Mila Shai’s Birth Story

Mila is officially one month old today. A month! I can’t believe how fast time has already flown by. She has already changed so much and is getting cuter and chunkier (I could squish her little rolls all day!) by the second.

I decided I would share her birth story on here. I am doing this more because I want to be able to look back on this to remember every detail (I truly have the worst memory), but also to share with you one of the best days of my life. Just a heads up it is pretty long and very detailed! Here’s how it all went down…

You are more than we ever expected and better than we ever imagined.”

On Wednesday, October 18th I was two days past my due date. I was scheduled to be induced the following week and really didn’t want to be. I wanted the baby to come on her own and I knew I was going to do everything I could to make that happen. I was still feeling pretty good so Ita and I decided to head downtown with Leo to grab something to eat and take Leo to the park. We enjoyed some tacos (with lots of spicy salsa), walked around Klyde Warren Park and I even convinced Ita to go to Ruibal’s to buy some pumpkins (their selection is amazing).

Later that evening I started to have contractions. I didn’t realize it right away, but they were definitely contractions. I had experienced Braxton Hicks quite a bit throughout my third trimester but these felt different and were about ten minutes apart. When I told Ita around 8pm that I thought I was having contractions, he immediately got really excited (like could not control himself) and kept saying, “the baby is coming today?!”. I told him how I’ve read how common it is to have contractions for a while and then they go away and that he shouldn’t get excited because it’ll probably be a couple of more days before I was in actual labor. *spoiler alert: I was very wrong…

I continued to have contractions anywhere from 7-9 minutes apart the next several hours (I used the Labor Signs app my sister-in-law recommended to time them) and they were starting to get more and more painful. At about 2:00 in the morning while I was laying in bed I felt and heard a “pop” in my stomach. As I sat up I quickly realized my water had broken. I honestly was in shock because my doctor had told me only a small percentage of women’s water breaks on its own (it’s not like the movies, guys) so I kind of mentally prepared for that not happening. Clearly I was wrong again… Ita had been sound asleep for the last couple of hours but as soon as I sat up and began to say, “I think my water…”, he jumped out of bed and was immediately grabbing my bag and saying “the baby is coming! The baby is coming today!”. While we probably should have gone straight to the hospital, I insisted on jumping in the shower to freshen up real quick before we left. Ita was so funny and insisted on cutting his hair and shaving (he wanted to be smooth and look good for the baby!). He was so sweet and made me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich but by the time I got out of the shower I was already in much more intense pain and began feeling extremely nauseous. All of a sudden I felt like I had lost control of my body and was shaking uncontrollably. My contractions went from being about 8 minutes apart to not even 3 minutes apart and were much more severe. As we drove to the hospital (only about 5 minutes from our house), we came up to a red light. The roads were empty (it was the middle of the night) and Ita kept asking me if he should run the red light. It actually brought a little relief to me because I could see how concerned he was to get me to the hospital and it made me smile (I think I was in too much pain to actually laugh!). For the record we did not run any red lights. 🙂

As we pulled up to the hospital we had to stop at the bench outside because I was having a bad contraction. When we finally walked in the doors were LOCKED! We couldn’t believe it so we walked over to the emergency room and they got us checked in. The nurse got me in a wheelchair and tried to make small talk with me. I was having another contraction and could barely answer her. I tried to be polite and answer back but the contractions were just too intense for me to get words out!

Once I got in the room I let the nurses know I would be wanting an epidural. I was told it takes at least an hour before they can give it to you so I wanted to make sure I put it on their radar so there was no downtime! When I got to the hospital I was already dilated to a 4. My contractions were getting stronger and stronger and I genuinely felt like the baby was trying to bust out of there! About an hour or two later I was finally at a point where I could get an epidural. The anesthesiologist strolled in and made a joke about how he was about to head home and how it would have been a while before he could make it back… HAHA REAL FUNNY, MAN (FYI these things are not funny when you’re 8 hours into labor). He administered the epidural and I knew I would be feeling better any minute… right? Unfortunately I was wrong again.

After about 45 minutes I was still in the same amount of pain. When he administered the epidural I was already dilated to a 7 (when you get to 10, you push, so I was very far along already!). The anesthesiologist claimed since I was already so far into labor, the epidural still needed to “catch up”. Not exactly what you want to hear when you’re in that amount of pain but I grit my teeth (literally) and powered through. By this point I was throwing up and it wasn’t stopping. I think the nurse gave me some sort of anti-nausea medicine to make it stop and shortly after the epidural kicked in (thank God!). I was able to halfway fall asleep for 30 minutes or so. Ita was so sweet and held my hands the entire time even though I know he wanted to fall asleep as well. At one point the nurses had to come in and move my body to another position because the umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck and her heart rate was dropping. I was so out of it I didn’t quite realize what was happening but am so grateful for the nurses that were monitoring her.

I woke up because I started to feel the contractions again (awesome, right). I had a new nurse at this point and I told her I wanted to press the button for more epidural. She told me no because I was dilated to a 10 and may need to push soon. I told her I was feeling everything and reallllly would like to have a little bit more epidural (the pain started to get worse and worse again). She was not having it and we went back and forth for a while until after 20 minutes she finally pressed the button (she was not going to win that battle). She told me although I was at a 10 that I needed to “labor down” and that it still might be a while before I push (thank goodness I got more of the epidural!). Well once again the epidural wasn’t helping so the anesthesiologist actually had to come back. I’m not sure what exactly happened but I think he shot more in there himself. Not long after I realize my right leg is completely numb. I’m able to move my left leg, but the right one is basically lifeless. I quickly realized the epidural seemed to mainly go to my leg instead of other more important areas!

Before I knew it a team of nurses were coming in along with my doctor to start pushing! I think it is around 8:30 in the morning at this point. They had me do 3 big pushes every time I had a contraction and I would rest in between. My contractions were 1-2 minutes apart so I was pushing about every minute or so. My right leg was still numb so Ita had to help hold it up every time I pushed and then he would put the oxygen mask on me after (the first couple of times he put it on upside down which was kind of funny/sweet how nervous he was!).

I was surprisingly calm throughout the pushing and throughout most of my labor. I wasn’t yelling or cussing like I thought I might be… especially with all of the nurses, the doctor and Ita yelling at me to “PUSH! PUSH! PUSHHHHH!”. I was very, very focused. I can’t explain how much of an out-of-body experience the whole night and day was.

When you’re at the point of pushing they pull this giant light from the wall to shine down there (the doctor’s got to see what she’s doing!). The cord from the light was all twisted and at the top near the ceiling and was in the shape of a little heart. For whatever reason I kept focusing on it in the midst of all the chaos and it brought me a sense of calm.  After 30-45 minutes they kept telling me she was almost out and that I just needed one more big push. Honestly I didn’t believe them. I thought they were playing mind games with me in order to get me to push harder (that may be stupid but it’s really what I thought!). After them saying that a few times the doctor told me her head was so close to coming out and she had me feel it which was such a surreal feeling (sorry if that’s TMI!). After another big push she still wasn’t out and I exhaustedly said, “that darn big head of hers won’t come out!” (if you’ve been following my pregnancy you know her head was measuring bigger than the rest of her body and my family is known for having large heads!). This made everyone laugh and also brought me a moment of relief as well. The doctor ended up having to perform an episiotomy on me to get her out (ouch) and after a few more pushes she was here!

I can’t explain the overwhelming flood of emotions I felt when she came out and was placed on my chest. This life I was carrying inside of me the last nine months was all of a sudden here in the flesh and so perfect. Ita was overwhelmed as well and couldn’t stop crying. He couldn’t even cut the umbilical cord he was so emotional! It was the sweetest thing. Once they cleaned her up and I was able to hold her on my chest for skin to skin, the most amazing thing happened. She was so alert and her eyes were so big. Ita started to talk and she literally turned her head back towards him and locked eyes with him. It was like she knew his voice so well already. I knew at this point she was going to be a daddy’s girl…

Mila Shai Keinan was born at 10:12am on Thursday, October 19th. She weighed 7lbs. 4 ounces, was 18.5 inches long and came out with a full head of dark hair and deep blue eyes. She changed our lives for the better and every day with her has been a gift. I can’t express how happy we are and how much we’re enjoying this new chapter of life with her. We are beyond grateful and cherishing every moment. 

Thank you for reading and for all of you that followed along throughout my pregnancy! Your love and support has meant so much!

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