I can hardly believe that, as I’m sitting down to write this, my baby girl is almost 12 weeks old (on Monday), and it is officially 2026. I honestly don’t know where the time has gone! I used to think time moved quickly, but motherhood has given that a completely new meaning. When I scroll back through photos of Dottie from her first week of life, it makes me teary-eyed! I feel simultaneously sad for the passage of time and how quickly she is changing, and excited for all the fun to come as I continue to watch her grow. The motherhood experience (and the mix of emotions that comes with it) is magical and complex and something you can’t fully understand until it’s happening to you.
I read a handful of birth stories ahead of my own birth and always envisioned myself sitting down to write about mine; however, after it happened, I was hesitant to share. Dottie’s birth was extremely uneventful in the best way! While I am beyond grateful to have had that experience, I know that is often not the case, and I have been worried that it wasn’t “worth” sharing. Then, it dawned on me. I read my fair share of birth stories that were full of unexpected twists that made me anxious for delivery, so I’m here to share how birth can be beautifully uneventful too!
I want to preface this by saying that I did not have a “birth plan.” I knew I wanted to get an epidural as soon as the hospital would let me, but otherwise, my plans, expectations, and desires pretty much ended there. I joked with my doctor, pretty much my entire pregnancy, that my “birth plan” was for her to deliver my baby in whatever way she deemed the safest option for both of us. I feel blessed to have had my doctor, who I’ve been seeing for years (even before becoming pregnant), deliver my baby girl into the world.
My labor started on the evening of Sunday, October 19th, while Shane and I were at my parents’ house for dinner. I had been having some on-and-off false labor contractions for about a week or so, so at the time, I was pretty sure that was what this was, too. After dinner, we went home, and I sat on the birthing ball for a couple hours as my contractions started creeping closer together. At around 10pm, they had been about 7 minutes apart for about an hour with no changes, so I decided to call it a night and go to bed. I was completely expecting them to go away by the morning as they had in the past, after all, my due date wasn’t until the end of the week, but I woke up at around 5am and my contractions picked up right where they had left off. This was when I had a feeling it was real! My doctor had told me not to come to the hospital until my contractions were 5 min apart for at least an hour and painful, so I labored at home as long as I possibly could. By 9:30, I had done everything I could think of to distract myself and power through the pain, and I was working on a puzzle with Shane. My contractions had been getting increasingly more painful and were pretty steady at 5 min apart, so at around 9:45, after a particularly painful one that had me doubling over, I gave Shane “the look,” and he quickly grabbed our bags, loaded up the car, and we were off to the hospital!
When we got there, I checked in to triage and they took me back only to find out I was still only 3cm dilated. Womp… They had me wait for about an hour to see how I would progress, and not much changed, other than my pain getting worse, so they called my doctor’s office, and the doctor on call told them to admit me instead of sending me home. I was so grateful! All of a sudden, it hit me, “OMG, I’m having a baby today!” We were wheeled back to our L&D room around 12:00, and my mom met us for what ultimately felt like a long day of sitting around and waiting. They asked me if I was ready for my epidural and told me it could take a while for the anesthesiologist to come, so I had them put my name in line. My nurse, who was an actual angel, advised me to eat something simple before the epidural because I wouldn’t be able to eat after, so my mom got me a grilled cheese, which I devoured.
For me, getting the epidural was one of my least favorite parts of labor. I have had a fear of needles my whole life, so I think that anxiety played a major part since I was pretty tense. Getting the numbing shot really hurt, but as soon as that passed, they put the epidural in, and it was game over. Within about 20 minutes, I couldn’t feel any contractions anymore, and I also couldn’t move the lower half of my body. At this point it was still only around 1:30 in the afternoon. I asked the hospital to call my doctor to let her know I was there, but they said they could only reach the on-call doctor, so I took matters into my own hands and called the office myself. I nicely left a message with one of the nurses asking them to tell my doctor that I was admitted and in labor and when she said “Ok, I will have the dotcor call you back” I said “I don’t need a call back and I dont want to waste anyone’s time I just would really appreciate it if you could make sure she knows.”
At around 2:30 or 3:00, they gave me some Pitocin to move along the labor to no avail, and by 6:30 pm, I was still only 4.5 cm dilated. At this point, they sent someone in to break my water, which I was anxious for, but didn’t feel at all! Then, I kept waiting. At around 7:30, the door to my delivery room opened, and in walked my doctor! I immediately let out the biggest sigh of relief. She checked my charts, told me she was going home to have dinner with her family, and said she would do everything she could to be there for my delivery, then she left. At around 8:30, they came to check my progress. I fully expected her to say I was still only 4.5cm dilated and that I’d have a long night ahead, but to my surprise, it was quite the opposite! My nurse told me that I was 9cm dilated and that we would start pushing in about 30 min.
Within a few minutes, I began experiencing intense shakes, and this is when it all really hit me, and I got scared. I remember just immediately starting to cry, and I kept saying, “I’m scared! I can’t do this!” over and over. I was freaking out. I am so grateful to have had Shane and my mom in the room to help calm me down. I pushed for a little over an hour until my doctor walked in just in the nick of time to deliver. I remember hearing her voice through the blur of it all and immediately feeling a sense of calm. She sat down and coached me through to the end. The pushing experience was so interesting because I had no idea what to expect. I thought it would hurt, which, thanks to the epidural, it didn’t, but it was EXHAUSTING. Holding your breath and pushing with every muscle in your body is no joke! I actually ended up throwing up mid labor from exhaustion and drinking too much water in between contractions. I was just so thirsty! It took about 15 min after she got there for Dottie to make her entrance into the world. On her way out, her cord was wrapped around her neck, but my doctor thankfully jumped into gear and had it fixed in less than 30 seconds snipping the cord for my last round of pushing.
Dorothy “Dottie” Maureen Fox was born on October 20th, 2025 at 10:28pm in Newport Beach, California.
When they placed Dottie on my chest, and she stared into my eyes, I just remember looking up and saying, “How can anyone say there is no God?” It was the most miraculous experience I have ever had. Both Shane’s parents and my dad were in the waiting room the whole time, and after my mom went and met them and Shane and I had our “golden hour” with Dottie, all our parents got to come back to meet her. It was the sweetest, most joyful celebration!
We stayed in the hospital for 2 nights, including the night I delivered, and were discharged to go home on Wednesday morning. I am so grateful to my incredible mom, who watched Dottie for the first 5 nights that we were home to allow me to rest and recover because boy did I need it! I had third-degree tearing, which was really painful, but by the 1-week postpartum mark, I felt a million times better.
The transition since being home has been so smooth, thank God! I attribute this to a couple of factors: 1) I was so uncomfortable and unhappy towards the end of pregnancy that I have just been SO thrilled to finally have my baby in my arms. 2) I made a goal to leave the house, even just for a walk around the block, every day since being home, which has done wonders for my mental health. 3) Dottie has been exclusively formula-fed since birth, which has helped me feel more like myself much faster.
Thank you so much for all the incredibly kind messages you’ve sent my way over the past few months! I have read all of them and am so grateful for all of your support! If any of you are coming up on your own birth, my email (samantha@preptista.com) and DMs are always open for anyone who has questions or wants to know more about anything I shared!
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Third Trimester Pregnancy Check-In & Pregnancy Favorites
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