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Hectic! Life with two kids is hectic, but I wouldn’t change a minute of it.

I’ve been M.I.A. for a while and I didn’t mean to be. Sorry. I had a whole post drafted after Easter that I never finalized, because umm.. well.. #momlife. I was in nesting mode and trying to spend as much time with my baby girl as possible before the new baby arrived. Now that he is here I’ve been getting used to my new normal and learning how to manage my time between my husband, toddler, and baby. But I didn’t want to keep you guys waiting too long before I introduced you to my baby boy and share my birth story, so here it is.

Birth Story

I had been measuring a week ahead for months so I was for sure I’d be having this baby early. Plus my daughter was 5 days early. So I was really on edge waiting for labor to start. The last three weeks or so before I gave birth I’d been having contractions. I wouldn’t say they were Braxton Hicks because they were causing cervical changes. At my 36 week appointment I was 1cm dilated, the contractions continued and at my 38 week appointment I was 2.5cm dilated and 70% effaced. If I had been 3cm or more dilated my Doctor could have done a membrane sweep to jump start labor, which I was all for because I was scared of having a big baby. But the sweep didn’t happen.

Contractions continued. There was a couple of times I thought that I might be going into labor due to the contractions coming at regular intervals, but they never got any closer or stronger. Contractions started to become less frequent in my 39th week. I had been losing pieces of my mucus plug but no bloody show or water leaking. Up until this point I hadn’t tried anything to induce labor. No crazy concoctions or positions. With my swollen feet and ankles plus all the pregnancy aches, I was ready for the baby to come. I started walking, curb walking, dancing, and bouncing on the exercise ball to try to get things going. These things helped bring on contractions but they didn’t last.

On Thursday night I started having more weak contractions. They kept coming all night long. I didn’t get much rest because I was timing them. They started off at around 10 minutes apart and by early Friday morning they were 5 minutes apart but not stronger. We decided to go to labor and delivery to get checked out. I had progressed, 3cm dilated and fully effaced, but was not in labor just yet. Since the hospital is far from where we live, we decided to walk around the hospital and get some food nearby before heading back home. After walking and eating a spicy breakfast burrito I went to get checked again but nothing had changed. So we drove back home. The weak contractions were still there.

After making it back home I laid down for a nap. About an hour and a half into my nap the contractions were much stronger and woke me up. They were becoming painful at this point. I decided to take a shower and hit the road again. I figured even if I had to wait out by the hospital until I progressed I was fine with that, better than being stuck in the 5 o’clock traffic that we would have been in if we waited another hour. And being stuck in a car unable to move to alleviate the pain from contractions is the worst! We made it to the hospital and my contractions were 5 minutes apart and painful. They checked me and I was now 4cm dilated fully effaced! They could now admit me! They admit at 4cm. With the pain I was having I was ready for my epidural. I got an epidural and was now relaxing in my room.

My contractions kept coming. They were long and strong but not necessarily getting closer. After a few hours I got checked again and hadn’t made much more progress. We decided to break my bag of water. After a couple more hours I was fully dilated but the baby was still fairly high. It was time for the nurses shift change. I got a much more knowledgeable nurse. She recommended a different position to get baby moving down. Even with my epidural I could move and feel my legs, so I was able to change positions. She said he should be in position in about 2 hours. 30 minutes passed and he was already in position! I was ready to push! After only 20 minutes of pushing my baby boy was here, 7lb-14oz and 20” long . He made his debut 3 days before my due date.

I’d have to say, this labor progressed much quicker than my first but I feel like it could have been even faster if I had the second nurse from the beginning. The experience was also a lot different since it was just my husband and I in the delivery room this time. Our family waited in the waiting room with our baby girl. They came in the room for a short visit before the baby was born but when it was time to push it was only my husband there this time.

Now that our little guy is here we couldn’t be happier! I can’t wait to share our new normal and adventures with you all.

P.S. If you can’t tell, my baby girl just loves holding her baby brother ♥️

Much love,

♥️ Denise