Jill Dillard's 70-hour delivery ended with an unexpected Caesarean section, the reality star revealed in the newest issue of PEOPLE.
While Jill and her husband, Derick, planned to have a natural home birth for their son, fetal distress led to them going to a hospital and undergoing surgery.
Jill's marathon labour began in the early hours of April 4, and she remained prayerful through hours of contractions.
"I had been praying for contractions, and when contractions did start, God made me grateful for those contractions," she said.
"When they came, even though they were really intense, I was crying, but I was saying, 'Thank you for this contraction, God, this is what I prayed for, thank you for this.'"
Derick supported his wife by performing hip squeezes and telling her to get through one contraction at a time. After hours of pushing, however, Israel defecated in the womb. Fearing that the fetus was in distress, Jill's doctor suggested she have a C-section.
"We told the doctor, 'Stitch me up really well,'" Jill recounted.
Israel was born at 11:49pm on April 6, and weighed 9 lbs and 10 ounces. The baby has been called "NFL-ready" because of his size and 23-inch length.
While the 23-year-old hopes to have a natural delivery in the future, Derick said there is nothing wrong with giving birth via C-section.
"She had laboured for so long," he told PEOPLE. "There's no shame in that, there's no shame in not progressing, there's no shame in getting a C-section."
Jill's mother, Michelle, delivered 13 children naturally and had four C-sections, including two sets of twins. Her youngest child, Josie, was born via emergency C-section after Michelle was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia.
