Baby #2: Shae's Birth Story

I know we never really know what to expect when it comes to labor and delivery, but I assumed mine would be fairly fast from start to finish. You know, baby #2 and all that. Turns out this labor and delivery was SO DIFFERENT from my first. Here it goes...

Why does every day past your "due date" feel like an entire week? We know that labor can easily be 2-3 weeks before or after your "due date". The waiting game is tough. And I was a few days past my "due date" and, although you know it's coming (this can't last forever!) it still feels like it may never come. I was feeling mostly good overall, just impatient at times which also resulted in some irritability. Then, boom, it's 3 am and I feel my water break. Not like gushing break, but like a trickle. Thankfully, I had recently refreshed my brain on what labor and delivery can look like through the Mama Natural Week by Week Guide to Pregnancy and Childbirth a few days prior and knew this was likely to happen. I got up, peed, changed my underwear, grabbed a towel to lay on and went back to bed. I was so thankful we finally got somewhere.

Exactly one hour later, I had my first contraction. Amazing. Here we go. Totally manageable and continued every 15 minutes. Just over an hour later, I fell back asleep until morning. When Quinn woke up, I filled him in. He organized his mom to take Madison since the baby was coming any time now! This was super helpful. A piece of me wondered if simply having a toddler around was slowing everything down. It was hard to imagine being able to deal with contractions with her around.

Around 1pm, my contractions continued every 15 minutes with the same intensity. I decided to take a nap. I woke up just over an hour later and the contractions were now 10 minutes apart and a bit more intense. We continued on our day but were starting to get bored. This progression felt really slow. We ran a few errands and then went to Quinn's parents house to see Madison, have some dinner and hang out. After about an hour and a half, I was ready to leave. It was about 6:30 and I wanted more peace and quiet. My doula suggested more movement. We went home and went for a walk. This increased my contractions to every 5 minutes with increasing intensity, but I could still breathe through them. And I felt totally fine between the contractions. When we got home, I did a continuous circuit of hanging in a deep squat, lunges, downward facing dog and laps around the kitchen island. This kept the contractions going. We called our midwife to see if we were okay to make the drive in. I was dreading the 45 minute drive to the Birth Centre (Ode'imin). Quinn suggested we go sooner rather than later so the drive wasn't quite as terrible, rather than waiting until the contractions were harder to get through. If we need to change our game plan when we get there, we would. I set up the vehicle to lay in the back seat. I had three contractions on the way and they weren't fun, but we made it. I had gravol with me and was feeling almost nauseous so I took it then, remembering the amount that I puked during my first labor.

We checked in just after 8pm and I was only 2-3 cm dilated. My midwife suggested a stretch and sweep to speed things along. We were already there and I was up for it. Anything to get the show on the road, especially after my contractions slowed so much after the car ride. I'm not sure it made much of a difference vs if we hadn't done it (we'll never know!), but once we were put in a room and I started walking around, my contractions went back to every 5 minutes. Within 30 minutes, intensity ramped up. Another 30 minutes later contractions were every 3 minutes. Quinn did hip squeezes during contractions and it helped SO MUCH. I'm so thankful I had just had a class on Thursday (Prenatal Yoga and Birth Empowerment through Fit Together) to review this. This is also about the time when I puked. Like, everything came up. Thankfully it was the only time I puked. And now I needed a break so I laid down. This slowed the contractions to 9-10 minutes, but intensity ramped up. My midwife decided to fill the tub. I was hesitant on getting in the tub because I was afraid it would slow things down. But, my midwife insisted I get in the tub because this baby was coming. She was an OB in China before becoming a midwife in Canada and, whether it's a language barrier or just a cultural difference, she comes off as a bit abrasive, but I generally like her demeanor and care. She was very confident and I trusted her so into the tub I went, even though I felt a bit hesitant about it. Interestingly enough, I wasn't in la-la-labor land yet. I was still very aware between contractions.

The tub: what an experience. My contractions felt noticeably less intense in the water so I suspected they slowed down. I moved from laying reclined between contractions to leaning forward on my knees during contractions. Water was poured on my back during contractions and it was heavenly. Jenine, my doula came. I was at the point I really didn't want to do it anymore. She reminded me to breathe down, which was so, so helpful. Then my midwife asked if I felt like I needed to push and honestly, it felt like I could, but didn't NEED to, like what I remembered with the fetal ejection reflex with Madison. But, all of a sudden, the baby felt close, a bit more urge to push came up and I gave it a try. After 45 minutes in the water and two big pushes, the baby was out!

The aftermath of giving birth is incredible. We didn't know what we were having so after a few moments we checked and it was a girl! We were fairly certain it was going to be a boy. We were wrong.

With the cord still attached and with help, I moved out of the tub and into the bed. Quinn cut the cord and just a few minutes later I delivered the placenta. My bleeding was a bit more than we wanted, but we were able to manage it without any intervention other than wait and see. I felt very okay at the time and didn't want anything. I had one first degree tear requiring one stitch. She nursed well from the get go.

Now onto managing a newborn with a toddler, milk production and sleep. Here we go!