My Labor

Every pregnant person has their own vivid labor story and for the 9 months that I was preggers all I could think about was how my story was going to go down, I imagined it so many different ways but one thing for sure is that it’s so surreal; my story starts a week before Chanel came… 

Chanel’s original due date was December 17th but since the doctor had concerns with my past blood pressure problems I had to check in every week at the hospital in my last trimester to do stress tests for the baby and to also check my stats. It was kind of a pain but my whole world was pretty much my baby and I thought of the situation like this I’m not working at the moment, meaning doing any modeling jobs, so this is my job. 

Well exactly a week before Thanksgiving I went for my weekly checkup and they told me that my fluid in my placenta is low and Chanel is considered full term at 9 months which was 37 weeks and that she’ll probably be best on the outside then on the inside. Apparently, the fluid in your placenta that feeds the baby nutrients naturally stops producing during the last month of pregnancy because your body wants to push the baby out, so my doctor said if I keep her inside it could possibly stunt her growth so they suggested that I induce labor for thanksgiving. I felt strange about the situation. On one hand I already had minor contractions for a month already and they were getting serious at night to where in the middle of the night I would feel sharp pains and I would just massage the area until it would go away and then I would return back to sleep so I felt deep inside that she wanted to come out early but then on the other hand when you say the word (INDUCE) you think immediately of it as a bad thing and how unnatural it is to your body. Ice thought it was a great idea because it would be no surprise to when she was coming and he made me look at the situation as a good thing. So I complied, and the doctor suggested the date after thanksgiving for Chanel to be born because we would have a full staff on hand because it wasn’t on the holiday. Since I knew I had a week to prepare I went crazy. I went to do my nails, my hair, I waxed, and I even spray tanned. I knew the first picture that I was going to take with my baby would last forever and I wanted to look good and not run down and also I knew these would be the things I wouldn’t be able to do after she was born. I packed my overnight bag and even included a pair of heels because I wanted to walk out of the hospital feeling fabulous with my new born (FYI yes heels make me feel awesome!) Before heading to the hospital I took my very last bump picture of course in heels because that’s the Coco way. 

Now the last week during my pregnancy I was feeling pretty down almost depressed because I knew this was the last moments that I would feel her inside of me moving around. I enjoyed everyday being pregnant, I look forward to watching TV at night while she would be doing gymnastics inside of me while I sat back and watched my tummy move, we had a connection right off the bat. 

I was told to arrive to the hospital at night so we can get the process started. As soon as we got into the delivery room Ice hooked up his Xbox because you don’t know how long you’ll have to wait it out. I suggest doing this with all fathers because there’s a lot that a women does in the delivery room to get prepared before the delivery and you don’t need your man involved in everything you do its for them to have his own hobby LOL. 

The first thing they did was inserted cervidil behind my cervix; it doesn’t hurt at all and it looks like a little shoe string full of medicine, they leave this in overnight. Now the reason why they give you this is because your body might be ready to give birth naturally so you may not need to be induced. Right after they give you cervidil it lets your body know if it’s ready to go into labor or not. Well that’s exactly what happened to me. The next morning they took the shoe string out after being placed inside of me for 12 hours and my contractions were really bad. I felt like I need to go to the bathroom a lot but never could. I kept telling Ice and the nurse that I was feeling really uncomfortable so the nurse suggested that I get an epidural right away but I was hesitant. I was told that having my labor induced could go on for a very long time, (I thought i was going to be in labor all weekend) I was also told that I would feel like I was paralyzed and some people suggested to me not to take the epidural too early. So at first I said no I’ll wait a little while longer but man I’m so glad I didn’t. Ice looked at me and said “why are you being so stubborn? Just do the epidural” so I did. It went so much better than I imagined, I didn’t even feel the needle with the epidural, I felt immediate relief with it, Ice jokes and says when he saw me I acted like I was on a 100 martinis. Once I got it, I was so (Pro epidural) after my experience I think every pregnant woman needs it in their life. I also didn’t feel paralyzed like people told me that I would feel, I felt everything even my legs it wasn’t strange at all, it just took the edge off. The cervidil worked so well for me that I didn’t need to be induced my body went into labor contractions automatically, I knew Chanel wanted to be born. At 8am, I was 3 centimeters and at 10am I was 10 centimeters, 2 hours to me went in a flash. I don’t even remember that chunk of time, I was so much in lala land when the doctor came in to deliver me, 2 nurses laid me back so that I was laying down on my back. Each nurse held my legs to my chest, they showed me how to push. They said press up and hold your breath and push as hard as you can for 10 seconds. This is when I realized that this was basically like doing an ab crunch and as soon as I figured that it was a sit-up practically, I got excited, I thought to myself “YES! I got this” this is why I train so hard at the gym for so long, I love ab crunches! The very first push I was scared because I was so worried that I was going to feel pain but Ice said stop thinking it’s going to hurt you got the epidural just act like you’re at the gym pressing 400lbs (It’s funny that Ice and I relate everything to the gym) as soon as I heard him coach me in the background, the next push I gave it my all. I guess things were happening down there because I seen my doctor put on a plastic mask and I was thinking what the hell? I also thought what’s going to happen? What’s up with the mask? Afterwards my doctor explained its because of fluids that come out the body. The next 2 pushes happened fast on my third push, I pushed so hard that she squirted out LOL. I could feel the whole experience but with no pain, in the middle of my last push I started happy crying because I knew at any moment that I was going to meet her for the first time, I could feel her coming out, and at that moment was the best feeling in the world. I keep saying to people that I wish I could bottle up all those emotions and hold on to them forever. (I can see why people have 10 babies, its a real high). When she came out I couldn’t believe with my own eyes a little human body could fit in my body, I was so amazed, my first words without even thinking was oh my GOD she’s perfect, I was so excited because you’re holding your breath crossing your fingers through the whole 9 months for the baby to be healthy. She was beautiful, 5.7lbs a lot bigger than they anticipated, they originally thought she would weigh 4.8lbs. She was also 18 inches long with a full head of hair when they laid her on my chest she looked at me straight into my eyes like she knew me, it was wonderful. I suggest that those that go through this experience to definitely do (Skin to Skin) it’s supposed to bond your child with you right of the bat and I believed that it worked with me, they plopped her on me completely naked on my naked chest right away after they wiped her off it was a beautiful moment, I actually got a picture right when that happened. As soon as they weighed her they wrapped her up and put her under a heated light to warm her up then they gave her to Ice, he was beaming, he was taking pictures trying spread the word to our family and friends that she was born. I love watching him with her it was so special; I will cherish this whole experience forever. 

I stayed in the hospital for 2 days after and Ice stayed right next to me on the couch and I walked out of the hospital just as I envisioned it with heels on and touting a car seat all while holding my loving husbands hand.

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