Labor Story

I'm From the moment I found out I was expecting, I always wondered how my labor would be. Every mother has a different story to tell. Especially as a first time mother, I had NO idea what to expect. As the weeks went on during my pregnancy, it was all so graceful. I felt the little flutters, soon to be kicks. I counted down the days until our next appointment. Hearing "her" heartbeat always melted my heart.

As I blinked my eyes, almost 9 months had past us. I was officially 35 weeks pregnant. Mind you, i dealt with the miserable Florida summer. It was now that time when we started our weekly doctor visits until little miss Callie decided to make her arrival. I felt completely huge at this point. So uncomfortable I didn't think my stomach could stretch anymore. Matthew & I decided we wanted to get some maternity photos taken before it was too late. Here's a few photos below-

Shortly after, around 37 weeks I had broke out with a rash on my stomach called puppps. I didn't even know it existed. For anybody who is unaware of it like I was, here's a little more information. • PUPPP: (Pruritic Urticarial Papules and Plaques of Pregnancy) is the most common skin rash found in pregnant women.  PUPPP most commonly occurs around 35 weeks, but it can present at any time. PUPPP occurs in one out of every 200 first-time pregnancies on average, and has extremely notable symptoms. The itchiest stage lasts about one week, but the itch never really goes away. Even though PUPPP is extremely uncomfortable, it has not been found to be dangerous to mom or baby. •

With that being said, I then went to my weekly check up hoping for my doctor to give me some type of "cure". Turns out, the only cure is to deliver your baby. I have never felt a type of itch like this in my life. It was becoming unbearable.  In my maternity photos above, you can clearly see I had barely any stretch marks. Just so you can compare: Here is my stomach with puppps.

Ouch. I know. I lived in oatmeal baths for the rest of the week until my midwife finally told me she wanted to schedule an induction date. At this point I didn't care how, I just wanted her out!!! Little did I know induction would be such a long long process. 

August 15th at 6am I was finally arriving at the hospital. I came in at 3cm dilated. I immediately got hooked up to pitocin and we started to play the waiting game for my contractions to start.  As much walking & bouncing on the yoga ball as I did that day. Nothing. I couldn't believe it. I was almost positive I was having a baby that day/night. With absolutely no contractions that day, they decided to take me off the pitocin so I could eat and get some rest. That is what I did. Saturday, August 16th 2014: I was positive I was going to be delivering a baby today!! 6am, pitocin has been started. As the hours passed and still no contractions.. they decided to give me cervidil which helps to soften the cervix. Two doses, still nothing. I was honestly becoming so tired of this. Nobody told me being induced would be such a process. Finally on Sunday, August 17th 2014 at 12 am I started to get some intense contractions. The pain was like nothing I have ever felt before. That was only the beginning... Around 5am the pain was unbearable. I also was unable to receive a epidural due to a previous spinal fusion (surgery) I had done years ago. So I was aiming for an all natural birth. Shortly my mind changed, I couldn't handle the pain and the extreme pressure was becoming my breaking point. I asked for my midwife to come in so we could discuss a possible c-section. She wanted to check me one more time to make sure I wasn't ready to push. Sadly. When being checked I had only progress to 5 cm. My midwife then broke my water, without letting me know. Being only half way through, I decided going through with a c-section would be best for myself and Callie. We all then prepared for surgery. With doubts of being unable to get a spinal tap as well, it was all good! It worked out perfectly. Shortly after the pain was gone. Matthew walked into the room and stood by my side holding my hand until we finally became a family of three. 

At 6:09 am on August 17th, 2014. Callie Ann Burt, finally made her appearance. Weighing 9.3lbs & 21 inches long. We couldn't have been happier. Our hearts were so full of love and joy. She was already our entire world. Here are a couple of my favorite photos of little miss Callie in the hospital.