My water broke at 2 AM after another round of feeling nauseous. It took 48 hours for labor to really kick in after having my membranes stripped. Chris and I decided to take our time heading to the hospital for a couple of reasons. For one, my water didn’t rush out all at once; it was a gradual leak. Plus, we wanted to grab some food, take showers, and handle a few personal things before leaving. The hospital was only a three-minute drive away, and I wanted to enjoy as much of my time at home as possible. Eventually, we made it there around 5 AM, and I gave my dogs a quick goodbye, feeling determined to bring my baby into the world that day.

I was ready to meet my son. I’d had enough of the discomfort, the spasms, and the constant bathroom trips. Honestly, after dealing with cerebral palsy during pregnancy, having a newborn and recovering from birth feels easier! I knew what I was getting into when Chris and I decided to have a baby, and my love for little Gideon is beyond words. Sometimes I miss feeling him kick inside me, especially during those last months when he was so active.

When we arrived at the hospital, I found out I was only one and a half centimeters dilated, which was a bit of a letdown. The contractions didn’t hurt as much as I expected, but my blood pressure was too high, so we decided to go with an epidural to avoid a C-section.

If you have scoliosis, I wouldn’t recommend an epidural unless you’re prepared for it to not really work. They also gave me Pitocin, which made the contractions a lot more intense. I felt every ounce of it and was surprised I didn’t crush Chris’s hand during the worst of it. Thankfully, I only had to push for 20 minutes. It was a wild ride—one moment I was in a lot of pain, and the next I was filled with joy as I welcomed my son into the world. It was a beautiful and chaotic experience all at once.