Our Birth Story

First off, I want to say happy International Women’s Day to all the ladies out there! Women are so powerful and I hope you all know that. Whether you don’t want children or you have fifteen already, whether you had a c-section or an all-natural birth, whether you are a surrogate or gave your baby up for adoption; our bodies are amazing and capable of creating life and in my opinion, that is a super power!

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I’m sitting here, sipping my iced coffee, with a sleeping baby on my chest…and all I can think about is how quickly my life has changed. My life, my priorities, my dreams…everything has shifted to include my daughter. MY DAUGHTER! I can’t believe I’m saying that!

Motherhood is undoubtedly the hardest yet most rewarding thing I’ve ever done. The stress, the sleepless nights, the tears…and don’t even get me started on breastfeeding! The newborn stage might be “easier” than other stages, but that doesn’t mean it IS easy, and if someone tells you that it is, they probably forgot what it was like being a first-time mom. We are most definitely in survival mode over here at the Major household! I am incredibly thankful for all the amazing mothers out there, many who I barely even know, who have taken time out of their day to reach out to me and make sure I am doing alright and to answer the million questions that I tend to put on my Instagram stories. I would be so lost without them!

This little human that is both half of me and half of my husband is so, so worth it. I can’t wait to show her the world and watch her learn. She is going to make life so much fun! And I can’t wait to document it all…starting with our birth story!

*Trigger warning. If you are easily grossed out, don’t read. I am sharing my full experience, details and all, along with pictures that may have blood in them!*

It all started February 2^nd, 2023.

I went in for my 39-week appointment. I had been having contractions (not braxton-hicks) for about a week and a half. Unfortunately, it was what is called “prodromal labor”, also called “false labor”. They would last about thirty minutes to an hour and fizzle out. If you’ve ever had them, you know how discouraging it can be to think that “this is it!!!”…only for it to not be.

Anyway, back to my appointment. If you know me, you know that I have felt pretty dang good my entire pregnancy, but the last week I was getting VERY uncomfortable. I joked that it took me 2-3 business days just to roll over in bed, haha! It was to the point that even though I desired to go into labor naturally, I had made the decision to go ahead and at least schedule an induction so that I had an end date in sight. At my appointment I was 2-3 cm dilated and 80% effaced, and I actually lost my mucus plug during my appointment while giving them a urine sample. My doctor told me she suspected I would go into labor within the next two days, but agreed to schedule an induction for the following week if not. She also offered to strip my membranes, which I agreed to.

Ya’ll…it hurt so bad. I had heard that it was uncomfortable, but not THAT bad! It was horrrrrrible. I even went and miserably waddled around Target for over an hour after the appointment hoping my water would break because I did NOT want to go home (news flash: didn’t work). I bled for a few hours afterwards and had constant period-like cramps the entire evening that took 1,000mg of Tylenol, laying on a heating pad for 2 hours, and a 45-minute hot shower in order to get some relief. I told my husband that if I did not go into labor this weekend that I was NEVER getting my membranes stripped ever again.

 I finally fell asleep around 8:30 that night on the couch after the cramping stopped…only to be woken up at 11:30 by a contraction.

After the first one passed, I fell back asleep. And after the second one passed, I fell back asleep again. Then the third one came and I decided I had better start timing them, just in case it wasn’t more prodromal labor. Between midnight and 3am, they were anywhere from 5-11 minutes apart. They were painful enough that I couldn’t sit still and couldn’t get comfortable no matter what position I tried to rest in, but not bad enough that I couldn’t tolerate them. So I decided not to wake my husband up.

But then at 3am, I had a “bloody show” and a bowel movement. If you know me, you know that sometimes I can be a bit of a hypochondriac, so after this I was convinced that maybe these weren’t actually contractions and were just gas pains. I mean, come on, you ladies know how bad third trimester constipation can be! I SHOULD have known better and followed my nurse instincts since both of those things are indications of labor, but I was seriously in denial. But just in case, I decided to start bouncing on my yoga ball to see if I could get the “gas pains” closer together.

My husband woke up for work around 3:15/3:30am and found me bouncing on the ball in the dining room. By now, even after the short amount of time I had been bouncing, the pains were already increasing to about 4-5 minutes apart, but I assured him it was JUST gas. I actually made him leave for work and told him that if I was still having these “gas pains” in 30 minutes, I would call my dad to come get me and then he could just leave work and meet us at the hospital. Easy peasy.

My husband called his mom on his way to work because I kinda think he maaaybe didn’t believe that they were just gas pains (mind you, he was about 25-30 minutes from home at this point) to tell her what was going on, and ask her if she thought I was in labor and what he should do. She told him YES, and to turn around and come get me, hahaha. I had actually just called my dad too and he was on his way already, so he and Dalton got to our house at the same time.

During this time of waiting for them to arrive, I myself had actually begun to wonder if maybe this WAS real labor, and decided I would clean the house in between contractions because I didn’t want to come home from the hospital to a mess. So yes, me being the crazy person I am, made the bed, loaded/unloaded the dishwasher, and started some laundry! Once they got there, they let the dogs out and loaded everything into my jeep, and by about 5:15am we left our house.

Remember, we live an hour from the hospital! I know typically they say to wait until contractions are 2-3 minutes apart, but since we lived far away, my doctor had instructed us to come in if they are 5 minutes apart for an hour. My husband drove fast and my dad followed behind us just in case (he is a paramedic and also would have been handy in case we got a flat tire or something). However, I absolutely refused to go to the hospital without eating something first, so I did make them go through a McDonald’s drive-thru and get me breakfast, haha! I can be pretty stubborn. I also called my sister-in-law Katie who was going to be my other support person to tell her to head to the hospital way as well.

We had to start out in the OB Emergency Room, where they hooked me up to monitors and started my IV. This was around 6:30am now. They assured me I was NOT having “gas pains”, and that I was in fact in labor, and dilated to 4cm. They also explained my contractions were “couplets”, which meant they were coming two at a time. I would have a really strong one followed by a much milder one, but they were close enough together that sometimes I couldn’t even tell I was having two.

They got me into a delivery room, which I was able to walk to thankfully, but when I got in bed they checked me again and I had already progressed to 6cm. Things were moving very quickly! The doctor came in and asked me about my birth plan, to which I told her I did not have one.

This was a personal choice so do your own research. I am a very Type-A kind of person who loves planning & organization, BUT I am also an ER nurse who knows that situations can change in the blink of an eye. I chose not to make a birth plan and to make decisions in the moment based on how I felt, because I did not want to set expectations and then be disappointed if it did not go the way I wanted.

After discussing all this with the doctor, including the fact I labored for about 6 hours on my own at home and I was dilating very quickly, we decided that we might as well continue the progress and go ahead and break my water.

The first contraction after it broke had me IMMEDIATELY asking for the epidural! Thankfully the anesthesiologist was available and they got me prepped and ready for him very fast. It was not nearly as scary as I thought it would be, the worst part was trying to hold still during contractions.

Unfortunately, my epidural only worked on my right side at first. It was so strange being unable to move one leg but having total control over the other! It was rough for a while as the pain was intense and made me extremely nauseous, so they had to put cold washcloths and a fan on me and give me a dose of Zofran. The nurse increased my dose on the epidural and rolled me onto my left side in the hopes that gravity would help my left side go numb, but it didn’t work, so the anesthesiologist came back in and gave me the “c-section dose” which helped almost instantly.

I was still having couplet contractions and they were still fairly irregular. My nurse explained that this typically happens whenever the baby is a little crooked in the birth canal, so she rolled me around in bed and put the peanut ball between my legs until they evened out and became more regular. They also started me on Pitocin to help as well. Now that my epidural was working, I managed to take a short nap too since I had had hardly any sleep!

I think it was around noon that I reached 10cm dilated. I was comfortable and did not have an urge to push, so they allowed me to “labor down” for a while, then my nurse came back in for some “practice pushes”. She laid me flat on my back and we practiced so that when it was go-time, I would know how to do it properly. She called the doctor to come back in around 1pm.

It went from very peaceful in my room, to a lot of people, very quickly! It was time! I felt like I was dreaming. This was it! We were about to meet our daughter!

At 39 weeks and 1 day, after 1 hour of pushing and at exactly 2pm on 2/3/23, weighing 7lbs and 6oz and measuring 20 inches long, our beautiful daughter Clarke Pearl was born. It was such a great birth experience for our first child and I couldn’t believe how perfect she was. I delayed her cord clamping for just a few minutes and then once we were ready Dalton got to cut it and I delivered the placenta shortly after. I did get a 2^nd degree tear that required 1 stitch. We did skin to skin for quite a while and she latched very quickly too! I did have to stay in bed for about 6 hours after giving birth since it took a long time for my epidural to wear off on my right side after the extra dose, but Katie ordered me Cracker Barrel so I at least got to eat something while I waited.

I am sure I am probably forgetting some details since I am a month postpartum now and a lot of what happened afterwards is kind of a blur, but I truly had a wonderful birth experience. I am so glad I did not make a plan but if I had, this is probably exactly how I would’ve wanted it to go! I am so thankful that she and I are both healthy. I am also so thankful for Dalton and Katie, both were so incredibly supportive. Also grateful for the amazing staff at my hospital for the excellent care I received.

Motherhood has not been easy but it is definitely worth it and I’m enjoying every second, even the hard parts. I love being a girl mom and wouldn’t have it any other way! We are still breastfeeding and I have a little over a month before I have to go back to work. Mentally I have definitely had some PPA but overall I feel decent and have healed up very well. We have had a great support system of people that have brought us meals and checked on us frequently which I am SO incredibly thankful for. I don’t feel like we quite have a routine down pat yet but we are learning and it’ll come with time!

My advice to other first time moms is to accept help when offered but also be firm in your requests and don’t put too much on your plate at one time. It can be very overwhelming! Also remember that everyone parents differently and that is ok! Do what is best for you and YOUR baby!

 Thank you for reading my birth story!