I knew I would be getting induced with Mila, so I got to the hospital at 10pm on April 3rd. My mother-in-law came and picked up our dogs and then Brachen and I went out on our last ever date night, just the two of us, for a long, long time. We were pretty classy: we got Wendy’s and ate it in the parking lot as we watched the sun go down. I had no idea what birth was going to be like, and I was actually pretty nervous, but I was so tired of waiting, too.

After we finished our dinner, we headed back home to grab our overnight bags and then went back to the hospital. The first order of business was to get me started on cervical softeners: which in my case, unfortunately for me, actually did nothing. They made my contractions last crazy long though, so I was contracting the entire night long. When I got the hospital, I was at a zero, and by the morning? I was at a .5. All those contractions during the night and hardly any progression. We passed the time by watching good TV and joking around, just waiting for things to hopefully pick up soon.

In the morning, they started me on Pitocin, which after a few hours helped me dilate to a 3. Since it was still a slow-going process, they eventually decided to break my water. When that happened, we were all quickly made aware of the fact that Mila had pooped quite a bit inside and it was actually blocking her and preventing me from dilating any more. After that was cleared out, I went from about a 3 to a 10 in a matter of an hour.

We were freaking out because we hadn’t updated our birth photographer to come yet, because I’d just been at a 3, so we hurried and notified her. I waited to push until she got there, and then it was only a matter of seven good pushes in about ten minutes that brought our sweet baby Emilia Golden into the world. It was definitely the craziest experience of our life.

Mila looked all kinds of crazy when she came out. Brachen and I really didn’t even know what to expect: we looked at each other and could tell we were thinking the same thing! Her head was so alien-like, and while we wanted to say she was the cutest thing ever, we couldn’t even really tell what she looked like under all the disgustingness! The cleaned her off in another area with Brachen right after her birth while I was stitched up (I tore pretty badly).

After that, I got to meet her for the first time. They laid her on my chest, and it was nothing like I’ve ever experience before. I fell in love with her immediately, and promptly told Brachen her name would be Sloan, as he told me right back her name had to be Mila. We were in trouble. She was born at exactly 5:00pm, and we spent the rest of the night cuddling her, feeling so empowered that we’d just gone through that experience to bring this beautiful baby girl into the world, and discussing her name. I barely got a turn to hold her that first 24 hours because Brachen was (and continues to be!) so obsessed and in love with our baby girl. I’ll share photos from her Fresh 48 session, soon!