This is peak girlhood 🥹 My friends cooked the most delicious brunch and then all came over and deep cleaned my house while I got a massage 🥲 How did I get so lucky?
My mom has all grandsons and I figured it was time she has a baby named after her 🤍 There’s no better person for him to look up to than his Gigi. Louie Jean Castellano ✨
Louie’s Birth Vlog ✨ For the third time, I had prodromal labor, and with this pregnancy, it started at 36 weeks. The last few weeks were physically and mentally exhausting—I was barely sleeping and just felt completely drained. By my 38.5-week appointment, I was so ready to be done. When they checked me, I was at 2 cm, 60% effaced, and his head was very low. My OB stripped my membranes, but it didn’t jumpstart labor. As the days went on, I felt worse and worse, so I scheduled an induction for later that week. The day before my induction, I woke up feeling super anxious. I was in so much pain, but I also didn’t want to rush things if Louie wasn’t ready. I got a last-minute appointment with a different OB, and when she checked me, I was at 3 cm, and his head was even lower. She stripped my membranes again around 6 PM, and as soon as I left, I did all the things to try and get labor going. At 10 PM, I laid down to sleep, but my contractions were getting stronger and more consistent. After an hour of trying to sleep through them (and failing), I got up and realized I could barely walk. We grabbed our bags and made the hour-long drive to the hospital, with contractions intensifying the whole way. When we arrived at midnight, they checked me, and I was at a 4, so they admitted me. I labored for a couple of hours before getting the epidural, which helped, but then the adrenaline shakes kicked in, and I still couldn’t sleep. At 4 AM, they checked me again—I had progressed to a 7, but Louie’s heart rate started dipping. As he moved lower, the cord wrapped around his neck, which cause irregular an irregular heart rate during contractions. The nurses had me switch positions constantly until we found one that put less stress on him. By 6 AM, my best friend @britwkent arrived to be there for the birth and take some videos. I wasn’t progressing any further, so they called the OB in to break my water. But just as she was about to do it, my water broke on its own—splashing her and all the nurses hahah Right after that, everything happened fast. I was fully dilated, and it was time to push. Twenty minutes later, little Louie made his way into the world ✨—