Hi friends! I have spent years and years dreaming of becoming a mother and reading birth stories from other new moms, so I wanted to share my story for those who also love to read them! Note: if birth stories and TMI topics aren’t your thing, just skip this one haha! It’s a long post because I personally don’t want to forget anything.
Being a mommy is the absolute best job I could have ever asked for. We are truly blessed with the most perfect bundle of joy.
Backtracking to July 2020 when my sweet nephew Huxley was born, I instantly knew it was time for one of my own. We have 16 nieces and nephews but this was the first “blood-related” for me and it hit me different seeing my brother as a dad. One evening in late September, Josh and I were on a walk around our neighborhood when I told him I was ready to start trying. To my surprise, he said he had been feeling the same! We were extremely fortunate to get pregnant quickly (highly, highly recommend the book “Taking Charge of Your Fertility“!) and I got my first positive test on December 7th after 4 nights of unexplained insomnia. Josh convinced me to take a test early even though we were still 4 days from my missed period! I ended up taking a test every day for 2 weeks because I was in so much shock that it was really happening!
To be completely honest, pregnancy was super rough for me. First trimester I was stuck on the couch all day long with morning sickness. Second trimester I had consistent migraines and lack of energy. By the third trimester I was miserably uncomfortable, self-conscious of my growing body (I gained 50 pounds) and stretchy marks. After baby “dropped” down into the birth canal at 35 weeks, 3 days and I had so much pressure from that point on and was SO ready to be done. I was so sick of everyone saying “let baby come when she’s ready” because I just wanted her to be ready right then lol! I say all of this because I recently chatted with a friend who is struggling with morning sickness and feels guilty for being so down about it. I believe it is okay to be both happy and miserable at the same time. So at my 39 week appointment when my doctor told me I could be induced, I jumped at the opportunity! It ended up being the best decision for me due to how fast my active labor was.
On Monday, August 9th (39 weeks, 3 days), I went into the hospital at 5pm to start the process.
After checking in and hooking up the monitors, we noticed I was already in early labor and having contractions every 1.5 minutes (they weren’t painful but just felt tight)! I had lost my mucus plug earlier that morning, but figured it was just another symptom that wouldn’t lead to labor haha. At 6:45pm we started Cervidil, which is an insert that looks like a mini tampon that is meant to ripen the cervix. At that point I was 1 centimeter dilated and 40% effaced. As soon as the insert went in, I started feeling pain with those contractions.
The rest of the night got worse and worse. I remember texting my family at 11pm telling them I was ready to opt out haha as if that was an option. At 3am, I decided to have pain meds administered through my IV. They temporarily helped and I got 40 minutes of sleep – that was the only sleep I got all night! The pain meds can be administered every 2 hours, so at 5am the nurse came in and gave me 2 options: 1) I could get the next round then but she’d have to do another cervical check or 2) I could wait until 6:45am when she HAD to do a cervical check at 12-hours and then get the pain meds and only have 1 cervical check. In all of L&D, the cervical checks were BY FAR the worst and most painful part. I sobbed during the check at 3am and couldn’t imagine having to do 2 more, so I decided to wait until 6:45.
At 6:45am, the nurse came back in with our new day shift nurse (that we LOVED – shout out Jodi!). At that point I was so exhausted and in so much pain that our day nurse said “do you just want the epidural honey?” and I couldn’t even respond yes… I just nodded through my tears. We didn’t know how dilated I was at that point and normally they don’t give the epidural until about 4cm dilated but by some grace of God, they gave it to me anyway without checking me first! I got the epidural at about 7:30am and things were smooooooth sailing at that point!!!
My doctor came around 8am and did a cervical check, broke my water, and started Pitocin (the active labor-inducing drug). My mood completely shifted when I realized I had ZERO PAIN during the cervical check. I felt so ready to have the baby after that realization! But I was only 2cm dilated and about 80% effaced.
My God-send nurse knew all the best positions to put me in. Something I thought before labor was that once the epidural went in, you wouldn’t be able to move at all. However, with help, I was about to move my legs and body. They just felt tingly and heavy. Every 30 minutes we switched positions to help baby get down into the right position. She was already really low so it was just about finding the sweet spot.
At 11am, the nurse checked me and I was already 5.5cm dilated!!! She decided to try getting me on all fours for 20 minutes. I thought it was weird but it worked! The next position I was laying on my side and the nurse could not get the monitor to pick up the baby’s heartbeat. She tried for probably 10 minutes without finding it until finally she realized the baby had dropped further into the birth canal so that’s why the heart couldn’t be picked up. She checked me again at 11:50 and I was 10 CM DILATED! She said “you ready to have a baby?” and me, Josh, and my mom were just shocked!
Things went super fast after that. A whole team of people came in, they called my doctor who was at the office across the street (she ended up having to run across the parking lot so she wouldn’t miss it!) and the nurse helped me start pushing. I pushed through probably 8 contractions before the baby started going into distress and heart rate was dropping. My doctor looked at me and said “Chloe, I need you to push this baby out on this next contraction or else I need to get the forceps out and I REALLY don’t want to do that.” Her fear tactic worked because baby came out on the next push at 12:30pm on the dot!
Josh and I were amazed at how well-organized the staff was because everyone just divided and conquered after the baby came. The NICU nurses took care of baby (she had to be put on oxygen for a few minutes due to swallowing some amniotic fluid), my doctor delivered the placenta (which I didn’t even feel) and stitched up my 2nd degree tear, the nurse took pictures of Josh cutting the umbilical cord and of us enjoying our new bundle of joy. I wasn’t expecting to be emotional but as soon as that baby was placed on my chest I just lost it! The sweetest moment of my entire life!!!
We had baby girl’s name picked out since 3 months before I was even pregnant! We were watching home videos with Josh’s parents and found out his great-grandma’s name was Flora. We said “if we have a daughter some day, we should name her Flora”. Little did we know that would be only one year later! Fae is my grandma’s middle name and it sounds perfect with Flora, so that’s how miss Flora Fae got her name.
Recovery has been pretty smooth. I wasn’t expecting to be so sore for so long, but it makes sense. It’s literally the most intense workout any muscle in your body has ever had. I’m currently 3.5 weeks postpartum, and finally starting to feel well enough to walk around most of the day without pain. The Earth Mama Herbal Perineal Spray has been sooo helpful for me! It took me a few weeks to discover it but I really like it better than the Dermaplast they gave me in the hospital.
Luckily, breastfeeding has gone really well for both me and Flora. We had some issues with latching in the hospital but we had a lactation consultant come visit us on our last day and she gave us so many tips (and prescribed a really good nipple cream to take home with us!) and we haven’t had any issues since. I highly recommend having a LC come help while you’re in the hospital.
We are still adjusting to life with a newborn (and life with tons of visitors haha!) but we are so, so in love with our baby girl. Our lives are forever changed and forever blessed.
Please join me in welcoming the newest model of Chloe’s Closet!
