@GarrethGrey07 26 March 2022 edited more from that month

"The story behind: My journey into Motherhood" So basically, every mom that I know from this precious platform had already shared their different stories about their pregnancies and the journey of their giving birth. I was actually amazed of how everyone described their journey until they finally heard the first cry of their little one. Some had an easy experience as they don't feel too much pain when they are about to give birth and some don't even have cravings and morning sickness which is actually a very common signs to determine if a woman is pregnant. However most of the stories that I have read, most likely their journey is quite similar to each other, that somehow I can literally relate. So now, allow me to tell you my story. My story is not actually different from their story, but just let me share it to you 😅. Basically everything started last March 13, 2020.

I'm already 32 years old at this time, and it's my first ever pregnancy 😁. Actually last February 26, 2020 my partner and I are already suspecting that I'm already pregnant but we're still not sure about it so we didn't expect too much. Even though we weren't sure yet, my partner keeps on telling me not to take any kind of medicine, even paracetamol that I usually take whenever I have migraine, just in case. I was in my province that time, when I got sick. My mom keeps on telling me to take medicine but I always refused. Since my mom now that I usually drink medicine whenever I got sick, she got curious that all of a sudden I refuse to drink medicine. She then suddenly ask me if I'm already pregnant, but because I am not sure yet, I said no. While I am having my vacation in our province, I really do enjoy my time with my family. But I don't know why I become sensitive. I even cry for a little reason. Some says, mood swings is also part of pregnancy but I can't tell. I found out that I'm already pregnant when I return here in cavite. I was already 8 days delayed when I decided to buy a pregnancy test and I was out of words when I saw that my PT was positive. I even send that photo to my best friend just to make sure if I'm really pregnant. When she told me that I was pregnant, I was speechless. Mixed emotions felt but I'm happy. Anyway, I will ask your permission to allow me to reverse the questions from this prompt. I wish I got your permission😁. Let's start with my cravings. While I am in our province, I suddenly crave for balut. Honestly I don't really like this food, I don't like the feeling of eating chick lol. Anyway for those who don't know what is balut, I attached photo for you to see.

It's actually an incubated almost hatch duck eggs and surely it was boiled first before you can eat it. This kind of food is very popular here in the Philippines and they says it has a lot of nutrients. But this is prohibited for a person that has a high blood pressure. When I come back here in cavite I crave for my favourite fruit which is mango and I was really lucky because my partner's friend give me one bucket of unripe mangoes for free and it was fresh from their yard. My cravings was really satisfied.

Imagine in just two days I finish the whole bucket of mangoes😂. My partner and his parents was really shocked , as they knew how sour the mangoes but I finish them all🤣. Well it was because I didn't eat anything but only mango, from morning 'til night😂 and because of it my acidity rose🤣😂. My third craving was barbecue chicken thighs 🤤.

I really really love the smell of it, and every time that I remember the smell, my mouth is watering. And so I go to the market to bought some chicken thighs and when I got home I immediately marinated it and after one hour I'm already outside the apartment, making barbecue 😂😂😂. But because my partner keeps on frightening me that if I eat the barbecue my child's skin will turned out charcoal🤦 and so I didn't eat it as I got worried. But honestly I always make barbecue everyday, just to get satisfied even by it's smell🤣😂and it was them who's eating it. Poor me😂. I really hate my partner that time and so maybe that's the reason why our son looks like him🤣. Morning sickness Nope! I didn't experience any morning sickness, I just don't want to eat rice😂. In three months I only eat fruits. Luckily I have enough money to sustain all my cravings. Gender of the baby He's a boy. The first person who learned that my baby is a boy was the midwife. My mother-in-law bring me that local midwife ( i mean local, unregistered midwife) to help me massage my stomach and while she's gently massaging my stomach she keeps on talking to me, then she asked me if I already knew my baby's gender and when I told her that I still don't know as when I had my ultrasound they still can't see the gender of my baby. Then she told me that my baby is a boy which is right. Due date Since it was my first pregnancy, and according to my ultrasound my due date was supposedly first or second week of November, which means I can possibly give birth to my son on fifth or tenth of that month. Hours of labor Well, i think this is the difference above all the story that I had already read😅. If you could still remember from my previous article entitled Pre-term Labor I have mentioned from here, that I started to feel labor cramps as early as 5:30 a.m of November 05,2020. Which means I had **59 hours** of labor pain until he finally comes out. They says, if water comes first the pain isn't that painful, but if it's blood, then you'll literally suffer from pain, and that's what happen to me😅. Father in the room? Nope! When I'm still inside the Emergency room, he was with me all the time, but because he still have worked the next day my mother-in-law and I asked him to go home so he can have some rest. He actually don't want to go but because of the pandemic, only one guardian is allowed and that I choose his mom to stay with me😂. It's not that I don't want to be with him, but I'm more comfortable if I'm with his mom. I felt safe 😁. So he went home by 11 p.m and I give birth at around 1:14 a.m. Normal delivery/ CS? I successfully delivered him via Normal Delivery. Honestly I really thought that the ob-gyne will order me to deliver my son via CS(Cesarian) as my cervix isn't fully open yet. From morning 'til night of monitoring my cervix was just 4 cm, and they can't even tell if I'm gonna make it and so they started to ask me if I'm okay to have CS but I always said no. I've been suffering from pain for over 48 hour's and I started to feel week but I don't want a CS, I want a normal delivery. In 48 hour's I didn't eat anything as all I feel was pain. I started to talk to my son, begging him to help me. And I can notice that every time I talked to him my cramps stops. Seems like he was listening to me. But he is a little bit stubborn as he really didn't give us any signs that his ready to go outside from my womb 😅. Since I can't handle the pain anymore, I really beg the nurse to bring me to the delivery room as I really in pain. The nurse actually got annoyed by me as according to her I was the first pregnant who never waits🤣. She then asked for a wheelchair and ask me to set as she will be transferring me to the delivery room. While we were in our way, she keeps on telling me to cry harder so the doctor will allow me to go inside the delivery room, because according to her, the doctor won't allow me if my water bag haven't broke yet. But instead of listening to her I keep on asking her to slow down and wait for my mother-in-law as I can't see her anymore. And then she gets annoyed again 😂🤣. She started scolding me, because she was literally annoyed as I still keep on thinking about my mother-in-law, although I've been wanting to give birth already. lol😅😂😂🤣. Well I'm just considerate 😂. Weight My son was **2800 pounds** when he come out. Birthdate My son was born on November 07,2020 at around 1:14 a.m. Baby's Name **Garreth Grey** . Actually his name must be spelled as Garreth Grae but I forgot to mention that to my partner and so when he registered our son in the municipality for his live birth, he uses Grey instead of Grae. But it's fine his name still beautiful 😁. So I think, you already have a clue why my user name was GarrethGrey07 🤣😂. Place of birth **Trece Martires Cavite** I give birth in GEAMH, it's a public hospital in Trece Martires. Actually I was planning to give birth in lying in. For me since it was near from our area, it is more convenient specially it's pandemic. But the ob-gyne refer me to the hospital as my blood pressure rose. She don't wanna put me in risk, specially my son. Luckily I also have records in GEAMH, so I'd got no problem. In GEAMH they won't accept you if you don't have any record from them, the same in lying in. And so when I'm still pregnant, I always visit two ob-gynes at a time, so I can have records in lying in and at the same time in the Hospital.

This is Garreth after 12 hours 😁. He had scratch on his face from his own nails🤦. He actually looks like his uncle (my brother) this time, but now he's looks change. He now looks like his papa. And so that was my journey and I guess I will close this prompt from here, as I think most of my friends that was already a mom has already been tagged 😅. Anyway Thank you for your time 😘 . Lead image source from my gallery.