Leighton's Birth Story

8:32 PM

YES it finally happened. Baby L finally made her grand entrance into this world. As you may or may not know we went a little past our due date, and ended up being induced. At the time of the induction I was still only dilated to a 2.5, and 60% effaced. So we went in at 7 PM on September 9 to do Cervadil. If you don't know what that is, it's like a little tampon looking thing that is supposed to help dilate and thin out the cervix overnight. That was placed at about 8 PM, Doctor ordered me to take an Ambien at midnight, and we were out until the next morning.

We woke up on September 10 at 6 AM. The nurse removed the Cervadil, and checked me. Still a 2.5, and still 60%. She then let me take a bath from 6-7 AM. We were supposed to be starting the Pitocin at 7 AM, so around 7:15 my Doctor came in and said he was going to break my water. This completely took me by surprise because I figured we were going to start the pitocin and let me dilate a little more first. So I got my knees up, and he broke my water. Which was pretty painful. After that the nurse left me to let us get some sleep. We slept for a few hours before the nurse came back in to check me. I was having contractions every 4-5 minutes, but they were very bearable. She checked me and I was a 3.

At around noon the contractions really started to pick up. They still weren't excruciating yet. Just super uncomfortable. I was having back contractions more than anything and the pressure against my tail bone was the worst part. Me and my fiance worked on breathing through them as long as we could. At around 2 in the afternoon I was checked again, I was a 4. At this point, the contractions were unbearable. I couldn't talk or move or do anything but squeeze my fiance's hand as hard as I could and count the seconds until they were over. They were coming so often and so intense that just as one would start to let down, another one would start. I called my nurse and asked her for my epidural. I couldn't even sit up right to get my epidural because the pain was so bad. After my epidural things got much more pleasant. I laid back and got some rest while I progressed. I slept for about an hour before the full pain was back. The pressure in my hips and tail bone was unreal.

I kept telling my nurse I was feeling everything again and that it was tons of pressure. She gave me one more dose of my epidural to try to help with things. About 30 minutes later nothing had changed. Still feeling the pressure every 2 minutes. My mom kept saying that she thought I was almost ready to push, and that's why I was feeling that pressure. She gave me one more dose, and waited another 30 min and still nothing happened. At this point my legs were completely numb and I had no function in them. My back was tingling from the epidural, and my whole body was itching from the epidural. I was literally in hell. I kept feeling on my stomach and Leighton kept dropping more and more. After a bit my nurse came back in to see how I was doing, and I told her the pressure was almost unbearable. She told me it was probably nothing, as I was just a 4 an hour and a half ago. She went ahead and checked me and told me that I was a 9! I went from a 4 to a 9 in less than 2 hours. She then told me to get everyone I wanted in the room in there. Let everyone in the waiting room come tell me good luck, and give hugs and what not. My family circled around me and Chase and said a prayer for a safe delivery. In the room with me I had Chase, my fiance, my mom, and my best friend Jaylee.

Once they got everything set up, put my knees on the stirrups, and got the baby warmer out, she checked me again to see if I was a 10. Sure enough I was. She then told Chase to grab one leg, Jaylee to grab the other, and my mom to hold my hand. We went through a couple practice pushes. Then she told me we were going to start pushing for real. The pain was absolutely unbearable at this point, as my epidural had stopped working. With every contraction I gave three big pushes. I was ready to meet my girl. I pushed as hard as I could, squeezing my moms hand, grabbing onto Chase. I gave it literally everything I had. The pain was absolutely excruciating. I had never felt anything like it. On my third contraction she told me I had to stop pushing and we had to wait for the Doctor to get here to deliver the baby. That hurt worse than the needing to push. Having to hold it in and not being able to push. They were already seeing her head at this point. We waited for him to show up. I kept yelling asking where he was. When he finally got there he set everything up, and told me to push again. The next contraction I pushed as hard as I could, with tears just pouring down my face. Her head was almost out. The next contraction, I did the same thing, and out came her head. I pushed one more time and there she was. The most perfect little blue, bloody, crying thing I had ever seen. Chase cut the umbilical cord, and then they grabbed her and took her to clean her off right next to my bed. I couldn't take my eyes off of her, she was so perfect. I was crying so incredibly hard I couldn't believe I had just done that. I couldn't believe I only pushed for 20 minutes. They wrapped her up and brought her to me. I had never in my entire life seen anything so beautiful. At that exact moment, my life became complete. Leighton was born at 5:18 PM on September 10, 2015. She weighed 7 pounds 8 ounces, and was 20 inches long. This sweet girl has been such a blessing. She is my best friend and I couldn't have asked for a better daughter, fiance, or family. I am also so SO thankful for such an easy and quick delivery with no complications. What a blessing :)