I can’t believe I’m officially a mom and that our little boy is finally here! While it felt like years, being pregnant was a wonderful journey. However, giving birth 100 percent tops it!

Throughout my pregnancy so many people questioned if I could give birth vaginally to Wilder because of my petite frame (which is total BS by they way…your body won’t grow a baby that it can’t handle). Not only did that boil my blood every single time, but when I told them I wanted to give birth naturally with no epidural they looked at me like I had 10 heads. If you’ve been following my pregnancy journey you’ll know I had many ups and downs. I used all of my downs as my big push to meet my goal of going naturally (God willing I didn’t need a c-section). I wanted to do something for myself that I had control (for the most part) over. During the last 2 months of my pregnancy I tried to mentally prepare myself for it, which is semi-hard to do because as a first time mom you have no idea what a contraction actually feels like. Honestly, for me, it was a mind game. I told myself, “Once you’re done with a contraction you can say adios to that one because you’ll never feel it again!” I just kept that in my mind the entire time. It was tough, I’m not going to lie.

Okay, so let me get into how the day actually went. Wilder’s due date was November 12, so I was trying the two weeks leading up to it to get things going with him. The doctors had scheduled to induce me 2 days after his due date (November 14th) if I had not given birth by then due to my gestational diabetes. Just as I wanted to have a natural birth, I wanted him to start the process on his own without an inducement. Once they scheduled me for inducement, I knew the week prior to his due date was my time to shine and work to get him moving on out. I did the raspberry leaf tea, dates, primrose oil capsules, walks, and 20 squats every hour. I lost my mucus plug that Monday the 6th, and my water broke on Thursday, November 9th. Two days prior to my water breaking I started drinking 3 cups of raspberry leaf tea per day and I swear that helped move him to the homestretch!

During lunchtime on the day my water broke, I did a 2 mile walk and I could tell he was coming soon by the amount of pressure I was feeling. Three o’clock rolled around and it was time for my hourly squats. I did my twenty, went to the bathroom to pee, and then sat back into my office chair. All of the sudden I felt like I peed a little, but it wasn’t enough to say it was my water breaking. I started to freak out and ended up going home within the hour to see if anything else was going to happen. And of course it did. At 4 p.m. I felt 3 strong nudges from him and there went my water—kick, kick, kick, boom! I was literally cracking up as it was coming out of me. Since I tested GBS positive I immediately had to go to the hospital to get hooked up to an IV. So off we went!

We were in triage for about an hour and my contractions were roughly 10-15 minutes apart by then. Once they officially confirmed that my water had broken, we went into the delivery room. I think that was around 6:30 p.m. Once my IV was in and complete, I was able to freely walk around, which I think was around 7:30 p.m. I started walking around in the hallway for about 30 minutes until the contractions started getting stronger. After that, I stayed in my room and paced around in there for 20 minutes. Since the contractions were steadily getting stronger I wanted to try and speed it along, so I started using a birthing ball. I went back and forth between the birthing ball and simply walking around the room every 30 minutes.

Around 10:30 p.m. they checked me for dilation and I was 7 cm dilated—hooray! The doctors casually told me that I would now be entering the “transition phase” and would feel a bit more pain. Well, it certainly got much more painful alright. BUT I kept reminding myself through this phase that you have pretty much made it, just a little bit longer – it’s all in your head! All I needed to do was make it to 10 cm (which can happen fairly quickly) and I would be ready to push. That being said, the transition phase was no joke; it was by far the worst pain I’ve felt. Pushing my baby out was nothing compared to what I was feeling during this time. Again though, this phase can go quick so you just have to keep the hello-adios-never-see you-again contraction thought in your mind. Once I felt my body naturally trying to push the baby out I knew it was time.

Around 11 p.m. my midwives came in and checked me for dilation and that’s when they told me I was 10 cm and ready to begin pushing. So at 11:11 p.m. I started pushing. That moment was when it hit me that I had made it and I was actually going to start pushing my baby out.

It took me an hour to push my little guy out, but boy was it quite the experience. I asked for a mirror to see him while pushing because I knew it would help me mentally to see my prize at the end. Every time I would see a little more of his head, it made me push that much harder to complete the journey. At 12:10 a.m. on November 10, 2017, Wilder Gray Mayhew was born! He was a whopping 7 lbs. 14 oz. and 20 inches long.

I couldn’t believe he was here. I was exhausted, but so happy and excited at the same time. All I wanted to do was stay awake and stare at his face for the rest of the night. And that I did 🙂