Family and Friends

Meet Our Mom: Kara L

Meet Kara L

The following is a first-person account of a real family's labor and delivery experience at AdventHealth for Women.

I had the most amazing birth experience at The Baby Place at AdventHealth Orlando. My water broke at 2:58am in the morning on 1/8/22, and my plan was to labor at home for as long as I could with my wife beside me as my support person. We made our way to the hospital at 5:25am when my contractions were 3 minutes apart. I entered triage and stayed there until 6:30am at this time I was dilated 3cm with my water ruptured. After getting ahold of my provider I finally made it to labor and delivery around 6:40am.

While contractions were getting more intense and painful, I went to use the bathroom and was able to use the handicap bar to my advantage. I gripped the bar and pushed through one of the most intense contractions yet. I knew I could do it and I kept telling myself "I can do anything. My body was made for this."

I called my wife after the contraction was over, as she and my daughter had not made it to the room yet. At this point I felt defeated and in so much pain. I told her I needed the epidural if I was only 3cm. It was so hard to keep going. I even asked the nurse for the epidural. After I was finished, I went back to the bed and my nurse began hooking me up to my monitors. This is when began feeling a burning sensation down below. I let my nurse know and she said to the other nurse in the room "this can't be the real thing she was just dilated 3 downstairs 15 minutes ago”. The nurses checked me and my son was fully crowned.

This meant there was no time for an epidural! At 7:01am my son was born without intervention, medication, epidural, rips, tears or even stitches. The 2 nurses in the room helped me catch my son as he made his way into the world with one final big push. The nurses were amazing both in labor and delivery and the mother infant floor (Amber specifically). I am so grateful for my experience with the The Baby Place at AdventHealth Orlando, and I am blessed to have my son’s birth go as I wanted, completely natural, without complications and with God on our side.