Motherhood; the scariest hood you’ll ever go through! I think it’s scary in the beginning for a whole other reason. You are more worried and anxious about everything! I know I was worried about if Sarai was eating enough? Was I producing enough milk? Is she allowed to have this? Is she supposed to already be crawling? And the list goes on and on. It’s scary because of the unknown. You just entered into whole new territory where every single little aspect of your life is now different. And to fill you in on a little secret that worry, and anxiousness never really goes away. You will basically be tired ALL the time but it’s the new normal! And good news if your baby is a good sleeper you really won’t have to much of a transition period of no sleep to worry about! And if your baby isn’t well then I suggest you hook up an IV full of coffee!

I remember being 40 weeks pregnant. Waddling, peeing every 5 seconds, needing to take naps, and feeling so anxious about delivery time! On my due date which was Valentine’s Day I was determined to give birth. I walked everywhere, went to target for fun because I had nothing else to do. I tried all the crazy tricks and are weird stuff including the pregnancy pizza! But still no baby. I spent a lot of time watching birth vlogs on YouTube! The whole idea is being in a hospital, getting an IV and all of these what if’s really freaked me out mainly because I have never had to experience any of those things. Never had stitches, surgery or broken anything. So the only thing I learned was you can ever really be prepared. Everyone’s experience is always a little bit different. Luckily we had already done a hospital tour so be being a planner it was great to know when to come in , where to park, and exactly where to check in. So a week had past, and back at the doctors I was. (Random side note I feel like I became an expert at peeing in a cup! Like I get why we need to do it but dang why make giant preggo woman pee in a tiny cup once a week?! Lol)

The doctor didn’t want me going past two weeks late so the set my induction day for Feb. 22nd! I liked having this date ready because if she didn’t come out before then, that was the day! The day of my induction oddly enough I started feeling contractions but at the time they were very faint and spread out so I didn’t really know what they were. We drove to the hospital, parked in the designated area and checked in at 8pm. It happened to be a crazy busy night for pregnant women to be giving birth! The waiting room was full and there were a few women who looked and sounded like they were about to give birth right there! Lol Anyways a few hours later before sending me home because they were all full, they checked babies heart rate and I sat in a triage room until about 1:30 am. Mainly because my whole pregnancy every doctors and nurse had a hard time finding Sarai’s heart beat because she moved all the time. So they kept me monitored for a while which was a pain because we kept having to re adjust the monitor because Sarai would go MIA and freak all the nurses out. So At that point they had a room and decided to keep us there because I was already having contractions. Got settled into the room around 2 am. I was starting to feel the contractions now. Yikes. But because I was super early around 6am they gave me half of a pill that was supposed to get things moving. And guess what it sure did! Still having trouble monitoring our heart beats, I had an amazing nurse that new of a better way to do it and I don’t know what it’s called but I had those little round circle things on my belly and pelvic area but oh it was so much better than having that giant strap that always lost her heartbeat.

I started having contractions back to back. I literally had no breaks. I was exhausted and in pain. Gabriel and I chose to only have us and my mom come to the hospital. We made the choice to just keep the whole experience more private. To be honest the rest of the day was kind of a blur. All I can remember is after I was dilated to about a 5-6 and had no breaks in my contractions the pain was too much for me to handle. So I got an epidural. BEST DECISION EVER! My birth plan was always to keep an open mind about all options. I wanted to have a natural birth but also wasn’t closed off to the idea of other things. Doctor came in, poked my back and I literally felt so good. I remember my mom saying I like instantly changed into myself again. And I was able to sleep thank goodness! My contractions were so strong that after only an hour or so I could feel them again and was in pain. Then little button you are supposed to press to get more medicine to help never worked for me! The anesthesiologist has to come back TWICE because it kept wearing off on me. So after a few hours I was almost at a 10! Which Gabriel described as like a huge open bagel! Lol the human body is just amazing. By this time the doctor said already at 10:45 pm we are going to start pushing. So my epidural was wearing off, it was just Gabriel, the nurse and I in the room with the highlights of the Warriors game playing on TV. I did a few pushes. Was told to stop pushing because we were waiting for the doctor to come in and Sarai was ready to pop out ! I was screaming something like I can’t hold it in! Lol and literally around 11:30 pm on Feb 23rd ( My birthday too actually) when the doctor came in within 5 mins Sarai was born!

All I remember after that was my lower abdomen being pushed on , I ripped so being sewn up. Which was the most painful part of everything! Getting stitched up down there while being pushed on firmly to get your uterus to contract. I remember saying to the doctor that result hurts but thank you I still like you though you did a great job! I was so out of it! But oh goodness , when your pregnant you know your baby is coming but to finally hold her in my arms was so surreal. And I feel like no one talks about that part of labor and delivery. So not only are you sore, tired, have a new baby. But you are also being pushed on quiet frequently, you are also bleeding (in my case a lot) and I had stitches so it was not very comfortable. I recommend depends (which they don’t provide at the hospital) They have this small stretchy panties with a pad. But I was in a lot of pain and bleeding a lot so having those were a life saver! The hospital did provide cooling spray, a water bottle and I think they are called Tucks wipes? Anyways the combo was what kept me feeling okay until I was all healed!

The next two days we were in the hospital. Sarai latched well, slept well, and didn’t even cry when she got her foot poked for tests. My first meal I don’t even remember I think I asked for a Cesar salad from Labou and a blue Powerade. And I don’t recall it tasting like the best thing I had ever eaten lol I wish I had a cool story about that. I wanted to mention that before I went into labor since it was mostly planned, I had a few things beauty wise I prepped for. I washed and braided my hair, for a few purposes. One being I was totally comfortable yet out of my face when I was in going to be in labor. Second reason was after birth I could take out the braids and have pretty soft wavy hair! Another thing was during my pregnancy I got eyelash extensions. I got them for my baby showers (yes we had two!) And then kept getting them filled. It made me feel pretty while feeling super pregnant! And let me tell you having them on while in the hospital was great as well! Especially when the photographers come in the room and ask if you want pictures! Which of course we did, and bought everything Lol But it was nice to have my hair and at least lashes ready to go!

A few things that I found really interesting about my birth story. First thing is when I first went into the doctors to confirm I was pregnant my estimated due date was my birthday. And for everyone who knows me, knows how much the number 23 pops into my life so for Sarai to actually be born on my birthday Feb 23rd was mind-blowing to me. Exactly 26 years later I had a baby girl on the same exact day. My epidural wore off twice!! Well technically 3 times but the last time I needed to push so it was alright. And lastly I was so impressed that Gabriel helped coach me the whole time and watched every part of the birth.

There’s a lot of things going through your mind being a new parent. Worry, fear, doubt and anxiety for sure. Your whole world changes in a short time. It’s tiring, exhausting, lots of blood ( I swore by depends, I got that trick from another mama) , learning to breastfeed, and so much more. But I would do it all over again just to have Sarai here with me. It’s oh so worth it! I hope I didn’t scare anyone with my story I tried to leave out any really gory detail! But in all honestly becoming a mom is the greatest thing I’ve ever done. It’s as if you just leveled up instantly and earned another badge in life by having a baby! Plus you automatically become a VIP member to this amazing community of parents.

xoxo

M

(P.s. Please enjoy a little video I threw together! We made a few videos while I was pregnant and in the hospital! Which most of me in the hospital is really unflattering! I gained a good amount of weight while pregnant, and anyways you’ll see! But we intended the videos to be for Sarai when she gets older but I wanted to share! Also this is the first a few blog posts on Motherhood! I want to talk about my journey as a mom so far but I needed to start with pregnancy and birth first!  )