I had a super easy pregnancy up until the last month. I only threw up twice, both times in the first trimester. I was pretty tired in the first trimester, but that’s really the worst of it. During the second trimester, I didn’t even feel pregnant (other than when Hollings got the hiccups or gave me a nice kick to the ribs). I didn’t even really start showing until the third trimester. I was in my third trimester over the summer, which wasn’t exactly ideal, because it was so hot. I’m not going to lie though, I spent most of my days inside with some AC. 

My due date was August 13th. Jay and I were living in Columbia, but were planning on moving to Durham on July 14th, since Jay was starting at Duke Law in the fall, and I wanted ample time to get ready for Hollings. 

On July 13th (day before moving day), we (Jay’s entire family) were over at Jay’s dad’s house packing up our moving truck. I was upstairs packing up some boxes when I looked down at my feet. HOLY. When did my feet become two busted cans of biscuits trying to break out of my poor little sandals? My feet were SO swollen. 

When my mom was pregnant with me, she had something called preeclampsia. I won’t pretend like I know exactly what preeclampsia is, but pregnant women get it, and it can be very dangerous for mother and baby. The symptoms are swelling, high blood pressure, and protein in the urine. I knew about all of this already, so when I saw the swelling, I went to find Jay to express my concern. He was outside with his family, and I didn’t want to freak them all out, so I just called my mom. I sent her the pictures of my feet, and she immediately flipped out. She told me I had to take my blood pressure ASAP. 

After calling her, I calmly went back into the living room to find Jay, his dad, and his grandfather sitting. They were making dinner plans. I was going to wait until Jay and I were alone to bring it up to him, but my mom, knowing me better than anyone and assuming I probably wasn’t making a big deal about it, texted Jay and said, “Leigh needs to check her blood pressure NOW.” 

Jay checked his phone in front of everyone and said, “Leigh what’s this about?” So, in front of Jay’s dad and his grandfather, I told him what was happening. He was immediately upset that I hadn’t said anything to him right away, but was even more concerned that it could be something scary. I checked my blood pressure, and it was 150s/90s. This was extremely high for me. My blood pressure before then had never been higher than 120/70. I was concerned, but everyone just kept trying to keep me calm.

We went to grab dinner with Jay’s whole family. It was a big send off dinner before we left the next day. By the time we got to the restaurant, all 15 of the people eating with us knew about my high blood pressure. Everyone assured me that it was all going to be fine. When we got back to Jay’s dad’s house, I checked my blood pressure again (per my mom’s request) and it was still reading high. 

At this point, I had been driving to Durham and back about twice a month for my check-ups, because I knew I would be delivering at Duke University Hospital. Jay saw that I was worried and told me I should give my office a call. So I did. Their response was, “Yeah…we want you to go ahead and come in tonight.” Talk about freaking out.

My mind immediately went to, “OMG I’m about to have a freaking baby.” Half of our stuff still wasn’t packed, we were supposed to be leaving the next day, we had no nursery, nothing in our house in Durham was ready, it was already 8pm, and I was now supposed to get in the car and head 3.5 hours to Durham?

We went back to Jay’s apartment and “quickly” gathered some necessities. I already had a hospital bag packed, so I grabbed that, along with my breast pump, the pillow I slept with (sleeping while pregnant is the least comfortable thing ever), and other little last minute things (phone chargers, etc.). We ended up leaving Columbia around 10pm. 

If any of y’all have ever driven from Columbia to Durham, you know the drive is NOT fun. Right around Charlotte, there is a TON of construction. We didn’t know this until that drive, but they close one of the lanes on the two lane highway at night for the construction. We didn’t get to Duke Hospital until 3am. Jay and I were exhausted. I got to sleep a little on the hospital bed though, while poor, sweet Jay had to sit in a tiny little chair. The doctor and nurses did a lot of tests, and told me that there was no trace of protein in my urine, which mean I did not yet have preeclampsia. That didn’t mean that I wouldn’t develop it. So they made me an appointment with my office later that week. 

We spent the next couple of days getting the new house as perfect as we could before Hollings arrived. I, being 36 weeks pregnant, was not much help. Luckily, we had a whole army of helpers who moved stuff for us and helped us settle in. At my next doctors appointment, my doctor told me that I still didn’t have preeclampsia, but that since I was about to be full-term (pregnancy is typically 40 weeks, but full-term is 37 weeks) they were going to go ahead and schedule an induction for July 26th. When I heard her say that, my stomach did so many flips. I was going to have a baby in just a week’s time. I was so excited, but so so nervous. 

When July 26th quickly rolled around, I was HUGE. I’m not just talking about my stomach. With my high blood pressure came an obscene amount of water retention. I had gained so much water weight that I looked seriously deformed. No lie, my darling little sister literally pointed and laughed at me when she came for the delivery. AND it HURT! I needed to get that baby out of me ASAP.

My family (mom, dad, brother and sister) along with Jay’s whole family (literally – both sets of grandparents, every uncle, aunt, cousin, etc.) came for the delivery. When I checked into my hospital room and saw my hospital gown on the bed, my stomach got butterflies again. I all of the sudden didn’t at all feel ready. I think I imagined the whole labor thing going way faster than it did.

They had me change into the hospital gown, hooked me up to an IV, and gave me the medicine to induce my labor. I got there at 5pm on July 26th, and I don’t think anything happened for the first 10 hours. Keep in mind, when you’re induced, you can’t eat anything. You can drink clear liquids, and that’s it. Around 3am, I started to feel some contractions. I went into labor knowing that I wanted an epidural. I have an extremely low pain tolerance and would not have been able to do it without one. Around 3am, I was 3cm dilated. For those of you who don’t know anything about labor (don’t worry, I didn’t either before I had a baby), you start pushing when you’re 10cm dilated. My nurses kept telling me that it was never too early to ask for an epidural. You can imagine my disappointment when I asked them for an epidural at 3am and they told me it was too early.

So I endured what I thought were terrible contractions for another few hours. When I was 5cm dilated, I asked again for an epidural. This time they gave it to me. It was very odd getting it done. For those of you who don’t know how epidurals work, they snake a needle down your spine and administer the medicine that way 🙂 and then once you’re numb “down there,” they give you a catheter 🙂 🙂 Once this happens, you can’t leave the bed. This is why some women wait a while before getting one. They don’t want to get antsy. I did not have that problem. 

You guys. If you are on the fence about whether or not to get an epidural, GET THE EPIDURAL. It made my labor so much more relaxing. I actually slept during a tone of it, and hardly felt any pain. Another reason why some women wait to get the epidural is because sometimes it slows down labor. It did the opposite for me. I started to dilate faster. 

It was around 6pm on July 27th (yep, 25 hours later) that I started to feel a ton of pressure “down there.” It was painful pressure, too. I told the nurse that I was feeling the pain, and she offered to up my epidural medicine. I knew that wasn’t what needed to happen. I needed to be checked. ASAP. I asked her to please have the doctor check me. She was hesitant, because it hadn’t been that long since the doctor last checked me, but she did go get the doctor. The doctor checked and said, “No wonder you’re feeling pressure. You’re at 10cm. It’s time to push.” Even after being in labor for 26 hours already, I was terrified when she said those words. 

It was go time. Jay grabbed one leg, my nurse grabbed the other, and the doctor was right there in front of my “you know what.” Oh, to make it more fun, guess who else was in the room. My mom and 17 year old sister were sitting behind the doctor. My DAD was in the corner crying. My 20 year old BROTHER was also in the corner going on and on about how he didn’t feel comfortable and how he wanted to leave, but the only way to the door was to walk right in front of me, and neither of us wanted that to happen. I didn’t plan for my dad and brother to be in the room, it just happened, okay?

I started pushing, and could feel the pressure increasing. The baby was coming. My sister yelled, “OMG I see an eye!!!” I immediately freaked out. “What?!?” The doctor said, “You don’t see an eye. Babies don’t come out eyes first.” That’s when I told Cece she wasn’t allowed to talk anymore. 

I kept pushing for 45 minutes. I know this seems like a long time to push, but it honestly flew by. Some women push for HOURS. Jay kept counting to 10 like he learned in our birthing class, and I kept taking deep breaths. When Hollings head started to come out, Jay’s voice cracked, and he started to cry a little, but he kept counting. Once the head came out, the doctor told me I still had to push the rest of her body out. The thought of that hurt me. Luckily, once one shoulder comes out, the doctor kind of pulls the rest of the baby out. Guys, I’m going to be honest with you. It really wasn’t that bad. If you get an epidural, it’s painful, but totally manageable. I even had a tear and had to get stitches afterwards, but because of the pain meds, I really hardly felt it. Your whole area down there is numb. 

Women always tell you that you don’t know love until you have a baby. I am not exaggerating when I say as soon as I saw Hollings I thought, “Oh, well she’s only THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING I’VE EVER SEEN!” I seriously get chills thinking about the first time I held her. After about 2 minutes of holding her, I turned to Jay and said, “We’re definitely doing this again!”