Birth Stories

Sarah’s Birth Story: Hospital Birth with Epidural

Editor’s note: This is part of an ongoing series of birth stories submitted by readers and fellow bloggers, featuring a diverse range of women and their birth experiences. All birth stories and all birth experiences matter! Today Sarah shares with us the story of her daughter’s hospital birth and what having an epidural was like. If you would like to share your own birth story, please visit this post to learn how. ~Olivia


My daughter was born on November 20th, 2015 at 7:00pm (a very punctual baby, like her Mom).

Sarah's baby

I woke up in labour at 3:30am on November 20th. My contractions were timed at 3 within 10 minutes, and they were at least 30 seconds long, even though they felt like 3 hours long. After taking a bath at home we decided to go to the hospital to get checked in. Upon arrival they checked my cervix and sure enough, it was time to start my journey of labour.

Originally, I wanted an all natural birth… After I felt those contractions I immediately changed my mind and opted for the drugs. I was sad but I told myself I wasn’t trying to prove anything to anyone. I’m pushing a baby out of my vagina, overall not an easy task. First they gave me morphine to tide me over until my epidural.

The epidural came at 11:00am. After three attempts I finally was able to relax and enjoy my labour. I was cracking jokes left and right. It was great! Then I noticed that I could feel the pain on my right side, but not my left. We discovered that my catheter was off to the left in my spine, so I had to work with gravity to even it out so I could be comfortable on both sides.

They wanted me to empty my bladder and I wasn’t too eager to pee in a bed pan in front of the nurses or my husband. So I tried to get up. I sat up on the edge of the bed, thought I had my feet on the ground and down I went. I think my husband pushed the nurses aside to pick me up. I peed in a bed pan after that and laughed while doing it.

I threw up only once, but after 3 months of constant morning (all day) sickness this wasn’t a problem for me.

Then my emotions hit me. I was so excited to meet our baby I burst out into tears. The nurse thought I was crying beside I was scared, but after finding out it was because I was eager to meet her, she started to tear up as well.

Time passed, jokes made. Laughter was a major part of my delivery and I was thankful for that.

It was time to push. I told my nurse it was like “Taco Bell on steroids.” She told me afterward none of the nurses had ever heard that one before.

It took 50 minutes to get her out. I only yelled at my husband once because he was holding my leg in the wrong spot and it made me uncomfortable, and I was irritated at the heart rate monitor as well.

On the last push I felt her head, shoulders and hips all come out at once. And there she was. The love of my life, my baby girl. Placed on my chest I was overjoyed and amazed at how newborns actually are.

Everything was perfect about her. No jaundice, no lung problems. We spent the first night doing skin to skin, we didn’t hear a peep out of her. She is an angel (and still is 4 months later). We were discharged after 22 hours and on our way home.

Lylah June-Lynn, you are Mommy and Daddy’s angel and light in this world.

Sarah's birth story

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7 Comments

  • My first child was born in a hospital with an epidural, but it didn’t work. I couldn’t move my legs, but was still in excruciating pain. They found out later they hadn’t given me enough medicine to fill the space in my spine. I was not a happy camper.

  • This one was very similar to mine except I was induced!! Boy does that epidural do wonders lol!! I was so relaxed and calm that everything went so swimmingly!! You are lucky they gave you a bedpan I had a catheter…. that was the only thing that I hated!

  • I loved this birth story and the picture of Mom and her darling little girl. I am so happy that they were able to stop most of the pain of labor. I think most first Moms are more scared than anything and that makes it worse. An epidural should be available to anyone who needs one, unless it affects the baby in some way. Most Moms want their baby to be healthy and would not do anything to endanger the tiny one. Loved, loved, loved the picture.

  • Loved the story, and the beautiful pictures of your daughter, As long as they are healthy that’s all that is important.

  • Thank you for publishing my story!! I still get all teary-eyed when I think of that day.. Simply amazing. Happy belated Mothers Day everyone!

  • Beautiful story nice that you could laugh your way through the pain!! What a cutie you have she is beautiful 🙂