The great wait: The birth of Arabella

I had a great pregnancy with Arabella. It was my first pregnancy, and I was a little nervous—but so excited! My doctor said all along that it looked like I’d have a regular vaginal delivery, so that was what I was preparing myself for. My husband and I went to a childbirth class and mentally prepared as much as we could.

My due date came and went, and I wasn’t having any contractions. The week after I went to get a sonogram, and they said she looked good and to keep waiting it out.

I received a ton of advice from friends and family for how to speed up the process. I tried almost everything from getting massages to eating pineapple to having sex to eating spicy food! My mucus plug kept falling out, but I stayed only a few centimeters dilated … and that was it.

Exactly a week after my due date, I went to see my doctor, and she told me to go to the hospital that night to get my cervix dilated and plan on getting induced. We went out to dinner and a movie and packed our bags for the hospital and our new baby! My cervix was dilated that night, and at 8 a.m. they broke my water and induced me.

A couple hours of contractions later, I got an epidural and was progressing really well, but all day long, the more they increased the Pitocin, the more irregular her heartbeat got. So, they kept having to decrease the Pitocin. The contractions were so strong—I was in pain, even with the epidural.

Through it all, I had such a great support system and had about 10 family members in the room with me! The nurse asked me politely if I wanted her to ask them to leave, but I definitely didn’t because I loved the support and distraction they provided.

By 8 p.m., I started getting a fever, and my doctor told me I could try for another couple hours—or they could do a C-section. I was so exhausted. I told her I wanted to do what was best for the baby, and she recommended doing a C-section immediately. I agreed.

When they took Arabella out during the surgery, she didn’t breathe right away. She had swallowed meconium. My mom and husband were in the room with me, and they watched as the nurses worked hard to get her breathing.

Everything turned out OK, and she is a healthy, chunky little girl. I’m so blessed to be her mom and love her more and more every day!

Send us your birth story! Whether you had a home birth, hospital birth, 37-hour labor or emergency C-section, we’d love to read the tale of your little one’s grand entrance. Write up your birth story (click here for tips on getting started) and email it, along with a few photos, to birthstory@pnmag.com. We’ll share it on our Birth Day blog and may even print it in an upcoming issue!