Welcome Baby Bear 2!!

Monday morning of the 13th found me 9 days overdue and walking into the Birthing Center with Husband to consult with the midwives and see what our options were going to be. We saw Erin and asked about sweeping my membranes to see if labor could tempted that way. I was feeling a lot of pressure and I was very ready to meet my baby and find out if it was a boy or a girl! Erin agreed that sweeping my membranes would potentially have a very good effect, but I didn’t exactly share her hopefulness. My good friend Hope who had delivered both of her little babies at MBC had her membranes swept TWICE with her second pregnancy so I wasn’t exactly confident that it would work this first time. Eirn said that if it didn’t work we would do it again on that Wednesday and if that didn’t work possibly a third time Friday before going in for my induction Saturday morning between 5 and 9 AM.

I had heard very conflicting stories about the pain involved with having your membranes swept; some girls said that it hurts and others said that they barely felt it which was why I had Alex come with me just in case I was cramping too hard and didn't feel like driving home. It ended up not being bad at all, but as we left I looked at Alex and said, "Today's just not the day. I can tell." 

My mother-in-law was watching Noah for us while we were at the doctor that morning and when we got home she stayed the rest of the afternoon to help me with Noah and just keep me company in general because I wasn’t exactly feeling in the greatest of moods. After she left around 4 pm, Alex came home and I started feeling more regular cramping around 6:30 in the evening but the contractions were only lasting about 15 seconds so I didn’t even bother to time them. We watched some TV and ate a little dinner and all the while I was setting up in my mind that I would be induced on Saturday as Baby Pancake was very comfortable and seemingly determined to not come out. Noah and I went to bed around 8:30 or 9 o’clock after a few bedtime stories. I was still having contractions but I was pretty confident that they would eventually just taper out with sleep. Alex came to bed around 11:30 and the poor thing only got about an hour's worth of sleep before I woke him up around 12:30 feeling sharper contractions and asked him what time it was?

I thought about timing them then because they had woken me up but I decided to wait to see if they would pick up or not.  I laid there dozing for about an hour and using the contraction app on my phone to start timing them. About 20 minutes later I could tell that they were already picking up in intensity and my app warned me that I was possibly in the early stages of labor based on the time in between the contractions and how long they were lasting. Now seemed like a good time to go to the bathroom but since I left the door cracked, the light was shining right on Noah's face in our bed, so Alex of course then starts hush-yelling for me to get up and shut the door so that Noah doesn’t fully wake up. When I got up to shut the door I noticed that there was some bloody show in the toilet which scared me so I threw open the door and told Alex, "We need to go to the hospital!" He blinked at me sleepily and said, "Ok, when?"  I responded sarcastically, "Six hours from now.....NOW OF COURSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Alex asked if I wanted to call my mom or his parents?  I hesitated because I knew that my family, while geographically closer, had a really hectic schedule with work and finishing up school finals, so we made the call to his mom {who thankfully picked up on the second ring}. Alex told her that my contractions were picking up and we would probably be heading to the hospital soon to get checked out. I called the Midwife on call, Maria, and relayed my symptoms to her and she told me to go ahead and get ready to come whenever I felt the time was right and I should also call her when we were on the way so she can get a room prepped for us.

Alex and I double checked everything in our bags while I labored at home and his mom got there in record time. Noah at this point was fully awake and we turned on some cartoons for him so that we could finish packing. The contractions of course were picking up in intensity and there were a few moments when I had to stop what I was doing to breathe through them and have Alex come and support me with pressure on my back. I remember kneeling down next to the recliner to tell Noah that I was going to go to the hospital to bring him home a baby and having a very painful contraction. I stopped talking to breathe and sway back and forth. Noah noticed and hugged my head and kissed me through the rest of the wave which I thought was really, really sweet.

We ended up leaving the house around 2 AM to make the 30 minute drive to the hospital. About halfway there I remembered to call the midwife to tell her that I was coming and I spoke with Michelle the nurse but had to quickly hang up because I was feeling another contraction coming. Meanwhile I was texting my mom and trying to take my mind off the stronger contractions and at the same time trying to keep an eye out for any cops that might pull us over, because definitely going at least 10 over!

About 15 minutes into the drive I started feeling the urge to get on my hands and knees in the passenger seat and start pushing so I told Alex that he REALLY needed to step on it! We made it to the hospital as I was having a contraction. We waited until it subsided and then ran into the lobby and down the hall to the birth center. I remember vaguely realizing that there was no one in the lobby to greet us even though I had called ahead but we managed to make it to the entrance of the birth center where I dropped my purse and the diaper bag and had a very intense contraction right there in the waiting room!

We walked back to the birth center and my worst nightmare happened: no one was there. We found out later that they had to run upstairs and finish delivering another mom on the labor and delivery floor and that Michelle was actually on her way down while we were frantically running around the living room and wondering if we somehow missed the apocalypse?!?!?!  Luckily, Michelle made her appearance very soon and escorted us into the Summer Room to check me out. 

Alex almost left to go park the car until Michelle stopped him and said that if I was getting ready to have this baby he might want to be here for this! We waited for yet another contraction to pass before she checked me and said that I was already dilated to an eight and asked if I wanted to get in the tub? I said "yes, please!" Seriously, I had been dreaming about laboring in this tub for literal months and I couldn't wait to get in it!

While she was filling up the tub, I hopped in the shower and Alex ran to go finish parking. Maria came down and as soon as I saw her and the excitement in her eyes I immediately felt a new burst of energy. Michelle and Maria got me into the tub just as Alex came back in and he held my arms as I floated / knelt in the tub. At this point I was feeling so much more pressure as my water was about to break - and Maria confirmed that I was in transition. Alex squeezed my arms, grinning from ear to ear with excitement that we were so close. A few minutes later I said that I felt that I needed to start pushing, she told me go ahead! I remember saying “Really?! Even though I’m only an eight?!” and she responded, “You just do whatever your body is telling you to.” 

Hearing those words made me feel even more in control of everything that was happening around me. By the time we ended up going to the bed I was pushing and chose to be on my back, with Alex cradling my head in his lap. My midwife asked me if I was OK in this position and if there was another position I wanted to do, i.e. my hands and knees or something else?? Looking back I had wanted to originally give birth in a different position then on my back like I had with Noah but when you’re in that moment you really do follow what your body says and apparently my body was more comfortable with giving birth on my back, so I know now that it was the right choice for me even though it may not have been what I originally wanted or planned for. 

Choosing to have an unmedicated birth I knew there was going to be a lot more intensity but I don’t think I was prepared for how intense it really was. Really I don’t think anything in life could’ve prepared me for it, it was almost like having an out of body experience. But at the same time it was the most adrenaline filled event of my entire life. After about 5 minutes of pushing Maria had Alex wash his hands and come around to the other side of the bed, she told me to stop pushing once the head had emerged and I kinda wondered why on earth I should stop when we were SO CLOSE to being finished?! However with the next contraction, baby came right out without me having to push at all.

Alex caught the baby and held it up, and then he tearfully and excitedly told me, “It’s a boy!” And so it turns out daddy intuition is a thing - and Alex has been right the entire 9 months about our little man. I started tearing up as he placed him on my chest and I remember asking, "What time is it?" Maria told me it was 3:08 am - - Baby Charles had been born a mere 40 minutes after us pulling up to the door! He was 7 lbs. 10 oz. and 21 inches! 

We did delayed cord clamping which allowed for him to get the fullest nutrients from the placenta. I did have some excessive bleeding right after I delivered the placenta which caused me to receive two shots of Pitocin in either leg and we ended up staying about two hours longer than normal so they could run a complete blood count. 

We spent the next two hours cuddling and trying to think of a middle name since our original names that we had picked out for a boy didn’t match his face. As I lay there dozing and snuggling baby Charles it came to me:  David. I had been studying parts of the Bible the last few weeks of my pregnancy dealing with this biblical hero of the Old Testament and I had really fallen in love with how much this king went through and yet was still named a man after God's own heart. Alex preferred Theodore as a middle name but he eventually came around to my pick.

We spent the morning relaxing and bonding through skin to skin with our new little man. We left the hospital around 1:30 pm after my lab work came back perfectly normal and healthy. All my nurses, {Michelle, Courtney, and Marissa} were absolutely amazing and I couldn't be happier with how everything turned out. 

We were home by 2 pm and family came to visit that evening. Being able to be home in my own bed, and use my own bathroom was so great. I think that's one of the reasons that I have been able to recover so quickly. By day 3 I was already up throwing in a load of laundry and vacuuming - whereas with Noah's birth I was barely able to hobble to the bathroom by myself. Hands down would definitely do a natural birth again and definitely recommend it to any moms considering it for themselves. 

So here we are, I am officially still a Boy Mama and I honestly could not be happier. Charles has been a little dream and we are all three so very much in love! Thanks for reading!