Our Birth Story

Taken the morning Gemma was born: 12/30/2019

Let’s start from the very beginning…

On Thursday, December 26th I went to my doctor with Louis for my usual weekly check-up. At this point, I was almost 39 weeks, 3cm dilated and felt like I was carrying a bowling ball in between my legs. I was uncomfortable, dealing with swollen feet, lower back pains and SO ready to have this baby. I always had a fear of giving birth, not pregnancy, just birthing a human and the pain I anticipated- but you get to a certain point at the end where you give zero fucks and just want to feel like yourself again.

After complaining about how uncomfortable I was, my doctor suggested to strip my membrane. If you’re not familiar with this term, don’t worry- I had no idea what he was talking about but I was ready to agree to anything that would speed things up. I’ll link the dirty deets here, but essentially the doctor uses a gloved hand to sweep the inside of the cervix in a circular motion. It was painful and I cried…but I’m not sure if those were hormonal tears or because it actually hurt? I was told that it should help increase the chances of going into labor by 30% in the next 36 hours. We made another appointment to come back on Monday afternoon if I was still pregnant for another check up and do another membrane sweep. This was the most natural way to induce labor and I was here for it.

So, we waited. Had a chill weekend- got the nursery fully ready, went for brunch and sat on the couch a lot. I was having random lower back pains but nothing out of the ordinary and I didn’t think anything of it. I was also reading about ways to get things going and went for foot massages, was eating spicy foods, walking as much as I could and…nothing.

On Monday morning, I received a call from my doctor suggesting I come in earlier than my original appointment to get checked again. I mean, New Years Eve was the next day and I wanted to get the ball rolling. What if my water broke at like 10pm and we couldn’t get to the hospital because of street closures, etc.? The timing wasn’t ideal and we were thinking of all the worst possible scenarios. Louis was at work, so I called my mom and updated her. She picked me up and came to the doctor with me. I was 4cm dilated (FYI- you’re at a risk of infection at 4+cm) and apparently having contractions! I had no idea. It felt like the baby was moving and tensing up, but not painful at all. He suggested I go to the hospital to get monitored to see how far apart my contractions were- since I wasn’t feeling them and couldn’t time them. I was SO emotional- I cried in his office and said I was shocked this was happening so soon. He looked at me like I was crazy. WTF was I talking about?? I was 39 weeks and 1 day pregnant LOL.

My mom and I grabbed a quick breakfast (oatmeal and fruit) and headed to the hospital around 11:30am (you’re not allowed to eat anything while in labor, so my advice is to have a hearty meal beforehand. You don’t know how long it will take). We checked in and went to a small room where I changed into a hospital gown and the nurse connected all those wires to my belly to monitor my contractions and gave me an IV to keep me hydrated. They were about 6 minutes apart. I had the option to go home and potentially have my water break in the next few hours or get induced. BTW I was casually updating Louis via text this whole time and I’m not sure who was more nervous. He was home waiting for me to tell him whether we were having a baby or if I was coming home. I chose to get induced. He showed up within a half hour with our hospital bags and it was all happening.

The nurse walked me over to the delivery room and gave me the Pitocin (a natural hormone that causes the uterus to contract and used to induce labor) around 2/2:30pm. It’s given through the IV that I was already connected to. OMG…the second it hit my bloodstream, the contractions were REAL. I’m not going to lie…there was a moment where I thought everyone hypes up the pain or maybe I credited myself with having a high pain tolerance…but it was so painful that I yelled at Louis and told him this was going to be his only child and I was never doing this again- he told everyone when it was all over. I asked for the epidural when the contractions started to get bad and I’ll admit I wish I asked for it sooner. The combination of the needle going into my back and the contractions was the most painful experience of my life. Hands down. I was shaking from the pain.

The next few hours were a waiting game. After the epidural hit, it was (almost) smooth sailing. My mom and Louis were in the room and we all sat around and watched Bravo TV. The pain was manageable- the anesthesiologist gave me a remote to control the amount of epidural in case I needed more. GREAT IDEA. I was consistently dilating and before I knew it, it was go time. I began pushing around 7:15pm. For those who don’t know- you push for 3 sets of 10 seconds with every contraction. So, you’re not just pushing the entire time- which is what I originally thought. My doctor asked Louis to hold one of my legs and my mom was behind me lifting my back up with every contraction. After a few pushes, I made them switch. While Louis already saw enough, we both felt more comfortable with him watching from a higher angle. My mom on the other hand had front row seats. It was all very invasive.

Gemma Victoria Gasparro arrived on 12/30/2019 at 8:05pm weighing 6lbs, 10oz and 19 inches long. They put her on my chest and the feeling was unexplainable. I could not believe that I made this adorable little human and I was suddenly a mother. She was perfect.

We spent two nights in the hospital. The first 24 hours are mandatory to monitor the baby and check on the mother’s recovery. The second night was optional (plus it was New Year’s Eve) and I’m so happy we stayed. We learned a lot from the nurses and it was helpful to have them to lean on since we had no idea what we were doing! Childbirth was the most incredible experience. Unexplainable in so many ways, no matter how many details I write out in this post. Postpartum is another ball game that I’ll get into another time. xx