, make sure that belly is stuffed full and popping!", followed by a smiling emoji. With that comment I felt uncomfortable.

There was one other time where I posted a photo of my bare belly and received another private message asking me if my belly button was going to pop out. I asked this strange man why only to be disgusted with him saying "I have a belly button fetish and want to no". Of course I replied with telling him to go away, blocked him, and called my boyfriend right away.

As for rude encounters, like I said, I never really had any, just creepy ones

-X
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Let me just say this right of the bat, there are some things you shouldn’t say to a pregnant woman unless you wanna get slapped in the face or kicked in the nuts lol. I had plenty of guys ask the size of my breasts and also ask how much weight I gained while I was pregnant. First off, the size of my breasts is none of your business, I mean come on seriously. Also if you had common sense, you know you never ask a girl their weight pregnant or not.

I remember one major instance when I was at the gym one day and on the treadmill and a guy came up from behind and grabbed my butt. He was like “What's up sweet thing? Can I take that body for a ride?” I immediately turned around and punched the dude and was like are you serious! Excuse me! And stormed off into another room of the gym. First off, I guess he didn’t think there were any boundaries and this was not just rude, basically sexual harassment. It just seems like guys have a fearing for pregnant girls and will act jokingly around us, even though it’s rude they don’t think it is.

Basically ladies you don’t deserve to be disrespected or treated like crap. If someone is rude or says something rude call them out on it. Tell them how rude and disrespectful that was. You deserve to be treated well so take control.

-E
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Even though I am not as further along as the other mothers, I already have had rude comments directed toward me. Some that actually have hit both Justin and I more than we thought we could get from who we considered our friends and family. Not all were comments, some actions that hurt us more than words could so please be patient because I'll get to my point eventually.

Justin and I are both Christians but not what people would consider the hardcore Christian type. We try to go to church as much as possible, we try to lead friendly and helpful lives and help anyone in need, and we work hard to learn to forgive along with being working on our relationship with God. We don't consider ourselves perfect but we treat everyone as if they are. Justin's best friend, who won't be named, and his brother grew up in a very Christian family who have their beliefs and everyone else who doesn't follow those beliefs aren't good enough to be talked to.

It's no secret that Justin and I don't have the most conventional relationship. We moved in together after two months of dating (for various reasons), we didn't save ourselves until we tied the knot, and we (obviously) are having a baby before marriage. To anyone who knows Christianity, these are big no-nos and a best friend isn't an exception. They always made comments about our relationship, even before we actually got together. We first met five years ago when I was sixteen and he was twenty-four so I don't know if they still see me as the annoying little teen that followed them around because I wanted to be friends or what but when Justin and I reconnected when I was twenty, they were very cold to me and didn't mind telling Justin what they really thought. They even went as far as telling him that I used to stare at one of them. I wholeheartedly feel part of it was that they didn't want me around and did anything they could to make that happen.

Although Justin and I stuck together, it didn't get any easier when we moved in and especially got comments when he got the nerve to tell them that we were expecting. He made it quite clear that he wasn't gong to listen to any negativity from them so we got a cold congratulations. The pain I could see in Justin's eyes from hearing that from someone he considered his brother was actually heartbreaking. How could you turn your back on your best friend like that? I still don't quite understand to be completely honest. They blocked us from seeing their posts on social media, made passive aggressive comments to me (that even Justin doesn't know about), and never sends Justin texts to see how he's doing or ask if he wants to come see his buddies from out of town. All because we decided to take the open window of time for me to get pregnant and it wasn't in the order that THEY desired. Even just typing this now, I find myself in tears for Justin. Even church members, ones who are on the committee are happy for us and express their love but I guess there always has to be those few that try to bring negativity to something as happy and exciting as becoming a parent.

It would be great to say that they're the only ones that we have to worry about trying to bring us down but unfortunately they aren't. In fact, someone who should be close to me makes things really hard in our lives as well. My sister. We always butted heads growing up. For the greater part of our childhood, there was insults and assaults that were directed towards me by her. I am pretty used to it now and most of the time can let it go in one ear and out the other. She's excited about having a nephew but that doesn't stop her from being an arrogant "beotch". Just last Saturday is a very good example of this. My father's girlfriend invited us all over to their house for a family dinner. This included myself, Justin, my father, my father's girlfriend, my youngest other sister, and the focus of this story, my sister. All was well until she arrived. Right off the bat she wanted to see my belly. No "hey, can I see your belly since I haven't seen it yey?", it was "take off your coat so I can see how big you got". Rude but whatever. Choose your own battles, right? Then the next words came out of her mouth that even Justin had to bite his lip for. She said, "Looks like your boobs didn't get the memo. They look small compared to how fat you got. Guess who won't be breastfeeding." That really hit deep down. First, you demand that I show you my belly and then you have to top it off with an insult about the way that I look?

Let's just say that I didn't go over yesterday to meet her new boyfriend....

-D

The Big Reveal to Our Family & Friends

When I found out we were expecting it was around mid August 2017. I had a feeling I was and couldn't sleep and decided to take a test at 3AM. I saw the two lines and was joyous but nervous. When it got closer to the time Dean was going to wake up I did another test to be sure. It was again positive. I than walked into our bedroom as he sat on the bed and I said "Well...I'm pregnant". He stared at me and said "Why tell me now? I have to go to work in a few minutes. We will talk about this when I get home" One tip to the ladies, never tell your partner you're pregnant before work. It was a little bit of a blessing because it gave him the day to process it on his own, but I'd still not reccommned it.

We knew that we wanted to wait to tell family. Of course before anyone knew my best friend was the first to know. I told her at 3AM when I found out. Than it was my mother/his father, followed by my dad and older brother. We were planning on telling everyone else at both our Thanksgiving gatherings. First we told Dean's side. His dad already knew as I said before and was excited and told his brothers before we had a chance to do it ourselves, which led to only his Oma not knowing. This was also going to be the first time I was meeting his family which was already making me feel uneasy. Since everyone knew except his Oma it was a special moment for her. We stood close to her holding her hand saying "Oma, you're going to be a great-grandmother. We're going to have a baby". She was filled with joy!

Next was my family's Thanksgiving. All that was left was my cousins, aunts & uncles, as well as grandparents. Before people left we asked that everyone come sit in the living room because we had something to tell them all. Dean sat there silently because this was also the first time he was meeting all my family. Go big go home. I than began to say along the lines of "By this time next year we'll have another seat at table. We're pregnant!" Some of my family was shocked, but others we're beyond excited. Over time everyone got used to it and began being eager to meet her.

When the gender ultrasound came up I had Dean and my mother in the room and we were all hoping for a girl, and we were so happy that we were right. Dean called his father right away, he was thrilled. We than posted the photo to our social media accounts introducing her to our friends and family with her name. So many people were overjoyed with our news.

* I do not give permission to anyone to use these photos. These photos are my personal ones*

I'd love to hear your comments about how it went when you told your partner the big news

-X
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My story on the reveal wasn’t as big as the other moms cause I really wasn’t expecting to get pregnant as I was on birth control plus we were using protection. When I found out I was more in shock then anything and thinking did I just ruin my life. My boyfriend was at work at the time and that night at dinner I pretty much just came out with it that I was pregnant. I could see the shock and worry on his face like did I really do that, I can’t afford a child. It took us both a few days to come to the realization that this was real. When it came time to tell the parents we knew that they weren’t gonna be very happy with our choices as I had grown up in the church and my parents were very religious when it came to sex after marriage. At first they weren’t thrilled and probably for about 10 min just yelled at us for not thinking of the consequences of our decisions.

Slowly but surely the came around and were there to support us the entire pregnancy. We did not find out the gender as we wanted it to be a surprise. I’m so glad to have my little son he is my world and if the greatest gift I could ever ask for.

-E
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My reveal was pretty subtle and not planned as most try to make it for the first child, grandchild, nephew, etc. I explained a little bit in my bio about how I told Justin. It was two days after Christmas, and I had only minutes to come up with a way to tell Justin before he got home from work. I could've waited but was afraid that he would find that tests before I had the chance to do originally what I wanted to do. Plus, if I am really going to be honest with myself, there was no way I was going to be able to keep it a secret. I can't even wait to give presents on the right day. Justin and I exchanged Christmas presents at the end of November. I texted him and told him that one of my orders that I thought I cancelled for Christmas came in and so he had another Christmas present. I told him it wasn't much so he figured maybe it was a stocking stuffer or one of those inexpensive presents that was more meant to be a gag gift. Having a ton of festive boxes left over from wrapping the family's gifts, I grabbed one and threw them in there, stuffing tissues paper over them before shutting the box just as he was walking in the door. He gave me his normal hug and a kiss hello and seemed excited to see what the gift could've been. I was hesitant to give it to him because a hundred different reactions cycled through my head. What if he wasn't happy? What if he was too happy he fainted and hurt himself? What if he thought it was a joke and laughed? The most irrational thoughts flooded my head.

As he took it and slowly opened it, it felt like he was taking forever. Finally, he got to the tests. He didn't pull it out. He didn't smile. He didn't cry. Emotionless. I began getting anxious because he was giving me absolutely nothing. He eventually got out the word "I". He then began to tear up and put the box down and grabbed me. He hugged me so tight that I am pretty sure he cracked my back a few times as he said, "I love you. I always said I wanted to be a dad before I turned 30 (he just turned 29 and the due date is exactly a month before his birthday)." When we both got our composure, we sat down and had an actual conversation about our feelings. The happy, the nervous, and the concern and then all was well as we realized that we were growing our little family.

Our families were fun. We went to a mommy-to-be store here in our city and got onsies for my mom, dad, and sisters and Justin's parents. First, I told my sisters because I knew they would keep their mouths shut. Next was my mother, who we had a little concern for spilling the beans. What we chose to do was get onsies that had a theme that portrayed them. My mother's favorite animal is a monkey so we got one that had, you guessed it, monkeys on it. She didn't understand but thought it was cute. She didn't put two and two together that there was a reason that it was a onsie to the point that we had to tell her. When we did, her face lit up and was excited to be a grandma and asked all the questions that any future grandmother would. How far along I was, if we were excited, etc.

My father was next and had a similar reaction. My youngest sister, who is away at college, wanted us to record him opening the surprise which we told him was why we were recording. He thought maybe we were going to tell him something about her and she was too afraid to but he went along with it. He looked at his onsie, which had a little motorcycle on it, and only said, "what?" I responded with a "yeah" to which he then repeated with a "what?" After a little back and forth, Justin interrupted with, "babe, I think he needs you to tell him." After my explanation, I got a "wow" from him and then he stared at it quietly for a long while. We weren't sure what he was thinking so we had to ask. He was very happy and that's how we got parent number two down.

Justin's parents were left. We waited until New Year's Eve when we went to celebrate his mother's birthday which was the next day. We had one gift for her, which isn't important as to what and then we gave her her second gift, her onsie. She loves birds and has had one for thirteen years now so her onsie had birds (duh!). When she pulled it out, her mood went from content to excitement. She started to jump up and down and then asked when the wedding was. Whoops. We explained our decision on waiting on getting married, which is a story for another time, but neither her or Justin's father seemed to care. Justin's father stayed pretty stone faced with a congratulations but we didn't expect anything more. Justin's mom didn't let go of her onsie for the rest of the visit.

-D

Stretch Marks

Stretchmarks are the worst during pregnancy😔. Many women feel very insecure about their bodies during this time and these marks only make it worse. I always tried to view them positively as stripes of love, that my body was growing a human within and that these were the most beautiful marks no matter how bad or gross they looked. Luckily for me, I only gained a couple on my hips and a few on my chest area. To me, they were pretty grotesque as though my veins were popping out. Fortunately, I used coco butter almost every night to try to prevent accumulating more and it seemed to work for me. Although, I still have marks today, I will always view them as stripes of love because from gaining them, I also gained the cutest little two year old. So ladies, if u feel awkward or embarrassed that you have a lot of stretch marks, don’t be. You are going through the most amazing thing a woman’s body can do and these marks are just part of that journey. In the end, when you hold that little child, you won’t even remember that you had those marks.

Here are some tips to help prevent stretch marks
https://www.healthline.com/health/how-to-prevent-stretch-marks#hydration

-E
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Having the fear of gaining stretchmarks is normal. But being completely honest with yourself and knowing that your body is going through so many changes helps to understand the nature of them. I stand with E on the factor that once that beautiful life comes out of you, and you have those marks, you should look at them with pride.

Nearing the end of my pregnancy I'm getting nervous about stretchmarks. I've been using a moisturizer on my belly and boobs since around 15 weeks pregnant or so. The one thing about doing that, is I include my boyfriend with this.

"Daddy Tummy Time?" He asks me with a grin on his face as we lay in bed. Of course I say "Sure". It's something that he loves doing, and knows that it's his special time with our soon to be daughter. Sometimes he lays there for 10mins just telling her about his day and how excited he is to meet her.

If any mommies to be are wanting to find a way to try and prevent stretch marks I do recommend using some kind of moisturizer and sharing the moment with your partner. It's a good way to make them feel like they're apart of the experience.

-X
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Going from a heavier child who would eat three ding dongs in a sitting to a healthy adult who calorie counted and worked out twice a day, six days a week, I am very used to seeing stretchmarks around my arms and hips. Even before pregnancy, they were hard to look at. As soon as I started showing, I noticed a few small marks across the lower abdomen. Honestly, I was absolutely horrified and they got worse and worse. I now have them all the way across and I barely even see them anymore because when I look at my protruding belly, all I can see is my son. It makes it so much easier to accept the fact that I have them. I asked Justin about them one day seeing what he would have to say about my new edition to my body and he said I was more beautiful than he could imagine. I rolled my eyes at first, thinking that he just said what I wanted to hear but then I really thought about it. They showed that I am a strong, brave, and blessed woman who was given the opportunity to bring another life into this world. They will remind me for years to come that I made the most perfect son I could as I watch him on his first day of school, go on his first date, get married, and become a father of his own beautiful kids and to me, those marks are nothing to be looked at negatively because they show the miracle that I have received.

-D

Emily’s Birth Story

This blog may contain some graphic content and may be offensive to some readers. If you are not comfortable with reading about a child's birth, please move onto one of our other blogs. We will not allow any negative comments on this blog  and please ask that you keep in mind that this was a very personal story that one of our bloggers is sharing. Thank You

Well, it was the night of Jan 4, 2016. I was very restless that night and knew something wasn't right. I leaned over and woke up my boyfriend and told him that I had to go in just to be safe. I had been having Braxton Hicks the past three weeks on and off, so I could tell if they may be them, but this felt totally different. It had always been my plan to have a home birth, so I could be in the safety of my own home and surrounded by the ones I loved. Frantically, we got ready but what came next was a huge shock and definitely not expected.

My water broke and drenched my clothes and seeped across the floor. It looked as though I peed my pants and quite honestly, made me embarrassed to have done it right in front of my boyfriend. I immediately told my boyfriend to call my mom and the midwife as I knew this is it, my little man is coming whether I like it or not. Contractions began about every 20 minutes after my water had broke and they were getting pretty intense. I had never felt anything like this. It felt as if my stomach was being ripped piece by piece. I knew I wasn't going to handle it well and I was on the floor curling up in pain as it hurt so bad even though I knew it was just the beginning.

My mom arrived about an hour after we called her and immediate came to my aid to help me over to the bed. About 30 min after she arrived, the midwife arrived. She immediately told me to strip off my bottoms so she could check my progress. When she inserted her fingers, it caught me so off guard because they were like icicles. She said I was at 3 cm but that I still had a while to go. She also mentioned I should try and walk around the house to see if that would get the show on the road. It was a struggle to walk around as the pain was so intense and my lower half was already hurting so bad. Every 20 steps I would have to stop and hunch over or lean on my boyfriend cause of the intensity of the pain. I could see that he was super worried and didn't like seeing me like this. He did try to lighten the mood by playing with my chest area. All I could say was "really" in a painful but more irritated manner. I continued to walk around for about an hour hoping that it would do something for my progression.  My midwife checked me again and I was at 6 so dilated, which was definitely some progress.

I asked her if I could try to soak in the tub. I had read that the water takes some of the pressure away and helps a little with the pain. She did recommend that I don't deliver in the tub and that the water can only do so much and there was a possibility that some complications could arise. I definitely did not want that. She then stated that I get back on the bed or at least out of the pool when it was time. I did end up getting in the water and wow, it felt amazing, almost as if I was pain and stress free. But as we know, that can only last so long. After about an hour and a half in the water the midwife decided that she should check me again. I was at 9 cm this time, so it was almost show time. She decided that it would be best to get out and head to the bed for the final stages before having to push. It was a struggle to get out of the water cause my legs felt week, but with the help of my boyfriend I was able to get it up slowly. I made my way to the bed just as another contraction hit which almost caused me to crash to the floor.

About 45 minutes of contractions later, I was so over this and was saying to myself to "get this baby out of me". The midwife decided that she would check me and this time she gave me some relieving news, but also dreaded at the same. I was 10 cm, but that meant TIME to PUSH. Definitely wasn’t looking forward to that as I was already in immense pain and discomfort. I had read that being on your hands and knees was supposed to help with the pressure, so I decided to try that position. Of course my boyfriend was being stupid again, we wanted to film and photograph the labor and birth, but I didn’t expect for him to be all in up my private area. Also sticking the camera in my face to get my facial expressions during the whole thing. I think I even yelled at him “stop that crap and get over here now!” I wanted to hold his hand and maybe even break it, I wouldn’t do that 😂. I began to bear down as hard as a I could. I felt like I was taking a massive poop 💩 . I could feel the area stretch as I pushed with everything I got. Contraction after contraction, I would push. In between, I would be having my mom with a wet rag to cool me down and also chew on some ice. After about 45 min of being on my hands and knees, my legs felt like they were dead so I decided I wanted to do the standard on the back with the legs spread. I got in position with my boyfriend holding one leg and the other being held by my mom. My boyfriend had given the camera to one of the midwife's assistants and had asked her to film the delivery. Man, I hated having a camera all up in my private areas, just felt awkward. Thinking that I was gonna be watching this back in a few months kind of creeped me out. 

I continued to push while on my back and all was going well, the midwife said that’s it keep going 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 and breathe. After about 2 and a half hours of pushing, the midwife yelped “ I can see the head!” She asked if I wanted to reach down and feel my sons head as I replied with "sure why not" and reached down between my legs. When I felt the head, it was all gooey and slimy, but an amazing feeling to finally feel what had been in there for 9 months. She told me that my son was beginning to crown and now I would need to push harder then ever when I felt the next urge to push. All of this sudden a burning sensation came over my whooha area and it felt like someone was holding a lighter down there and burning me. I had read that thing was the ring of fire and happened when the baby was crowning due to the stretching  to allow baby’s head to pass through.

She told me that squatting might help with the gravity and allow him to pass through easier. One of her assistants went and grabbed a pad to put on the floor and she had me get in a semi squad position of sorts, down but being held up by my boyfriend with his hands under my armpits. By now, I was in the full nude with everyone having their eyes on me. I felt kind of ashamed to be nude in front of all these people, but once that burning sensation took over again I felt like “screw it”. I began to bear down with all I had and the midwife had her hands down holding the head while I pushed. After a few minutes of pushing, she told me to stop and just breathe. She grabbed a hold of his head and shoulder to help guide him out. Not gonna lie it hurt like hell, but after a few more light pushes I heard a cry. My son was here. I looked down and could see him covered in blood and fluids. The midwife cleaned him up and suctioned his mouth and nose. All of this sudden, he let out this loud cry and began to flail his arms and legs. I pretty much broke down in tears at that moment. Was it cause of all the pain I had endured and just happy it was over or was it that I realized I just became a mom and had a created a baby inside me. 

She handed me my son and immediately, I looked into those current eyes and his little hand gripped mine. I bawled, we're all crying at the amazing moment.

Main thing I can tell you ladies is listen to your bodies during labor. The female body was made and designed to carry and birth children. You can never really prepare yourself for what expect because you never be know.

Below is a useful link if your considering an a home birth

http://americanpregnancy.org/labor-and-birth/home-birth/

Thanks so much for reading my story 💋 Please let me know what you thought by leaving a comment below or you can send an email to soontobemommies2018@gmail.com