Amber’s Birth Story
A Positive Birth Story with an Induction & Surprise Gender Reveal
Written by Amber Gilbert
As I sit to write this birth story I can’t help but smile. I was so nervous for the birth. One, because I was being induced and I was worried I wouldn’t have a “good story” to tell. Two, we did not know the baby’s gender, and this was giving me all sorts of emotions. But looking back, it might be one of my favorite stories ever.
This was my second pregnancy. And I think it’s only natural to compare or think back on your first birth experience. My son Oliver was born almost 3 years ago in Arizona, where we were living at the time. His story was somewhat exciting to begin with as I went into labor as my mom was in the air, flying to us. The rest of it was a bit complicated though. My labor started fast but stalled and I had to be started on Pitocin. He had multiple heart rate changes which were incredibly frightening. I ended up being in labor for over 20 hours and when he was born, I was just exhausted and relieved that he was OK.
My pregnancy with baby number two was much harder for me. I found out I was pregnant right after the country shut down because of the pandemic. As a healthcare provider that was a whole new and different type of worry. I was also so uncomfortable, so much earlier. I started having Braxton Hicks by 30 weeks and had trouble walking any sort of distance without pelvic pain and pressure. I thought for sure I would go early with this baby. But leading up to the due date, my body was not making any changes or progress.
My doctor offered to induce me two days before my due date. I was nervous about this because I hadn’t heard a lot of good induction stories. I was worried that if my body didn’t go into labor naturally it would end being long just like with my son. But I was miserable and could hardly walk. I scheduled it and tried my hardest to go into labor on my own, but that didn’t happen.
The morning of my induction we arrived at the hospital at 7:30 am. My OB broke my water at 8 and said we could start Pitocin right away or see if breaking my water started labor on its own. I decided to wait but by 10 am I was hardly having any contractions and we started Pitocin.
With the Pitocin they increase the rate/amount every 30 minutes. As they did this my contractions started to increase. I walked around my room and bounced on a labor ball. Eventually they did become stronger, but were nowhere near what I experienced with my son. By 12:30 pm my contractions were stronger and stronger. They weren’t horrible but my nurse was concerned about me getting an epidural if I wanted it. I had one with my son, but wanted to see how things went this time around. Around 1 pm my OB came to check on me. I was only dilated to 4. It felt discouraging because I thought, here we go again, a LONG labor.
My doctor was confident though and planned to come back at 4 for another check. She said I could be ready to go by then but I didn’t believe her. At this point I decided to get my epidural. I was in pain and my OB had warned me not to wait too long. Apparently it is common for contractions to feel less intense the second time and sometimes you are farther along than it feels.
After my epidural I decided to rest. I didn’t sleep but laid in bed and texted family and friends. My nurses came in periodically but said, all was “great.” It was so different than with my son, because the nurses were in our room constantly as he did not like labor. This baby was “happy” as they told me.
Around 3:00 pm I was texting my best friend Ashley. We talked about the gender, still unknown, and I told her I thought it was a boy. A few minutes later my nurses came in to check on me. They asked if I was feeling any pressure, to which I told them no. I honestly felt fine. They said while watching my monitor, there were “dips” which can mean the baby is transitioning. But since I wasn’t feeling pressure they left and planned to check on me again at 4:00 pm when my OB returned.
Not even 5 minutes after they left I felt a HUGE surge of pressure. I turned to my husband and said GET THE NURSE! He jumped up and hit the call light. I almost started to panic because it came out of nowhere and was INTENSE. My nurses came in, checked me, and the baby was coming. They literally told me to close my legs while they called the doctor!
My doctor RAN from next door. She barely got dressed and I was pushing. After two pushes, my doctor told me to reach down and grab my baby. As I lifted the baby up, I looked and said IT’S A GIRL! But I was in such shock, that as I went to lay her on my chest, I lifted her up again and said “wait, it’s a girl right?!” We all laughed at this afterwards!
Our sweet baby GIRL, Emery Lynn, was born at 3:33 pm. I honestly have never experienced anything more beautiful. She came SO fast. In a matter of 15 minutes I went from feeling fine to delivering a baby. But what I loved MOST was being able to lift her up and announce her gender. It was so wonderful to meet her in this way. And here I was, so worried about being induced and not having a “good story.” Yet it couldn’t have been more PERFECT.
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A Positive Birth Story with an Induction & Surprise Gender Reveal
