The internet is sadly full of traumatic birth stories. I would often go down a rabbit hole of reading these stories, and near the end of my pregnancy, I found myself franticly looking for positive birth stories.

As they say, no birth goes as planned. My labor and delivery had some scary moments, but in the end, I will look back at it as a positive experience. This is exactly why I want to share it with you.

Alrighty, let’s do this.

Baby Coronado was due on July 20, 2021. I had a doctor’s appointment on my due date, and there were NO signs of labor coming any time soon. I was pretty bummed. Even though I was feeling relatively good, I was ready to start the next chapter with a newborn baby in my arms.

After 5 days of sitting around the house, I decided I needed to get out. I met up with my sister Ashley, and my best friend Sydneigh, to go paddleboarding. Shortly after I got in the water, Sydneigh and I decided to switch boards. As I struggled to get my belly off the board and onto the dock, I felt, what I can only describe as, a water balloon pop. I looked up at Sydneigh and said… I’m either peeing my pants, or my water broke!

As you can imagine we both looked at each other wide-eyed and a little in shock. I got onto the dock and sure enough, I was gushing out water aka amniotic fluid. It was about 2pm on Sunday afternoon, and I started making phone calls. The hospital let me know I would need to come in to confirm my water had indeed broken.

I headed home to get ready. I showered and I ate, then we grabbed our go bags and headed out. I was lucky enough to have my mom and AJ with me through all of this. I was honestly laughing at myself this whole time… because I was still basically peeing myself.

We arrived at the hospital around 4pm when I felt the faintest cramp. My first contraction! They put me into triage and there was no denying that my water had in fact – broke…. And yes, I was still leaking. OMG! And still just laughing at the whole situation. They say only 10-15% of women have their water break before going into labor, so I was not expecting it.

The decision was made, I wouldn’t be leaving the hospital until I had a baby in my arms.

Over the next few hours my contractions continued to increase in pain and started to get pretty close together. By 6:30pm my contractions were lasting a minute and were about 30-60 seconds apart. I was in PAIN. I felt like I couldn’t catch my breath between them. In addition to my mom and AJ walking me through each contraction, I had an AMAZING nurse that was coaching me through breathing and cheering me on.

I was hoping the severity of my contractions meant that the baby was coming soon. My doctors came in at 7pm to check how far along I was. I was 90% effaced but only 3cm dilated. I couldn’t believe it. I don’t know if I have low pain tolerance, or if this was just my experience. But I didn’t know how I could go on any longer.

For personal reasons I knew I didn’t want to use pain medications like fentanyl. My goal was to labor naturally until I was ready for the epidural.

My nurse and I discussed a few different options about when to get the epidural, as my pain continued to increase. It was no longer in the lower part of my stomach, but it was intensifying throughout my hips and legs. AJ was by my side, rubbing my back, and doing whatever he could to let me know I would get through every contraction, but I started to fear that I wouldn’t be able to sit still for an epidural. We called for the anesthesiologist and got things moving. At 8pm, with everything I had in me, I sat still and had the epidural placed.

After the epidural was placed, the contractions slowly started to ease in pain. As I started to feel numb, I realized only the right side of my body was receiving the epidural. This had been another fear of mine. I heard of epidurals not working at all, or only working through half the body. I let my nurse know that I could still feel my contractions on the left side of my body. She decided to change my positioning and call the anesthesiologist to make some adjustments. I really did have a great team around me, and I’ll continue to say it. They listened to all my concerns and listened to what I was feeling. Nothing was ignored or brushed to the side.

After being adjusted the epidural started to fully kick in and I felt so relieved. Another fear that I didn’t need to be concerned with. I will say the numbness did trigger my anxiety just a little. It’s a weird feeling, and my anxiety was feeding me some lies. But I took deep breaths through it all, and it subsided. I was finally able to get some rest, along with my mom and AJ.

Every hour or so my nurse would come in and help me rotate to my other side. Around 1am she rotated me onto my left side and the baby’s heart rate dropped down to 80 bpm. The nurse alerted the staff of a decelerating heart and within minutes there was a midwife and 4 more nurses in my room. It was amazing how fast they acted. They rotated me back onto my back, and the heart rate returned to normal. The midwife took this time to check my status again. I was 100% effaced and 9cm dilated. It was almost go time.

At 2am I started pushing. The epidural made it where I couldn’t feel my contractions, so my nurse coached me through pushing as she saw them on the monitor. Deep breath, hold, push for 10, release. Repeat.

At 3am I spiked a fever of 101. This was a sign that I was developing an infection and we needed to get the baby out. The doctor came in and I continued to push. She was concerned that I wasn’t pushing right because of the epidural, so we started to cut it back a bit. The thought of this scared me at first, but it worked out great. I was able to feel the sensation in my hips at the peak of every contraction, and I knew when I needed to push.

As I was pushing, the heart rate monitor was showing the baby’s heart rate dropping. The doctor ended up putting a monitor on the baby’s head. Yes, you read that right, on his head! I pushed again, and his heart rate dropped to 60bpm. Now things were getting serious, and scary (to me at least). Another fear started to arise. Would I need a c-section? The doctor kept telling me I was pushing right where I needed to push, but all I could really focus on while pushing was the sound of his heart rate plummeting. It was ringing in my ears. There was a chance his umbilical cord was around his neck. No one “wants” a c-section, but everyone wants a healthy baby. In my case we were trying to avoid a c-section because of my heart condition. You lose a lot more blood via c-section and recovery is much harder and longer.

I looked at AJ, feeling the emotions starting to rise. I was waiting for my doctor to look at me and tell me we would need to do a c-section. Instead, she looked at me and said, we can do this… but we will need forceps.

She explained to me the risks. I could have internal cuts from the metal, and I may need an episiotomy. For me, if it meant a healthy baby, it didn’t matter. I gave the okay.

Again, within seconds, a team of nurses filled my room. Things were moving VERY fast now. They brought in all the tools, and as my doctor prepared, I laid back and looked at AJ. He stood by my side, holding my hands. I really didn’t want to see what was going on. I just wanted my baby to be ok.

In the moment things get a little blurry after this. I felt calm and emotional at the same time. The doctor placed the forceps, I pushed once and I heard the doctor say there was Meconium, meaning he had pooped in the womb. This was most likely the cause of my fever. I think I pushed 2 or 3 times, all with my eyes closed or looking at AJ. I heard someone say his head was out, and then I felt the sensation of his whole body coming earthside and I started crying. He was here. His umbilical cord had been wrapped around his arm and was holding him back, the forceps were just enough to get him out.

A nurse put him on my chest, clamped the umbilical cord, and AJ did the honors. Then he was taken to a bedside infant table to be cleaned. All I remember is looking at AJ and crying. It’s a feeling I really can’t explain. People try to, but there is no way of understanding it until you have a child. All my fears were released and instantly replaced with love. He was put back on my chest. He was here, he was mine. All I could do was hold him and cry.

I’m so thankful for the entire staff that helped me bring Waylon James into the world on Monday morning. I had so many fears going into this and every single one was washed away.

I had no internal damage, and I a 2nd degree tear, which I’m told is very common. No episiotomy was needed. I spent an extra day in the hospital to be monitored for my fever and any infections, then I was released to bring our little man home.

I’m so thankful AJ and my mom were by my side through it all. The best support system I could’ve ever asked for. Waylon and I are healthy, and home. Now AJ and I get to start this new chapter in life with Waylon bringing us something we never even knew we needed.

Waylon's Birth Story