Welcome to #blogcember day 3 ladies and gentlemen! Today we will take a stroll down memory lane to the time I became Mama Bear.

Weeks leading up to my due date of December 23^rd, family, friends and random strangers on the street kept telling me that I would go past my due date because I was “carrying high”. So when I went into labour a day before my due date, it took me by complete surprise.

I started having contractions around 2:30 A.M not knowing I was in labour. I had dull pains on and off causing me to stay awake. The contractions were not that painful as yet BUT they were 1.5 – 2 minutes apart.

I really didn’t think I was in true labour, in my mind if I were in labour I would be screaming bloody murder. But since the contractions were so close together we thought it would be best to contact the hospital. The hospital directed us to come in and get everything checked out. At that point, I thought for sure the nurse would check me out and then send us back home to monitor the contractions.

On the way to the hospital, the contractions were getting stronger and longer. Every contraction would take my breath away, not in good way of course.

I was so happy once we reached the hospital, by now I was in so much pain that I was crying. The nurse hooked me up to the monitors and in a couple minutes, bluntly claimed I wasn’t in labour and that what I was feeling weren’t contractions. “Excuse me lady?! Then what the hell is going on?!” is what I wanted to say, but all that came out was blubbering sobs. Seeing how much pain I was in, she decided to check if I was dilated and to her surprise and my relief, I was 3 centimeters dilated! They admitted us right away and we slowly made the trek to our room, where we would stay for the next 10 hours.

Once we got to our room, I made sure to tell the first nurse I saw that I needed an epidural as soon as possible. It took a while for the anesthesiologist to get to us, as emergencies kept coming up. If you’re pregnant and planning to get an epidural, I suggest requesting it right away. This way they will put you in queue and the wait may be slightly shorter. While we were waiting for the anesthesiologist, my contractions were so intense and coming every minute. I felt like I wasn’t even able to catch my breath in between. I won’t describe what the contractions felt like, not that I would be able to anyway, but I don’t want to unnecessarily scare anyone who may be about to deliver soon. Every woman has a different labour experience and different pain thresholds, just trust that your body knows what it’s doing.

By the time the anesthesiologist came in it was 6:00 A.M. and I was 7 centimeters dilated. I think it’s safe to say that I was progressing quite quickly. The epidural started working right away and the pain subsided. I know everyone has his or her own opinion on the epidural, for me it was definitely the right choice. The epidural allowed me to really experience the birth and not just be consumed with pain. I was able to have a pleasant conversation with my OBGYN (who was luckily on duty that night) about our plan going forward.

Around 10:00 A.M. Dr. Bhangu broke my water, as it was still intact and soon after we started the pushing process. Now, naïve old me thought I would push for about 15 minutes maaaaybe half an hour. um NO. We pushed for almost 3 hours, and when I say ‘we’ I mean Ali and I. I could NOT have done that without him. He was there beside me the whole time supporting my back and neck, pretty much bearing my weight while I put all my energy into pushing.

At 12:00 P.M. Dr.Bhangu came in and that’s when it got real. He came in with his whole team; they set everything up and got started. Now I won’t go into the details, but I remember he said “ok Sehrish when I tell you to, you have to give me one really big push” he counted down…3..2..1 and just like that, with one more push, out came little Aria at 12:47 P.M.

They cleaned her up and put her on my chest right away. I can’t even begin to explain that moment, not to sound cliché or anything but it was pure perfection. Ali was standing over us with tears in his eyes, she was lying on my chest and I wish someone were there to capture that moment. Sadly, we didn’t have a birth photographer, but we did manage to take some pictures right after.

 

g me while I relived the most exciting night of my life. I hope you enjoyed the read. Come back tomorrow for #blogcember day 4, where I’ll continue my journey as a brand new mama.

Hugs and kisses to all!