We had a baby boy!!!! A sweet, chunky baby boy!!!
We found out we were expecting baby #2 in April 2019! We were so, so excited and knew we'd be having the baby after we moved to Cincinnati! Since I had a c-section with June, I knew it might be trickier to find a care provider that was okay with me trying for a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean), but I was GOING to do it no matter what. I have never been comfortable with the idea of having 2, 3, 4, 5 c-sections.
My pregnancy went really well (more on that later!) and I ended up only gaining around 25 lbs which was great. I had been a lot more active doing yoga and working on the farm doing chores, plus just being with June helped me stay more active. I was also making sure to spend a lot more time on all fours, walking, bouncing on the ball, doing the Miles circuit . . . So many good things that I've heard are important for getting baby in the correct position. I also was eating dates, using evening primrose oil around 38 weeks, eating pineapple, etc.
My family was coming to stay with us on Dec 21. My "due date" was Dec 23. I wasn't having too many signs that labor was impending, but I had this idea that my body was waiting for my family to get here so that June would for sure be taken care of. Every night I would go to bed and worry that I would go into labor and I would have to wake Brent to listen for June or whatever. So many things go through your head those last few weeks, but I was glad to have my family coming to help.
They arrived Saturday Dec 21 around 9/10 pm! I remember that night really well because Jake made some spicy and delicious pineapple fried rice. The Smiths were in town, too, and we were all hanging out together. Throughout that Saturday, we started packing the hospital bag but hadn't finished yet. And I had started to notice some discharge in my underwear (sorry TMI :)) but nothing major.
We went home that night and June was sleeping in our room while my family slept in the other rooms. We put her to bed in the pack n play and we went to bed, too. Around 2:30 am, June woke up and I remember getting up, picking her up, and putting her straight into bed with us. And that's when I had my first contraction. I laid back down thinking, I know for sure that was a little contraction. Let's see if more come . . .
I checked my phone around 3 and I had had a few more that I felt were already coming consistently. I downloaded the contraction timer and they had been coming every 8-10 minutes. I ended up getting out of bed to make sure they would keep coming and to watch Grey's Anatomy. I like watching Grey's while I'm in labor since I've already seen all of them and it can be mindless watching. I sat on the couch and watched for an hour or so - surprisingly, they felt better on the couch than standing.
Around 5 am I went to the bathroom and decided to get into the bath. I let Jake know what was going on but told him to stay asleep since he really needed to rest just in case it was a long day! Plus I didn't want June to wake up, too. So I got in the warm bath with more Grey's and they had still been coming consistently, probably 8 minutes apart max. I watched until the water got cold and the farthest apart the contractions got in the bath was 11 minutes. I knew this was the real deal.
*TMI warning :) I remember checking the clock around 7 am when I went to the bathroom again and when I wiped, I felt a ton of mucous. . . I wiped again and there was SO. MUCH. mucous coming out. I was literally pulling it out. This didn't happen with June so I was surprised how different this was already.
I could feel pressure really low, I had been feeling a similar pressure the last couple weeks of pregnancy, so I knew the baby was for sure in a more engaged position than June was! After the bath, I went back to the couch and watched Grey's again and waited for Jake and June to wake up. I was handling the contractions pretty well honestly. I would breathe through them, but it felt like they were passing quickly.
Around 8:15, I heard Jake and June waking up and they made their way to the living room. Jake made June a bagel and I stayed on the couch as I turned on Frozen 2 for June. I was trying to act cool but the contractions were 5 minutes apart at this point. I wasn't even timing them anymore because they were so consistent! He sat next to me on the couch and he would just watch me every contraction. With his face he was saying, are these real? Haha. I don't think he could believe it either - things had just progressed so much faster this time.
As my family started waking up, I was getting a little overwhelmed and went into the shower. They were about 4 minutes apart now and the shower took the pain downnnnnnn. My mom came and checked on me and asked if I needed anything, I told her to ask Jake to come in and call the doctor. I wanted him to see who was on call and just ask what the doctor thought about when I should come in.
I got out of the shower around 10 am and the doctor wanted to talk to me on the phone. I think the doctor just wanted to hear what I sounded like, so when I had a contraction on the phone and breathed through it really well, he was like, "You sound great! Just plan to come to the hospital in a couple hours but right now I'm comfortable with you staying at home." I was thinking, "Oh I guess I must not be as far as I thought." I stayed laying down on the bed for a little while but things started to get a little overwhelming. When I got off the phone with him, I noticed they had gotten closer to three minutes apart.
I had previously asked Jake to finish packing the bag and he had. I started moving out of the room and looking for acceptable clothes to wear to the hospital. I put on green sweatpants and a black shirt. Jake was eating lunch and kind of moving slow - I guess I wasn't making it sound serious enough that we. needed. to. go! Jake was worried about us going too early, because we both think with June that we went to the hospital a tad early. But I was trying to kindly let him know that I think we need to go . . . like NOW. Even my mom packed an overnight bag since my last labor was soooooo long.
At this point, I was so grateful for my sisters entertaining June because my contractions were 2 1/2 minutes apart and it was getting really difficult to walk and focus on anything else, even in between the contraction. As we got closer to leaving, each contraction I got I had to bend over and just make any noise that felt good. I'm sure my family was like ????
Jake helped me put my shoes on and walked me to the car. June came out to say bye and she was crying and I was crying - I didn't anticipate having so many emotions about leaving my first baby to go have my second. I knew when I came home things were going to be so much different and in that moment, I wanted one more day pregnant with her. But then another contraction came and we had to get out of there. We let Tracey know that we were headed to the hospital!
When we first got on the road, Jake asked, "Do you want me to go fast or drive safe?" And all I said was FAST. But then there were hills and bumps and I had to ask him to slow down. My mom was sitting directly behind me in the car and she was trying to be helpful by rubbing my shoulders during a contraction but I just didn't want to be touched. I was banging my fist against the window, groaning, grabbing onto Jake's hand. Honestly, I don't remember at all now how that pain felt but I know that it was so real. Crazy how our minds can block those out!
The hospital is about 40 minutes away and I was just trying to stay calm . . . so much easier said than done. About 20 minutes in, I felt the bottom half of my body convulsing. You know how when your body is trying to gag itself to throw up? It was like that but on the bottom half. I was telling myself mentally, you're not pushing. This baby is not coming. You're almost there. You can make it.
Jake was flying at 90 and I said slow down, if you get pulled over we're going to have a baby on the side of the road. He said if he gets pulled over, the police will escort us. I said sure, after he delivers our baby!!
We made it to the hospital and honestly, I didn't know the best way to get to L+D! I had been there once but it was during weird hours and I tried to go that way again and ended up having to walk way further than normal. People were looking at me like I was crazy, but I honestly did not care. We were walking and walking - my mom parked our car for us - and I was stopping every 2 minutes to breathe through a contraction.
When we made it to the front desk, they were wanting me to sign some stuff. I couldn't do it. Jake was filling stuff out for me and another nurse came to the desk after hearing me and said, "What baby is this for you?" And with my fingers I held out the number 2. With that, she immediately opened the door, took my arm, and brought me to the triage room. Right when I got into the room, I was undressing because I wanted to be checked and get into a gown.
I should mention at this point I was feeling really nervous. I'm really good at handling contractions, but I had never prepared mentally for transition stage and pushing. I just had never gotten there before and when I did, it was overwhelming. They were coming so fast and the pressure was building - I could feel everything opening and baby moving down. It was so wild.
When she checked me, Jake walked into the room right when she said, "You're a 6 and -1 station." That honestly was a huge relief to hear. She didn't check baby or anything, just wanted me to go directly to our room. It was just a minute walk away and all the nurses were scrambling getting stuff ready for the baby to come. Jake and I were alone in the room and I had one big contraction that I swear changed everything! I leaned over the sink in the room and just did a huge, lioness scream/roar and cried. Tears falling down my face! He was crying too - I can imagine how helpless he feels in the moment.
After that one, I had another and I said, "I'M PUSHING." The nurse ran back in and said can I check you again? I said yes, laid on the bed, she checked me and said, "She's an 8 and 0!" When she said that, my water broke all over her - just like in the movies - a huge splash on the bed and the floor. So within 3 minutes, I had dilated 2 more cm and baby had for sure moved down. The rest of this time until the baby was born is really blurry. I was letting fear take over and I had been telling them I wanted an epidural, or something to take the edge off. They told me they couldn't give me anything until the doctor approved it. I was asking over and over and over until finally they hooked up laughing gas for me.
I remember there was another doctor on call that was standing in the doorway. They told me he would deliver the baby if my doctor didn't make it. There were a ton of other nurses bringing the baby warmer in and setting up huge lights. It all felt truly surreal. And again, overwhelming. I couldn't believe this was really happening. This is the part I will have to prepare for next time mentally, because my mind kept telling me "You can't do this." but my body was telling me, "Well, you HAVE to do this and you ARE doing it."
I believe we got into our room around 12 and my doctor made it and checked me. I told him, "Do NOT tell me I'm a 10!" I was still holding out hope for that epidural ha. And he said, "Well. . . you're a 9.5 with a lip but you can push if you're ready!"
I remember they kept asking me if I wanted to lay in a different position or stand or go on all fours or do whatever I wanted, but I felt comfortable on my back which is surprising. The laughing gas kicked in really quickly and it truly helped me relax so much. It helped my mind back off from saying you can't do this and just let my body work. 10/10 would recommend laughing gas.
It was a little weird at one point because I think with the calm that I felt with the laughing gas, I thought I had gone to sleep or something. It felt like I was in a completely different world, and then all of a sudden I came back down to that hospital room and I had the thought, "Oh I'm still here and I'm not done yet." I remember asking if June was okay and Jake laughed and said we had only been at the hospital for 20 minutes. They showed me pictures of her on the swing all happy. I asked if Jake's mom had made it yet and she was on the way.
The nurses helped me realize that I was kind of working against the contraction by trying to keep everything in. They encouraged me to just push and work with the contraction and that might make it feel better, and they were totally right. Once I started pushing down with the contraction, there was a ton of relief physically. I could feel where each push was working and I could feel everything coming down. It was truly remarkable!!
I remember the nurses and everyone kept telling me how great I was doing and that the baby was almost there, but when I looked off to the side, the doctor was standing at the door. I thought to myself, "If the baby was close, he would be down there, not at the door. They're lying." Hahaha. My mind was talking so much, but my mouth was totally silent (which I'm glad for).
Finally, there was one huge push that is STILL engrained in my head. This push, I felt basketball-sized pressure coming out and it was a burning sensation. BURNING. I remember closing my eyes, pushing, and thinking again to myself, "I'm tearing from my vagina to my butthole right now. That's fine. It'll heal." I just kept pushing to get rid of that burning and pressure as soon as I could. When I finished that push, I remember everyone saying, "You're crowning! He's coming! His head's here!"
Another contraction came pretty quickly and everyone knew because I would start with a low groaning sound when I felt it start. They encouraged me to push and I did but then the doctor realized that the cord was pretty tight around the neck. He tried to lift it off with the next push but it was so tight he ended up having to clamp and cut it before the body was out. He told me to wait, and I actually was able to. Once they said it was safe, I pushed again and his body came out so quickly.
The nurse said, "It's ab oy!" And Jake said, "It's a boy!" And then I said, "It's a boy!" And we were crying and we were so happy and I was grabbing his tiny cute body. Jake was kissing my forehead and we were so, so happy. I was probably the happiest because holy cow, that was so crazy.
The cord was pretty tight and he wasn't crying quite yet (I didn't notice in the moment), so they ended up taking him to the warmer and they did CPAP for about a minute. His first APGAR was 2 and his second APGAR was 9. He perked up quickly, luckily. Before they took him to the nursery (which is protocol for babies who require CPAP), they let him nurse and cuddle me. I was so grateful for those moments with him, especially because I knew holding him so quickly would help our breastfeeding relationship flourish!
When they were checking him out on the warmer, I passed the placenta very easily. I hardly noticed because I was just trying to see him! I had a first degree tear and required one stitch. He gave me some lidocaine and did that so quickly. He tried to prepare me for what the next day would be like but I honestly couldn't hear at all. I was in shock that I had just gotten my VBAC and it felt like I had to put in very little effort. I was also shocked we had a baby boy!!
It was overall such an amazing, fast day. He was born at 12:43 pm weighing in at 8 lbs 14 oz and 21 inches long. He was immediately so sweet, an amazing nurser, and had the brightest eyes.
We love you, Wesley Christopher Blackwelder!
