BIRTH STORY
This is one of the hardest stages of pregnancy for all moms. Some are even worse than others. I started having discomfort in
my lower back almost everyday when I was 32 weeks pregnant. At night I had lots of trouble sleeping. I would always wake up
In the middle of the night and had a really hard time falling asleep. I didn’t have a big belly, so I don’t think that was the reason
for not being able to sleep. In my 33rd week of pregnancy (April 11 of 2012) I started having menstrual cramps. I didn’t pay
much attention to them because they would go away and come back. They weren’t regular but some were about 30 minutes
apart. I thought I was passing through a false labor. I would have my menstrual cramps everyday. By the third day I started to
worry, so I called my family nurse partnership visitor Jaime. She told me that I was probably having Braxton Hicks contractions,
because my lower back was hurting. She said that they are a way of your body preparing for true labor. She suggested me that I
should call my midwife, but it was a Saturday and there was nobody in the clinic. So I decided to wait until Monday. The next
day in the morning I had a bloody mucus discharge. I wasn’t shocked when it happened I was really calm. I took a quick shower
and ate breakfast. At noon I decided to go to the hospital for a check up. I went to Valley View Hospital to the family birthplace.
I had to ill out some paper with information about my birth date and a couple of other things.
One of the nurses took me to one of the labor rooms, and asked me about the discharge I had. After I was finished telling her
what had happened she made me change out of my clothes into a hospital gown. She hooked me up to a monitor to hear my
baby’s heart beat. About half an hour later, my midwife came in the room. She was surprised to see me there because it hadn’t
been a week yet since I went to see her at the clinic for my checkup. My midwife Lisa went ahead and checked to see if I was
dilated or not. I was 5cm dilated already. I was socked to know that I was already 5cm and I wasn’t feeling any contractions.
After the surprising news, they did an ultrasound to see if my baby was head down. He was in the right position. They gave me
an IV and a catheder. They gave me some medication to stop my labor because I was barely 33 week and my baby wasn’t fully
developed. I had to take pills every 6 hours. Also, my baby’s lungs weren’t fully developed yet, so they gave me two shots of
steroids to make my baby’s lungs develop much faster. I was on bed rest for two whole days in the hospital. It was so hard and
painful because I had to be in bed 24/7. I also wasn’t able to sit up. My back was very sore from just laying in bed, and every
time I tried to change sides the catheder would move. I felt it when I moved, sometimes it would hurt too. The worst of all this is
that I had to eat laying in bed. It was so hard to eat. Sometimes I felt that I was going to choke.
My days in the hospital were the funniest I had ever had, because my friends and family were with me. I always had company,
except at night. But they always made me laugh about me being in labor and my baby flying out of me. But they were very
surprised that I wasn’t in pain at all. Instead I was laughing with my friends, and talking to my nurses. I met all the nurses that
work in the family birthplace. They were all very nice to me. I even had a twin, her name was Gina too.
After to days, I was feeling something moving my catheder. I called my nurse and told her. She called my midwife to come and
check me. I was almost 9cm dilated. They went ahead and broke my water. I felt a warm gush. I went to the bathroom and
took a quick shower. After about 5 minutes I started to feel cramps on my lower stomach. They weren’t strong at all. When I
was fully dilated I started to have some pain in my lower back, but it wasn’t anything too painful. They gave me a warm towel to
put on my back and that mad my back feel much better. I had a really hard time to know when to push because I felt no
contractions. The nurse had to tell me when I was having a contraction to be able to push. When my baby’s head was almost
out. I started to have really bad lower back pain, because my baby was rotating in a sit up position. His ear was more visible
than his head. I felt a lot of pressure from my midwife because she was telling me to keep pushing, but I was already so tired I
couldn’t push. But when she mentioned that if I couldn’t push anymore that she was going to have to do a C-section. I started
pushing. I preferred to keep pushing even though I had no more strength left. I was so scared of her having to do a C-section on
me because I hate surgery. They had to put me on oxygen because I wasn’t getting enough. It really helped me. Around five
minutes later, I was able to have my baby. He was born on April 17, 2012 at 2:58 a.m. I didn’t get to see him right away. They
took him to clean him off. When they were done they just showed me my baby, they didn’t let me hold him because they needed
to see if he was ok. I was so tired that I fell asleep right away. The next morning they changed me into a different room. I had to
walk to my new room. It was so hard to walk, because I was still so sore. I felt like I was walking like a penguin. I went and saw
my baby as soon as I could. It was so sad seeing him hooked up to all these monitors. He was so thin but really long. He
weighed 5 lb 7 oz and he was 18 ¾ inches long. I wasn’t able to breastfeed him right away because they had a small tube in his
stomach to be able to feed him. Also it was very hard to grab him because I had to be careful with all the wires connected to his
body. I had to go every 3 hours to feed him. It was so hard and sad at the same time not having him with me and leaving him in
another room far away from me. I sometimes had a hard time waking up every 3 hours, so they had to call my room. I spent
about an hour with him. I wanted to stay longer, but there were too many babies in the nursery.That same day I had a lot of
visitors. I had to walk every time from my room to the nursery. I was so exhausted. By the end of the day my feet were very
swollen and I was very sore the next day.
I was in the hospital for 3 weeks. I was sick of being there such a long time. But finally my baby was doing much better on his
own they released him with oxygen because he was still having a hard time breathing. After about 2 weeks I went for a check up
and they took him off the oxygen. From there on he was doing much better and now he’s one of the biggest baby’s in my
school. Even though he was a premature baby.
my lower back almost everyday when I was 32 weeks pregnant. At night I had lots of trouble sleeping. I would always wake up
In the middle of the night and had a really hard time falling asleep. I didn’t have a big belly, so I don’t think that was the reason
for not being able to sleep. In my 33rd week of pregnancy (April 11 of 2012) I started having menstrual cramps. I didn’t pay
much attention to them because they would go away and come back. They weren’t regular but some were about 30 minutes
apart. I thought I was passing through a false labor. I would have my menstrual cramps everyday. By the third day I started to
worry, so I called my family nurse partnership visitor Jaime. She told me that I was probably having Braxton Hicks contractions,
because my lower back was hurting. She said that they are a way of your body preparing for true labor. She suggested me that I
should call my midwife, but it was a Saturday and there was nobody in the clinic. So I decided to wait until Monday. The next
day in the morning I had a bloody mucus discharge. I wasn’t shocked when it happened I was really calm. I took a quick shower
and ate breakfast. At noon I decided to go to the hospital for a check up. I went to Valley View Hospital to the family birthplace.
I had to ill out some paper with information about my birth date and a couple of other things.
One of the nurses took me to one of the labor rooms, and asked me about the discharge I had. After I was finished telling her
what had happened she made me change out of my clothes into a hospital gown. She hooked me up to a monitor to hear my
baby’s heart beat. About half an hour later, my midwife came in the room. She was surprised to see me there because it hadn’t
been a week yet since I went to see her at the clinic for my checkup. My midwife Lisa went ahead and checked to see if I was
dilated or not. I was 5cm dilated already. I was socked to know that I was already 5cm and I wasn’t feeling any contractions.
After the surprising news, they did an ultrasound to see if my baby was head down. He was in the right position. They gave me
an IV and a catheder. They gave me some medication to stop my labor because I was barely 33 week and my baby wasn’t fully
developed. I had to take pills every 6 hours. Also, my baby’s lungs weren’t fully developed yet, so they gave me two shots of
steroids to make my baby’s lungs develop much faster. I was on bed rest for two whole days in the hospital. It was so hard and
painful because I had to be in bed 24/7. I also wasn’t able to sit up. My back was very sore from just laying in bed, and every
time I tried to change sides the catheder would move. I felt it when I moved, sometimes it would hurt too. The worst of all this is
that I had to eat laying in bed. It was so hard to eat. Sometimes I felt that I was going to choke.
My days in the hospital were the funniest I had ever had, because my friends and family were with me. I always had company,
except at night. But they always made me laugh about me being in labor and my baby flying out of me. But they were very
surprised that I wasn’t in pain at all. Instead I was laughing with my friends, and talking to my nurses. I met all the nurses that
work in the family birthplace. They were all very nice to me. I even had a twin, her name was Gina too.
After to days, I was feeling something moving my catheder. I called my nurse and told her. She called my midwife to come and
check me. I was almost 9cm dilated. They went ahead and broke my water. I felt a warm gush. I went to the bathroom and
took a quick shower. After about 5 minutes I started to feel cramps on my lower stomach. They weren’t strong at all. When I
was fully dilated I started to have some pain in my lower back, but it wasn’t anything too painful. They gave me a warm towel to
put on my back and that mad my back feel much better. I had a really hard time to know when to push because I felt no
contractions. The nurse had to tell me when I was having a contraction to be able to push. When my baby’s head was almost
out. I started to have really bad lower back pain, because my baby was rotating in a sit up position. His ear was more visible
than his head. I felt a lot of pressure from my midwife because she was telling me to keep pushing, but I was already so tired I
couldn’t push. But when she mentioned that if I couldn’t push anymore that she was going to have to do a C-section. I started
pushing. I preferred to keep pushing even though I had no more strength left. I was so scared of her having to do a C-section on
me because I hate surgery. They had to put me on oxygen because I wasn’t getting enough. It really helped me. Around five
minutes later, I was able to have my baby. He was born on April 17, 2012 at 2:58 a.m. I didn’t get to see him right away. They
took him to clean him off. When they were done they just showed me my baby, they didn’t let me hold him because they needed
to see if he was ok. I was so tired that I fell asleep right away. The next morning they changed me into a different room. I had to
walk to my new room. It was so hard to walk, because I was still so sore. I felt like I was walking like a penguin. I went and saw
my baby as soon as I could. It was so sad seeing him hooked up to all these monitors. He was so thin but really long. He
weighed 5 lb 7 oz and he was 18 ¾ inches long. I wasn’t able to breastfeed him right away because they had a small tube in his
stomach to be able to feed him. Also it was very hard to grab him because I had to be careful with all the wires connected to his
body. I had to go every 3 hours to feed him. It was so hard and sad at the same time not having him with me and leaving him in
another room far away from me. I sometimes had a hard time waking up every 3 hours, so they had to call my room. I spent
about an hour with him. I wanted to stay longer, but there were too many babies in the nursery.That same day I had a lot of
visitors. I had to walk every time from my room to the nursery. I was so exhausted. By the end of the day my feet were very
swollen and I was very sore the next day.
I was in the hospital for 3 weeks. I was sick of being there such a long time. But finally my baby was doing much better on his
own they released him with oxygen because he was still having a hard time breathing. After about 2 weeks I went for a check up
and they took him off the oxygen. From there on he was doing much better and now he’s one of the biggest baby’s in my
school. Even though he was a premature baby.
Recently I read a book called “Push” By: Sapphire. This book changed my whole point of view on
life. Having to read that everyone has tough times and yet watching how some give up so easy
and others fight for what they want, made me admire this book so much. I know that after all
Precious went through I would never have been as strong as her. I think my whole world would
have just gone down hill! After reading the book I believe anyone can do anything they want, when
they want. They have to keep their heads up, not look at the past and remember that life is what
you make it. Everyone has a choice and goals that they can reach no matter how bad a past they
have had, hardships don’t mean that you can’t have a better future. I’ve learned that people’s
words and negative actions can be allowed to either bring you down or you can ignore them and
overcome the negativity. I realized that sometimes things happen that are not the best for
you, but for you to make the best of them. We all learn at some point that memories will never go
away but we learn to remember the good ones only. Precious was the person I most admired not
only because she got her life together after everything that she endured, but because she stood
up for what she wanted, she made all her dreams come true. She never gave up and more
important she gave the reader the chance to learn about her life and taught us
to never give up.
life. Having to read that everyone has tough times and yet watching how some give up so easy
and others fight for what they want, made me admire this book so much. I know that after all
Precious went through I would never have been as strong as her. I think my whole world would
have just gone down hill! After reading the book I believe anyone can do anything they want, when
they want. They have to keep their heads up, not look at the past and remember that life is what
you make it. Everyone has a choice and goals that they can reach no matter how bad a past they
have had, hardships don’t mean that you can’t have a better future. I’ve learned that people’s
words and negative actions can be allowed to either bring you down or you can ignore them and
overcome the negativity. I realized that sometimes things happen that are not the best for
you, but for you to make the best of them. We all learn at some point that memories will never go
away but we learn to remember the good ones only. Precious was the person I most admired not
only because she got her life together after everything that she endured, but because she stood
up for what she wanted, she made all her dreams come true. She never gave up and more
important she gave the reader the chance to learn about her life and taught us
to never give up.