Gwyneth’s due date came and went. I thought for sure she would be early, so I was quite anxious as the days passed and I continued to clean my already clean home. There wasn’t any more laundry to do. The bathrooms were clean, the house dusted, and anything else I could think of had been done. I had also finished my last day of work and had no more papers to grade. I just had to…. wait.

 On the Friday before my daughter was born, our doctor suggested an induction on that coming Sunday. This meant we finally had a day in sight; the day we would meet our much anticipated little girl. What made it even more special was that it would be Mother’s Day if I actually gave birth that day.

 Sunday morning came, and I of course couldn’t sleep a wink the night before. I showered up and contemplated what I should eat for breakfast. I needed something in my tummy, but didn’t want anything too heavy, or anything that would make me.. you know… that embarrassing thing during labor… something I was fearing might happen. Sure, “it’s totally normal and common” I heard, but if I could aid in the prevention of squeezing something out, I sure wanted to try.

 The hospital was empty upon arrival at 8:00 am. We scored a parking spot right up front, and were even given the primo birthing suite. After getting settled in, my doctor arrived at 10:00 am and broke my water. I kind of wanted to look at it. But I didn’t.

 This is when I thought I’d have a few hours before seeing any action, so The Hubby and I thought we would play a few games of backgammon. It was that or playing cards, watching the new movies I had rented, or I could even fill out more of Gwyneth’s baby book, since you know, I had so much time to “wait.”

 Pff. By the time The Hubby set up the game and took his turn, the board started to get blurry. And by my second turn, I was taking long, deep breaths and had to end the game. It wasn’t even 11:00. OOoo boy!

 The first time I was checked, I was dilated to a 5. I was asked if I’d like an epidural, but I didn’t know just how bad the pain was going to get. Was this only a fraction of the pain I was going to experience later? If so, geeze I didn’t have a clue what I was in for. So, I decided to wait on that and try going in the jacuzzi tub. What felt like relief for about a minute, turned into intense, overwhelming pain and I had to get my butt out of there, and pronto. I couldn’t get myself out, so The Hubby had to practically lift me out himself and guide me back over to the bed. 

I then mentioned that I may want an epidural.

 The nurse checked me again, and this time informed me that I was now 9 cm. WHAT!? 9!? Already?

 I also heard my nurse tell another nurse that the anesthetist was in surgery, so an epidural was not going to happen for this Mama. While I initially wanted to freak out, as I has always had the option for an epidural, and it now being taken away from me was a frightful thought, I chose to change mindsets to a “just do it” kind of attitude.

 Now the nurses were flying around the room getting the proper equipment ready, as my doctor wasn’t there yet. This is when I yelled, “Charles! (my nurse) I need to push!” He then told me “Just hold on, not yet!” still frantically running around. My doctor then flew into the room right as I began pushing.

 Well this went on for about an hour without much progress. The contractions, on the other hand, were becoming so intense, happening one on top of the other, that little Gwyneth’s heart rate wasn’t doing well and I needed an oxygen mask. 

More pushing and more contractions with no break in-between. This is when my doctor requested I get an epidural to slow things down. At this point I’d try anything, so that is what I got.

 Wow. Pushing without an epidural and pushing with one is such an incredibly different feeling! I felt like I wasn’t doing ANYTHING, but the doctor assured me that I was pushing just as hard then as I had been earlier. Mind blowing. Well, for some reason, the monitor wasn’t able to read my contractions very well anymore, and since I couldn’t feel much… I had to guess when to push!

 This went on for over an hour before they decided to pull the epidural and give me Pitocin. This is when I began to throw up. So in-between pushes I was leaning over, puking into a tub. The nurse then asked if I’d like a mirror to see what exactly was going on down there, and while I NEVER thought I’d want to see what was happening downtown, I thought, “What the heck” and was willing to try anything.

This actually proved quite useful for me, as I was able to see exactly what each push was doing. To help even more, they then brought in a sheet, attached a metal bar to the bed, and wrapped the sheet around the bar. I put my feet on the bar and pulled on the sheet, using the counteracting force to help the baby out. It was like a war in there. But this is what finally worked.

 After 4 hours and 44 minutes of pushing, Gwyneth Marie Morscheck was born at 5:44 pm weighing 8 lbs, 14 ounces and she was 20 inches long.

 She was also Sunnyside Up! I had no idea what this meant when the doctor shockingly announced this fact as Gwyneth was making her way out. The doctor then exclaimed her shock for pushing out such a big baby this way. No. freaking. wonder. Instead of being born face down, she was born facing up, which is rougher on the little babes since their heads are shaped to go through the canal facing down. Poor little Gwyneth had a bruised head from hitting my pelvic bone so many times, and instead of a conehead… she had a cone forehead… or a unicorn horn.

Having my daughter placed on my chest after waiting for so long was insanely magical. We created her. And there she was, moving, crying, real. On my chest. She was perfect.

I was then told I needed to push out the placenta. Um. Pardon? Push out what? MORE pushing? I was not aware of this. So through it all, the hours of pushing, the throwing up, and did I mention I broke ALL of the blood vessels in my face? It couldn’t have been more worth it.

We are now blessed with one incredibly sweet, witty, highly-energized and full-of-life little toddler.

You can read her birth story HERE.  Also, read about Calvin’s birth story HERE and watch the video HERE.  Also, check out Shannon on Instagram – @ladyslittleloves.