Little Man's Almost Natural Birth Story
The last four weeks of pregnancy with the second child was vastly different than with the first. The first time around, I had literally no pre-labor symptoms. The second time around I would have bet a large amount of money that he was coming early, like four weeks early. I started having more consistent Braxton Hicks contractions with a few "real" contractions, technically called false labor I believe, at 36 weeks. I was actually hoping he would come early because I really did not want to make the decision to induce if I went over my due date and I felt like he was big so I was a little concerned about a c-section. Although all I cared about was a safe delivery and healthy baby.
Each week, the BH contractions got stronger, there was more pressure and the false labor contractions became more consistent. I was definitely in early labor, but each week, I was still only 1 cm. At 39 weeks, the week of Christmas, I was in the hospital twice with false labor issues. On Monday, I thought my water had broke with just a small leak, but several tests later and an ultrasound to verify that there was enough fluid for the baby revealed my water had not broken. Part of me wished it had broken because then it would be set, the baby would have to come out within 24 hours, but I also did not want him to come sooner than when he was ready. I had come across a verse that week on my Bible app, "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction and faithful in prayer" Romans 12:12. I repeated these words over and over this week. I was actually VERY ready to have this baby at this time because I just KNEW he was bigger than my daughter. There was no room left. I could barely sit normally in a chair because he was so low. He was a mover though. I loved feeling his kicks and letting me know he was still OK.
We had gone to Christmas Eve service on Tuesday night. There was a song sang that brought me to tears. It was "Lord I Need You" by Matt Maher. I had this fear that I would have to decide to induce since my due date was December 28th, quickly approaching. I was torn between letting things happen on their own or making the decision to induce so in case he might grow to be too big to deliver and need a c-section. Hearing the words really helped me to let go of my worries and just focus on getting rest and being with my family. On Wednesday, Christmas Day, we stayed at home all day and had a great time with just the three of us. I was starting to feel very fatigued with the lack of sleep of I was getting at night and the contractions that was getting more consistent. That afternoon, I had the strongest contractions and they were about 12-15 minutes apart for 1-1.5 hours. That night, I barely slept due to the contractions and period-like cramps. The cramps were almost as bad as the contractions I had been having up to this point.
The contractions and cramping continued on Thursday and Friday on along with some other "labor is near" symptoms that is just too TMI to share. :) I decided to go in for a cervix check on Friday. I just knew I had dilated more with everything that had been happening. To my disbelief, I was still only 1 cm. I had a mini-emotional meltdown. This was such a roller coaster ride for me, being tired and uncomfortable and the thought of getting my daughter to where she needed to be on short notice (we had several different plans for if it happened at night, during the day, on a weekend, etc) and all of the hormonal swings that goes along with pregnancy. The nurse told me I was most likely in pre-labor and everything I Googled said the same and that most women had their babies within four to seven days of the start of the symptoms. Christmas Day was when things started happening for me so on Saturday, my due date, I thought to myself.....one to three more days, I can do it. My husband was amazing. He took our daughter on daddy/daughter fun Saturday morning to let me rest. Sunday, I tried to sleep most of the day too since I had been up most of the night.
Thankfully, Sunday night at 9:30, my water broke! I was so relieved. Words cannot describe how relieved I was and I felt so grateful that God answered my prayers and I did not have to make a decision to induce. Looking back, I don't think I realized how much my faith was growing at the time. I can see now just how much I relied on God and honestly let go of what I wanted. In the end, the results were the same, a healthy baby and safe delivery - although things took off quickly, they slowed near the end.
I did not start having contractions right away, little did I know I have half way dilated though. We started gathering our bags and I got out all of my notes for taking care of Baby Girl and the dog; there may have been five or six pages, just saying. Since it happened early enough in the night, but after Baby Girl had gone to sleep we went with the plan to have our neighbor come over to listen to the monitor until my mother in-law got to our house, who lived four hours away. Our neighbors are amazing by the way and truly part of our family!! They are part of our church group and have two kiddos around the same age as our two. The plan was for the dad to come over since the mom was still nursing their infant. That particular night our neighbors had company watching the game, another church group dad. So, both of them came to the house and finished watching the game and listened to the monitor while we went to the hospital. I thought it was so funny, but we were so grateful to have friends to take time away from their families to help us out. I wanted as little disruption to Baby Girl's schedule as possible. It worked out perfectly. My mother in-law got to our house around 1 am and Baby Girl woke up to her Maw-Maw. My mom made it up later that morning and she got to spend quality time with her awesome grandmas.
Since I was so hungry the first time, my husband made me scarf down some Sonic on the way to the hospital. Probably not the best idea. LOL! We got to the hospital around 10:30 pm and had an amazing nurse. And best of all, I was dilated to five whole cm!!! I could not believe it. Contractions were slow to get started but I used the birthing ball and walked which really helped things get going. Sometime around 1 am or so, I was around 7 cm. After this, the contractions were more regular, but very manageable. I had so many false labor contractions that these didn't seem that much worse. I had been practicing relaxing and felt like that really helped. It was probably 3 am when I was nine cm. I almost could not believe it. I really thought I was going to get through this delivery without pitocin. But a little over nine cm, I stalled out.
That is right, I was PAST nine cm and I stopped dilating. The doctor thought just a touch of pitocin was all I needed to get to 10 cm and then at least I would not be so tired to push. The contractions were hard, but still manageable and I felt like I could handle the pitocin for a short period. Well, almost three hours later and there was still just enough cervix left that they would not let me push. This was the longest two and half to three hours. I could not have IV pain meds because he could come any minute and then he would most likely have to be given medication to breathe due to my pain meds. Probably the last hour, I was laboring standing up holding on to the nurse or my husband. It was intense! The nurse was also a little worried about me delivering the baby on the floor because I was so close. There was a ton of praying going on at this point and again my husband was amazing!! He was so supportive and encouraging and strong.
The nurses switched at 7 am and I was really sad to see her go. But, the new nurse came in and checked me again. I was so close that she just "helped" things along. I remember her pushing the call button to call for a doctor and said "as soon as she is at 10 cm this baby is going to fly out". I will never forget those words. There were about two to three doctors and multiple nurses running in and out trying to get things ready. Next thing I know I was ready to push. I had a "practice" push and then two real pushes and he was out. The nurse told me that from the time I was 10 cm to the time that he was out was literally TWO minutes. It was insane! My regular OB walked into the room immediately after he was out. They told her I was close, but she didn't get up the stairs in time. He came out wide-eyed and just as alert as his sister and I just kept repeating to him "I"m so glad you're here".
He was 8 pounds 9 ounces, a full pound heavier than my daughter. He had meconium and so the NICU nurses were in the room, just in case. I did not get to hold him right away because of that and also because he was not keeping his temperature very well. He had to stay under the warmer for a bit, but not for too long thankfully. I was able to hold him and he started nursing right away. It was 7:30 am and even though we were tired, we were so grateful that it had been a much shorter labor and that he was finally here, safe and healthy.
Each week, the BH contractions got stronger, there was more pressure and the false labor contractions became more consistent. I was definitely in early labor, but each week, I was still only 1 cm. At 39 weeks, the week of Christmas, I was in the hospital twice with false labor issues. On Monday, I thought my water had broke with just a small leak, but several tests later and an ultrasound to verify that there was enough fluid for the baby revealed my water had not broken. Part of me wished it had broken because then it would be set, the baby would have to come out within 24 hours, but I also did not want him to come sooner than when he was ready. I had come across a verse that week on my Bible app, "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction and faithful in prayer" Romans 12:12. I repeated these words over and over this week. I was actually VERY ready to have this baby at this time because I just KNEW he was bigger than my daughter. There was no room left. I could barely sit normally in a chair because he was so low. He was a mover though. I loved feeling his kicks and letting me know he was still OK.
We had gone to Christmas Eve service on Tuesday night. There was a song sang that brought me to tears. It was "Lord I Need You" by Matt Maher. I had this fear that I would have to decide to induce since my due date was December 28th, quickly approaching. I was torn between letting things happen on their own or making the decision to induce so in case he might grow to be too big to deliver and need a c-section. Hearing the words really helped me to let go of my worries and just focus on getting rest and being with my family. On Wednesday, Christmas Day, we stayed at home all day and had a great time with just the three of us. I was starting to feel very fatigued with the lack of sleep of I was getting at night and the contractions that was getting more consistent. That afternoon, I had the strongest contractions and they were about 12-15 minutes apart for 1-1.5 hours. That night, I barely slept due to the contractions and period-like cramps. The cramps were almost as bad as the contractions I had been having up to this point.
The contractions and cramping continued on Thursday and Friday on along with some other "labor is near" symptoms that is just too TMI to share. :) I decided to go in for a cervix check on Friday. I just knew I had dilated more with everything that had been happening. To my disbelief, I was still only 1 cm. I had a mini-emotional meltdown. This was such a roller coaster ride for me, being tired and uncomfortable and the thought of getting my daughter to where she needed to be on short notice (we had several different plans for if it happened at night, during the day, on a weekend, etc) and all of the hormonal swings that goes along with pregnancy. The nurse told me I was most likely in pre-labor and everything I Googled said the same and that most women had their babies within four to seven days of the start of the symptoms. Christmas Day was when things started happening for me so on Saturday, my due date, I thought to myself.....one to three more days, I can do it. My husband was amazing. He took our daughter on daddy/daughter fun Saturday morning to let me rest. Sunday, I tried to sleep most of the day too since I had been up most of the night.
Thankfully, Sunday night at 9:30, my water broke! I was so relieved. Words cannot describe how relieved I was and I felt so grateful that God answered my prayers and I did not have to make a decision to induce. Looking back, I don't think I realized how much my faith was growing at the time. I can see now just how much I relied on God and honestly let go of what I wanted. In the end, the results were the same, a healthy baby and safe delivery - although things took off quickly, they slowed near the end.
I did not start having contractions right away, little did I know I have half way dilated though. We started gathering our bags and I got out all of my notes for taking care of Baby Girl and the dog; there may have been five or six pages, just saying. Since it happened early enough in the night, but after Baby Girl had gone to sleep we went with the plan to have our neighbor come over to listen to the monitor until my mother in-law got to our house, who lived four hours away. Our neighbors are amazing by the way and truly part of our family!! They are part of our church group and have two kiddos around the same age as our two. The plan was for the dad to come over since the mom was still nursing their infant. That particular night our neighbors had company watching the game, another church group dad. So, both of them came to the house and finished watching the game and listened to the monitor while we went to the hospital. I thought it was so funny, but we were so grateful to have friends to take time away from their families to help us out. I wanted as little disruption to Baby Girl's schedule as possible. It worked out perfectly. My mother in-law got to our house around 1 am and Baby Girl woke up to her Maw-Maw. My mom made it up later that morning and she got to spend quality time with her awesome grandmas.
Since I was so hungry the first time, my husband made me scarf down some Sonic on the way to the hospital. Probably not the best idea. LOL! We got to the hospital around 10:30 pm and had an amazing nurse. And best of all, I was dilated to five whole cm!!! I could not believe it. Contractions were slow to get started but I used the birthing ball and walked which really helped things get going. Sometime around 1 am or so, I was around 7 cm. After this, the contractions were more regular, but very manageable. I had so many false labor contractions that these didn't seem that much worse. I had been practicing relaxing and felt like that really helped. It was probably 3 am when I was nine cm. I almost could not believe it. I really thought I was going to get through this delivery without pitocin. But a little over nine cm, I stalled out.
That is right, I was PAST nine cm and I stopped dilating. The doctor thought just a touch of pitocin was all I needed to get to 10 cm and then at least I would not be so tired to push. The contractions were hard, but still manageable and I felt like I could handle the pitocin for a short period. Well, almost three hours later and there was still just enough cervix left that they would not let me push. This was the longest two and half to three hours. I could not have IV pain meds because he could come any minute and then he would most likely have to be given medication to breathe due to my pain meds. Probably the last hour, I was laboring standing up holding on to the nurse or my husband. It was intense! The nurse was also a little worried about me delivering the baby on the floor because I was so close. There was a ton of praying going on at this point and again my husband was amazing!! He was so supportive and encouraging and strong.
The nurses switched at 7 am and I was really sad to see her go. But, the new nurse came in and checked me again. I was so close that she just "helped" things along. I remember her pushing the call button to call for a doctor and said "as soon as she is at 10 cm this baby is going to fly out". I will never forget those words. There were about two to three doctors and multiple nurses running in and out trying to get things ready. Next thing I know I was ready to push. I had a "practice" push and then two real pushes and he was out. The nurse told me that from the time I was 10 cm to the time that he was out was literally TWO minutes. It was insane! My regular OB walked into the room immediately after he was out. They told her I was close, but she didn't get up the stairs in time. He came out wide-eyed and just as alert as his sister and I just kept repeating to him "I"m so glad you're here".
He was 8 pounds 9 ounces, a full pound heavier than my daughter. He had meconium and so the NICU nurses were in the room, just in case. I did not get to hold him right away because of that and also because he was not keeping his temperature very well. He had to stay under the warmer for a bit, but not for too long thankfully. I was able to hold him and he started nursing right away. It was 7:30 am and even though we were tired, we were so grateful that it had been a much shorter labor and that he was finally here, safe and healthy.