I’m so excited and emotional to be sharing our birth story with you. First of all, thank you so much for all the comments and messages on Instagram and Facebook. I read every single one with tears in my eyes.
Alessandro Glastoni Hernandez was born August 4th, 2017 at 10:12 pm. He weighed in at 8 pounds 7 ounces and measuring 20.75 inches long.
Our story began Thursday August 3rd.
As a new mommy you don’t know what to expect with labor and delivery. All you know is that you have to be strong because it’s going to be painful. They don’t call it labor for nothing, right?
My in laws were at our house most of the day Thursday. We ordered lunch around 4pm, and while I was eating I started to feel pain. I didn’t think anything of it because it just felt like light cramping. (TMI: I had lost my mucus plug the day before and also had the “bloody show” at 3pm this day.)
My mother in law said to me, “mija, I think those are little contractions.” I just kept saying no it’s just light cramping, no big deal.
Around 8:30pm I decided to make dinner for us. Again I was having light cramping feelings, but nothing strong enough to stop me from cooking. We all had dinner, talked, and took some final baby bump pictures.
If baby Alessandro wasn’t coming on his own, I was scheduled to be induced the next day at 1pm. My in laws left, and around 11pm I started feeling stronger cramping. I googled…”what do contractions feel like, ” and sure enough I was having contractions. I felt nervous, but excited at the same time. I told my husband, “babe I think it’s happening.” I took a shower, and got ready because I wanted to labor at home as much as I could. My husband was timing the contractions and also trying to get last minute things ready for our hospital bag.
At this point the contractions were okay, I was on my birthing ball while my husband was applying the heating pad on my back. He also used tennis balls to massage my back. We called the hospital to let them know we were on our way. We left our house around 2:45 am, and got to the hospital around 3am. When we arrived I was 3 cm dilated, I said okay that’s not bad. Around 8am they checked to see how much I had dilated, and I was still at 3cm. My contractions were getting stronger but they weren’t close together. The doctors decided to add pitocin through my IV to speed up the contractions. At this point I still wanted to have a natural drug-free birth. That was our plan. The contractions grew stronger and by 12:30pm my water broke. Once my water broke the contractions were so strong I was doubting whether I could do this or not. It was a pain that I cannot even describe.
By the time I hit 7 cm, I looked at my husband and told, him, “I can’t do this anymore.” He looked at me with teary eyes and said yes you can you were built for this. My mom was also in the room and she was my rock. I love my mom, but once you become a mother that love and appreciation you have for your mom amplifies by a million. This is when labor became a huge blur. I was still drug-free and at this point my contractions were full on. I felt like my body was going to break in half. I stayed at 7 cm for what seemed like forever. Around 5pm, they checked to see how much I had dilated and they had said I was complete and ready to push. They had a second person check me, and nope I was still at 9 cm. I stayed at 9 cm for two hours and wasn’t opening up. At this point, I’m exhausted both physically and mentally. I felt like I wasn’t going to be able to do this.
A team of doctors came in and told me I wasn’t dilating and had 2 options. I could either get the epidural to see if it relaxes me to open up or they would have to do a c-section. I looked at my mom and husband with full on tears in my eyes. We decided to go for the epidural because a c-section was the last thing I wanted. I was crying uncontrollably at this point. At this moment I felt like I had failed. How could I be so close? I was also terrified about getting the epidural, but I had to be strong. The anesthesiologist came in and my contractions were unbearable. When you get the epidural the one thing you can’t do is move. I was having horrible contractions that I was getting out of bed to control them. I was sitting on the edge of the bed and they were prepping my back for the epidural. I look down and my husband left a rosary on the bed for me (at this point they had told my husband and mom to step out). I looked at it and prayed, I asked God to stop my contractions so they can insert the epidural successfully. I asked him to take care of Alessandro and to give me strength to keep going. The nurse who was holding me down looked at me and said, “the Lord will help you.” That was a sign for me and it helped me to relax and within 2 minutes the epidural was placed and I was feeling relieved. My husband and mom came back into the room, and I felt better. I still felt the contractions, but they were bearable. My dad came in and again I lost it and started crying. The nurses told me I had to stop crying because it was affecting my heart rate. I closed my eyes and prayed for the next two hours. By 9:10pm the team came back in to check if I was “complete” meaning if I was 10 cm dilated. The doctor smiled and said, “she’s complete, nurses let’s prepare to push.” As soon as I heard that I was just beyond happy I was trying so hard not to burst into tears. I looked at my mom and she said, “okay ya mero ya va venir Alessandro.” My husband also came up to me and said, “babe this is the part where you have to be the strongest. We’re almost there.” At 9:20 pm I started pushing, and 40 minutes later I heard my mom say, “ahi esta mija ya lo veo push con todo lo que puedas.” I also heard , “his shoulders are out, one more push” and I dug into the very depths of me for that extra burst of energy to help bring my son into this world. After almost 24 hours of labor at 10:12pm my son was born.
It was one of the most intense days of my life. I pride myself on having accomplished some pretty cool things, but absolutely NOTHING compares to giving birth to my son, and becoming a mother. That by far has been the most challenging yet rewarding experiences in my life.
I learned that you can’t always have control over situations. With labor things didn’t go as planned yet it was perfect. As soon as you hear your baby cry you get swept with a sensation of love like no other. When I felt him on my chest, I knew I would do this all over again. Thank you God for this blessing, I will be forever grateful.
