You know how they say “Oh, you’ll know when you’re in labor”? Well, I didn’t know…

So, here’s my labor and delivery story.

It’s Wednesday and I stroll on in to my 40 week appointment still pregnant as sh*t with zero signs of labor. I saw my favorite midwife and we had not much to talk about at that appointment because, well, nothing had changed except maybe an extra stretch mark on my belly. At this time, it was a waiting game. Before I left she let me know she was on call Friday so that would be a good day for me to have a baby… ☺️

Thursday (my due date) rolled around and I had a normal day, I did some work and unpacked a big ol’ Amazon order. We ate dinner and sat down to watch Thursday night football. Around 7pm I started getting some back pain. I had had back pain throughout my entire pregnancy but this back pain quite literally radiated. I tried ice, heat, I tried sitting in different positions but the pain was pretty intolerable. It wrapped around my hips to my upper thighs – so weird! I texted my mom and my best friend around 8pm. I’m laughing because I still have the texts 😂 

I decided to go to bed early because this back pain was not getting better! Maybe I could sleep through it and feel better in the morning?? I laid down for a few hours but never fell asleep. I was tossing and turning so much that I finally decided to get out of bed so I wouldn’t wake Ben. I was also STARVING. So I hopped up and went to the kitchen. I had made crockpot banana bread the night before and I swear I ate the whole loaf while Googling “can I be in labor if I ONLY have back pain”. Everything I Googled kept coming back saying, “yes, you can have back pain in labor”, but that wasn’t my question!! I had no other signs of labor, I never once had a contraction in my stomach. I only had back pain.

Now it’s about 2am and I decide to take a hot shower. This was the only way I could get relief. While I showered I noticed the pain would come and go. I swear I stood in that shower for an hour or longer, it felt so good. The instant I got out, the back pain was back to full on radiating. I got dressed and headed back downstairs and again, I could tell the pain was coming and going… kind of like contractions? Can you even have back contractions? I had no idea! 

Now it’s 6am and I haven’t slept 1 minute. I was in so much pain that it had to be either labor or bad enough back pain that I needed to make an appointment to get some pain management something or another. I kneeled on Ben’s side of the bed crying and woke him up. All I remember saying is “something isn’t right, I haven’t slept, and my back hurts so bad”. He got up and looked for a number to call to see if we could ask some questions or see if we needed to come in. I had downloaded a contraction tracker app because the pain was coming and going. These “contractions” (they were contractions but I didn’t know it at the time) were, on average, 3 minutes apart lasting anywhere from 30 seconds to a minute long. We called the hospital and they really couldn’t give us medical advice over the phone but she said it’d be a good idea to come in. So, that’s what we did!

We were packed so we tossed our bags in the truck, double checked that we had the carseat, and kissed the dogs goodbye. The sun was rising and it was such a beautiful sunrise! We arrived at the hospital around 7am. We parked in “stork” parking and made our way up to the 5th floor. The nurses checked me in to triage and escorted us to a little triage room where they could check my dilation to see if I was even dilated. They called my midwife in and she did one of those nice 😉cervical checks. Turns out I was SIX centimeters dilated and so relieved. I was worried they were going to tell me it was just back pain and send me home. Nope! It was time to have a baby! Ben shot a text to our families to let them know it was go time. His parents had a flight booked for a few days later and my family had a four hour drive. They started heading our way!

We were then moved to my delivery room where I promptly got my ass on an exercise ball and had Ben apply counter pressure every time I had a contraction. This back pain just kept getting worse and worse. I ordered myself a nice big breakfast sandwich and an epidural at the same time. After I stuffed my face they administered my epidural and I felt immediate relief. I remember telling my nurse, “I haven’t had a contraction in a while” and she said, “well, you’re having one right now”. So amazing, I had no pain! Turns out that the back pain was most likely due to the fact that the baby was “sunny side up” so for the rest of the day we tried all sorts of positions to get her to flip.

Yep, the rest of the DAY. This girl made me wait until 6pm on September 30th to make her arrival. Nearly 24 hours after I first started having back pain. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves… so I’m laying in bed in twenty different positions trying to get this baby to flip. They had me on my left side with my right leg hanging off the bed and then on my right side while rotating my hips in circular motions. I’m not really sure what was going on but whatever they did, worked! She flipped face down. Throughout the day we played hangman and waited for any sign that this baby was ready to make her appearance. Oh, and my water still hadn’t broken. 

Finally, around 5pm my midwife broke my water. The nurses positioned me on my side and everyone left the room. I swear not ten minutes later I told Ben he better call those nurses back in because I was ready to push! My midwife and the nurses came in and we were ready to roll! I pushed for about 20 minutes and baby girl Dylan was here at 5:59pm. The most incredible feeling in the entire world.