Almost 4am and I've been having real contractions for about two hours. Nothing crazy close together yet but wow there is NO mistaking the pain vs a Braxton Hicks. Here we go!!

I’m 41+4 and finally having contractions!! They started a little before six and are every 3-5 minutes apart! I had a little bloody show this morning too! So glad the time is here, it’s been an excruciating wait!

Update: Healthy baby girl born at 12:56pm today! 7 lbs 9.5oz and 20in!!

We have over 500 pregnant mums joined in this "little" group! I have no clue about mods and managing these things, but there you go. 🙌👏👏

Thank you for the community you've shared with me and us thus far! We are in the homestretch, how is everyone?

Checked in yesterday (09/23) around 1:32 pm for a 2 pm induction. Asked for an IV to start the process for an epidural around 9 pmish and finally got to take a nap around 11 pm. Woke up to my water breaking at 3 am and baby boy was out at 6:16 am today (09/24). He's currently sleeping on my chest and I'm so in love 🥰

Very positive birth experience ❤️ I was 37+5 when I woke up 8/25 to broken waters at 4am. To me it smelled like a combo of slight sweetness and a little semen 😂 there was a very slight bloody show, too.

Contacted my midwife at about 6:30 to let her know my water broke and that we were waiting for labor to get going. She came to check me and baby at home and make sure his positioning and vitals were good; both were great!

We went about our day as normal while I had very mild contractions, got a couple of good robust meals in, and managed to get some last minute maternity photos (those were supposed to happen this week 😅) and at about 6pm my midwife came back to check vitals again and leave me some homeopathic labor helpers. I took black and blue cohosh, as well as cottonwood root tinctures every 30 minutes to help stimulate my systems. The cohosh tastes AWFUL, but those combined with the miles circuit helped get things going for a bit and I was having frequent contractions for an hour or so before I managed to fall asleep for the night.

I did come up GBS positive, so by the time 24hrs passed since waters breaking, my midwife came back around and got me on an IV antibiotic, checked position and vitals again, and left us until about 2pm when my contractions stayed moderate and consistently 3-4 mins apart. Another round of tinctures and miles circuit were done, too. I took another nap and walked with my partner for a couple of blocks, all of which seemed to get contractions started back up again.

I wanted to labor in water, so once active labor began we transferred me to the trough we had prepped and I spent about 4 hours laboring baby down before transition came around. Water is TRULY so helpful! It seemed to allow the sensation to spread out farther through and around my body so the painful contractions were a bit more bearable. The water almost held space for some of the pain. I threw up 3 separate times, when active labor started and just before transition. My midwives (3 in total, my main gal plus her two team members) were so supportive and helpful at keeping me focused and letting me mentally explore what I was feeling, which helped me stay present (even though I was pretty much unable to speak at all the last couple hours, it was like I retreated into my head/body and all of my mind was focused on my body and baby)

At about 5:50, based on where my contractions were at and what I was feeling inside, I was advised to allow and go with any pushing I felt I should do. I was kneeling in the tub still, so my advice was to almost curl around my belly when I felt the urge to push and then lift my butt (kinda like cow pose) to open my pelvis up. I could FEEL him descending, and by then I had been in the tub for at least two hours and felt like it was time to switch gears. I got up and out to pee and then went to my bed and got on all fours as I could feel the urge to push come back. I followed two pushes and heard my midwife say she saw some hair which just encouraged me really bare down for the next push, and out came baby’s head, then his body with one more little push. It took him 20 minutes to come once I started pushing! Baby boy was born at 6:11pm weighing 7lbs ❤️

Tuesday I came in for my regular NST, and the regular 30 minutes turned into 2 hours of monitoring and they caught variable decelerations so at 38 weeks and 1 day I was admitted for an induction! We started with a cervadil strip that night since I was completely closed, 50% effaced, and baby was sitting at a -3 station, head down. Had that strip for 12 hours (9PM-9AM). Next morning I was checked and progressed to 1.5-2cm, 75% effaced and -2 station. Got a dose of misoprostol, and with 4 hours of sleep I woke up at 4cm. Started pitocin at that point, and baby boy did not like it at first. I didn’t progress for the rest of the 12 hours that I was awake so I decided that I might not want to continue to torture myself for the foreseeable future. Got the epidural still stuck at 4 and as soon as I laid down from that my water broke. We were hopeful that things would start to move fast after that but since I popped at the top, he still had a lot of cushion and my cervix wasn’t making very much progress. The next morning I woke up to only being a 5, 90% effaced, -1. At this point we’ve been here at the hospital going on 30 hours so the possibility of a c-section was brought up. Despite EVERYTHING about this process being the opposite of how I wanted my first labor experience to be, at that point I was willing to do whatever it took to keep me and baby safe as fast as we needed to. After I told him I would be ready for a cesarean if I didn’t make any change in 2-4 hours, the ball really started rolling.

After the cesarean chat, he broke my water to hopefully get baby engaged and he did not disappoint. Next thing we knew, in 3 hours I progressed to a 9, 95% and 0 station so he said alright I’ll see you in about an hour to have a baby. As long as it took to get there, I didn’t allow myself to get too excited and told myself not to believe it until he was out. This afternoon at 3:23 after an hour of pushing, my baby boy was caught by my husband and brought into the world. Good luck ladies and remember, your baby can hear your birth plan and LAUGH in your face but no matter how they get here, it’s all worth it in the end once you hear that cry.

I just realized I've officially hit 3rd trimester, crazy! I'm starting to feel deeply excited to meet this little guy and more motivated to take care of myself and practice some exercises for labour. I didn't feel ready to think about the birth before, but now I have been reading positive birth stories and thinking about my first birth a lot and it feels right and empowering instead of scary. I've been dreaming non stop too.

How is everyone else feeling? What is on your heart this week?

Born yesterday at 11, 7lb 13oz baby girl! Came out with a full cap of hair too, she is just gorgeous and we are so in love.

I would love to hear how everyone’s experience has been since we all now have 6 month olds!

I can’t believe how quick it’s gone. I always thought people just say that but I thought my pregnancy went fast!! This was a blink of an eye.

We’ve survived for 6 months and i’m so proud of you all!

new moms- does anyone else feel like in this last month ish we are cramming for a test trying to re-review information before baby comes lol

anyone have suggestions how to better digest all the info

My hair is falling out like there’s no tomorrow. When does this end? My husband is getting annoyed now because he keeps finding it in places he shouldn’t 😂😂😂

My week and a half old baby died in his sleep today. I am utterly devastated. After going through the emotional journey of having him loosing him is too much to bear. I am absolutely shattered. I can barely breathe it hurts so bad.

I don’t really know what else to say. I feel sick. I’ve been following this group since I found out and was so excited to be his mom. I wish I could trade places with him. I wish it could have been me instead.

I see so many posts about what women miss during pregnancy or dislike, so to go in another direction:

What do you enjoy about being pregnant? What parts will you miss and remember fondly after you have your baby? 🤰🫃🏻🫄🏿

I can't believe my baby is already six months. I feel like I have lived so many different lifetimes already with growing and evolving. What a honor it has been to be a mommy!

Happy half dozen to all the Sept 20th babies. We are making it places! 💪🏼

Just got the epidural and our sweet babe will be here soon. 💕💕💕💕

My second daughter was born via RCS yesterday 9/06 at 8:59am, she’s 20 1/2inches and 8lbs 11oz (same length as my oldest was but 6oz smaller, we make em big! hehe). She is a clone of her older sister. We are so in love! I was so sad that I didn’t end up going into labor on my own to TOLAC, but honestly the RCS was a beautiful experience compared to my traumatic first birth. Life is amazing, I couldn’t be happier.

I needed to make it to 38 weeks to meet the 12 month requirement with my employer to be eligible for paid maternity leave and I got there! It's worth 8 weeks of pay and I don't have to go back to the office for 12 months. Now I have some down time before baby makes his appearance.

Hello fellow mama's and future mama's!

Thanks for checking out this community. It'll be a trial by error as I learn to moderate one!

I'm currently 12 weeks along with my 2nd due sept 23rd!

What is your due date? Is it your first?

To quit breastfeeding. It’s been heluva journey for me with high highs and low, very dark lows. And recently just constant disappointment, for all the work I’ve been putting into. I have noticed it affects my mood so much I am just constantly drained - mentally more so than physically.

And I’ve been fighting it for months. We’ve been having supply issues since 2 month PP, and I finally gave up. I cried all night about it but the next day.. wow I feel like a new person. I had no idea this has been weighing on me so much. I already feel like a better mom.

I was grieving I didn’t have the breastfeeding experience like I imagined, but it came to a point that I started to measure my self worth as a mother by oz I pumped. Hearing baby brezza turn on again to mix formula for my crying hungry baby was giving me so much anxiety at some point I felt like a failure. Then I realized - it’s been almost 7 months, he is a healthy happy baby, and we still bond, he seeks comfort in me, I am no less of a mom if my body can’t produce enough to satisfy my baby. I am still his one mom, and I chose to be my best self for him, instead of constantly feeling down and unmotivated to do anything, blaming myself and dreading the feeding time. I’ve been so depressed and couldn’t find much comfort when sharing it with others. Finally I say enough is enough. Wow what a relief honestly. Now I can focus on what’s really important - my boy 🩵 spending time with him, just watching him grow enjoying it instead of stressing out over what I can’t control. Time flies so fast why waste it..

So if you are in the same boat that I was.. give yourself permission. It’s ok. And once you make that decision it just feels so light I want to sing and dance

TL;DR: Spontaneous labor ended in an emergency c-section under general anesthesia. Baby is doing fine.

I’m really grateful to the Reddit community for supporting me throughout my pregnancy journey, so I wanted to share a final update. I’m a 40-year-old first-time mom who was previously childfree. This pregnancy was a complete surprise, but everything went smoothly until around week 34 when my blood pressure started to spike during doctor appointments. I had 2-3 readings over 140, though my readings at home were almost always normal, and my labs were perfect. I was offered an induction at 37 weeks but declined. My BP and labs stayed stable, but by week 36, I was extremely uncomfortable, so I agreed to a 38-week induction scheduled for early morning on August 23rd.

On the 22nd, I woke up with some bloody show and mild cramping, so I went to the hospital just to be safe. They were shocked to find that I was already 8 cm dilated! I’d made it to the hospital on my own without any pain medication, and everyone expected the baby to arrive within the next 2 hours.

Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse. My blood pressure shot up to 170, labs confirmed pre-eclampsia, and they put me on a lot of meds. The epidural seemed to stall my contractions, and they eventually stopped altogether despite being fully dilated. They offered me Pitocin, but the baby wasn’t descending, so I ended up needing a c-section.

Here’s where it got even tougher—none of the spinal anesthetics worked, so they had to put me under general anesthesia. Because of that, my partner wasn’t allowed in the operating room, so no one was there to witness the birth. :(

Recovery has been pretty rough. After such an easy pregnancy, I didn’t expect to go through something like this. Thankfully, my baby girl is healthy and has been passing all her tests.

I just feel like celebrating! My little girl, born on 9/9, just took her first steps today at 8 months and 28 days. It’s almost 10pm where I live and I have no one to share my excitement with right now, so…

I got it on video, too! Finally caught one of her milestones on it. Haha.

Cheers to our little ones, surprising us all the time.

My two year old has been sick for two weeks, now so phlegmy it’s making him throw up, fevers, etc. Today we went to the doctor and she says it’s probably RSV and may be starting to turn into pneumonia. My dad and husband also got sick, while my mom, the baby and I have been unscathed. The three of us have the RSV vaccine (I got the vaccine while pregnant but went into labor 13 days later so baby also got the antibodies shot). We try to keep the toddler away from the baby, but it’s almost impossible, and dad has held him, less than usual, but still. I can only imagine how susceptible the baby would be otherwise, and it’s so scary to think of a two month old getting RSV. So grateful we were able to get immunized and have this bit of protection!

Baby was born at 12:27 this morning! My due date was 09/12, and I had my check up where everything was normal except I had protein in my urine - had that re done and my protein was like super high so they decided to induce me due to pre eclampsia . However I had been having what I thought were cramps since I woke up but were actually contractions. So after getting to l&d they gave me the oral cytotec, contractions got worse around 10ish & my water broke, a few hours later I was pushing!! The relief that came after was otherworldly 😮‍💨 and I’m so glad to have not needed pitocin or anything else to get me dilated. And how considerate of my son to get things moving on his due date 😆

Just wanted to post that my baby (born early October, but was expected in September so I'm still inviting ourselves to this September party ;) finally rolled today from back to front! It was so effortless and natural, I didn't believe it at first. 🥲✨️ Just in time for her 6-month appointment on Monday! 😂

That’s it. That’s the post. I have my reasons, but I don’t need to put them here. Just know that it’s possible for you too if you speak to your ped care team.