Joanie's Birth Story

I wanted to tell y’all Joanie’s birth story today. I know I would always watch Baby Story on TLC growing up (anyone else?!) and birth stories have always been super interesting to me, especially since my mom is a labor and delivery nurse. I grew up hearing stories about birth from such a young age, and would love to spend a day hanging out in the nurses’ lounge on the L&D unit at my mom’s hospital. Y’all enjoyed reading about my breastfeeding journey— if you haven’t read it yet, click here to check it out. I thought I’d continue the transparency and share one of the best days of my life with everyone!

Labor pain was always something that scared me to think about since I never knew what it would feel like. So as the days crept closer to my due date of April 9th, I’d feel slight cramps here and there, but I knew when I was in labor, I would know. I think my biggest fear was going into labor while teaching! Thank goodness that’s not what happened! Everyone kept telling me that first time moms don’t go into labor until after their due date, and it’s uncommon that I would deliver early. At my 38 week appointment, I was 80% effaced and 2cm dilated already, and my doctor said she predicted I would go into labor within the week! We joked that she would be born on April fools Day. I was so excited and ready to meet Joanie, but also trying not to get my hopes up that it would happen before my due date.

I told my parents this news since they wanted to be here when she was born, and they left early to come to Nashville in case I delivered early. They arrived on Saturday, March 30th. We wanted to have dinner with them when they got into town, but there was an awful storm and a tornado warning, and I was huddled with the pups in the shower while sirens were going off. I was so sure I would go into labor during this storm— it would just be my luck! Luckily, I didn’t! The next day was a typical Sunday. We lounged around in the morning, and we went to eat at Chuy’s with my mom. I was eating all the spicy salsa in hopes of triggering contractions— I’ve heard that spicy and Mexican food can put you into labor! Then, I went home and was lesson planning for the week ahead. We went grocery shopping where my mom bought pineapple because it can trigger labor and I forced myself to eat as much of it as I could. Later that evening, we went to Olive Garden for dinner and I ate eggplant parmesan— another food said to trigger labor! We even had leftovers packaged up for me to take to school the next day. I went home and took this mirror selfie— little did I know, that would be the last pregnant photo I would take before Joanie arrived!

I remember not being able to fall asleep that night and finally falling asleep maybe around 11. At 2:30ish in the morning, I woke up and remember feeling like something was different. My stomach was hurting, but in a way I had never felt before. I tried to go back to bed, but the pain was keeping me up. I decided to go walk around the house a little bit to see if it would go away. After 30 minutes of doing this, the pain was just getting worse. I noticed that the pain would come and go in intervals— could these be contractions?! I had no idea, but it hurt. I woke Richard up and told him I thought I was having contractions. At this point, I was in tears from pain and gripping the kitchen counters during each one. We tried to time them, and they were 2 minutes apart. I remember thinking there’s no way this could be an actual contraction because they wouldn’t be 2 minutes apart already. They would start off being 10-15 minutes apart and gradually get closer together from what we learned in birthing class. The pain was getting more intense though and Richard called the doctor. He told her that my contractions were 2 minutes apart, and she said to come into the hospital.

Richard rushed to finish packing the bags and we got in the car around 3:30am for the 30 minute drive to the hospital. We put on calming music to help me breathe during the drive. Luckily, there was no traffic in the middle of the night! He called my parents to meet us at the hospital— they were staying at a hotel down the street. My mom was convinced that this wasn’t actually labor and that the hospital would send me home. She said to call back once I was actually admitted. We get to the hospital and parked. Oh was it hard to hobble into the hospital from the parking lot. I had to stop walking whenever I got a contraction. We get to the ER and it was a ghost town! NO ONE was there. Richard was looking all over for even a staff member to help us! Someone finally came out from behind a desk and we told her I was in labor. We had to fill out paperwork of all things! I was in so so much pain at this point and could only fill it out when I wasn’t having a contraction. Finally, around 4:30am, someone from L&D comes and wheels me up to a birthing room.

They have me get changed into a hospital gown and contraction monitor, which is SO hard to do when you’re having contractions, and they checked me. I was 3cm dilated and baby was super low. During my check, my water decided to break. It felt like a pop and was one of the most uncomfortable parts of labor for me. I immediately felt super nauseous and got sick from the intensity of what was happening. I wanted that epidural now! They ordered one and meanwhile had to hook me up to the monitors. I was indeed in active labor and having contractions 2 minutes apart. Richard called my parents to come and I was begging for that epidural.

It felt like forever at the time, but the anesthesiologist finally showed up. They said his name was Jeff and I remember screaming, “Jeff, thank God you’re here!!” I was never scared of the actual needle, but was worried about how I would feel afterwards. The thought of my body feeling numb made me anxious, but it wasn’t bad at all! The pain was instantly better after the epidural and I could finally relax a little bit. I was now 4cm, and I asked Richard if he could get the bags from the car so I could freshen up (it was the middle of the night when all this started so I felt so gross!) It was maybe 6am now. He comes back and they check me again— I was 9cm! I had literally went from 4 to 9cm in 30 minutes. The nurse says that we’re going to start pushing soon! What!? This was all happening so fast. I thought I would be in labor all day! There was no time to get ready and they started getting things prepared for delivery and called the doctor.

Pushing wasn’t bad at all because I couldn’t feel anything, and I only pushed for 30 minutes. Then, my baby girl was here and they placed her on my chest. I started crying tears of joy that my beautiful baby was here and appeared healthy. We welcomed Joanie Louise Knapek into this world 9 days early on April 1st, 2019, weighing 6lb. 11 oz, and 19 3/4 in. long. Our joke about an April fools day baby was a reality! She was absolutely perfect in our eyes, and I thank God every day for allowing me to be her mom.

Everything happened so fast that we were just trying to take in the fact that Joanie was here! I was only in labor for a total of 5 hours. Little did we know that I’d go to bed the night before feeling fine, and start the day with our baby! Now that Joanie’s almost 5 months old, I love looking back on this day and feeling so grateful and thankful that everything went so smoothly. I’ll never know which food actually triggered labor either! Maybe it was a combination of all of it!