If you’ve read Theo’s birth story you know that I had a really long labor with him and ended up pushing for a long time. Everyone says that your second labor goes much quicker, and I was definitely hoping that would be true. I didn’t even care so much about the length of the actual labor, but I did NOT want to push for four hours again. Also, can I just mention that it blows my mind that some women only push a couple of times? Like WHAT? How in the actual hell does your pelvis just get the baby out that fast? I’m not jealous or anything… just kidding I obviously am.
This picture was taken the morning I went into labor. I was exactly 39 weeks.
On a Thursday I had my midwifery appointment and I had also lost my mucous plug that same morning. That, combined with a lot of prodromal labor made me think that we would be meeting our son sometime very soon. That Friday my mum and I took Theo to the zoo and did a lot of walking. I went to bed early that night feeling worn out and exhausted and slept great. Fast forward to 3:30 in the morning and Theo came in our room and woke me up. I got him settled into our bed with us and that’s when I felt the first contraction. I had been having so much prodromal labor so I didn’t think anything of it, and tried to go back to sleep. I slept really lightly for the rest of the night and had weird dreams. When I woke up at 7:30 I realized I was still having contractions every 15 minutes and I knew this was it.
The date was 1/19, which was the day that Jordan hoped Archer would be born on (his favorite number is 19). I let him know that I was in labor, and as excited as we both were, I think we both knew we were in for a long day. I just knew it my bones that I am one of those people that has long labors. I told him that I thought our son would be born sometime in the early morning of 1/20. I called the midwife on call and let her know that I was in early labor. She warned me that second time moms often go from early to active labor quickly, and to let her know when I was ready to head in to the birth center. We agreed that I would check in with her again in a few hours or if things started intensifying, and in the meantime I would continue to labor at home.
By 11a my contractions were coming every 6-8 minutes and lasting 1 minute, but I still felt confident that I had some time before things were going to pick up. Jordan left around this time to meet with a customer and Theo and I played and then read books before I got him down for a nap. I felt most comfortable standing during the contractions, and I had three of them while laying in bed with Theo which was not fun. After he fell asleep I took a few extra minutes to cuddle him knowing it was the last day that I would only have one little boy.
I got up and ate a smoothie while bouncing on my birth ball. Contractions were starting to pick up in intensity, but I still felt like I had some more time. My mum was taking Theo to Disney on Ice that afternoon, and I knew my body was going to wait until he was out of the house before things really got going. I was right, and after they were gone and Jordan was back at home contractions got closer together. I labored on the toilet for an hour because everyone swears by this position for getting labor going. I wanted to be at the birth center before Theo got home from his show, and I’d already been in labor for 12 hours. Throughout all of this I was checking in with my midwife, assuring her that I had more time before I needed to come in. My contractions were coming every 3-5 minutes at this point but they still didn’t feel even close to unbearable, so I chose to continue laboring at home.
Around 4:00p I started crying and just felt really overwhelmed with emotions. It was at this point that I told Jordan I was ready to head to the birth center. He asked me if I was sure because he has seen me in labor before and felt like I still had quite a bit of time left. I assured him I wanted to go, so we headed out. It was a 30 minute drive to the birth center and we also had to stop for gas, making it closer to a 40 minute trip. I continued having contractions every 5 minutes on the drive, and let me tell you, it was not fun sitting in the car during them.
We got to the birth center at 5:30 and the midwife checked me. I asked that she not tell me how dilated I was, because I was terrified the answer was going to be 2cm and I didn’t want to be discouraged. Jordan told me later that he tried to get her to tell him when I wasn’t paying attention hahaha but she wouldn’t. I found out afterwards that I was at 4cm and was 80% effaced. Things really slowed down for the first hour that I was at the birth center, I think because my body needed to adjust to a new environment. Our midwife left us alone to labor together for the majority of my labor, and just came in every 30 minutes or so to listen to the baby’s heartbeat and to see how she could support us.
Jordan was looking up labor positions on his phone and encouraging me to try different positions to help get things going. I was willing to try whatever I needed to at this point, so I labored on the birth ball, standing with one leg up on the bed, etc. I was definitely in active labor at this point and was anxious to meet our little boy. By 8:30 I decided to get into the tub and labor in the water for a while. Let me tell you, this felt absolutely amazing. During contractions I would just focus on my breathing and let my hips float in the water and it felt soooooo soothing. My contractions were still coming every 3 minutes or so and in between them I would doze off if you can believe it. I was so focused on my breathing and staying on top of the pain, so I wasn’t really willing to talk. Jordan said I was basically just barking one word orders at him at this point. During contractions I would say “hot” and he would put a cold compress on my head, and after the contraction passed I’d say “shoulders” and he’d rub my shoulders for me. What can I say, I’m bossy during labor.
Just after 9:00p I started getting really shaky, and began throwing up in between contractions. This is the transition stage of labor, and it’s my least favorite part and for some reason always lasts so god damn long for me. The midwife checked me at 10:00p and I was 9cm and 90% effaced. She called in another midwife because they like to have two of them present for the birth. I got out of the tub at 10:45p and spent a long time laboring over the bathroom sink. It was the perfect height for me to stand over during contractions. The midwife encouraged me to labor on the toilet again and I did so, although it was pretty unwillingly because it felt very uncomfortable to be sitting during contractions. I think this was around the time where I angrily let Jordan know that we would be having no more kids after this one. I was irritated that I was once again having a long labor and the contractions were so intense and had been for a few hours now. It felt like my hips were being pried apart (which they essentially are) and I was over it!
At 12:30a, on 1/20, my water finally broke. I was standing up and all of a sudden had the weirdest sensation, like the head was coming but yet it was nowhere near as uncomfortable and intense as it should have been. I yelled that I thought he was coming, even though I didn’t really feel confident in that statement, and then all of a sudden the bag of waters came out. I don’t even understand how this happened, because I didn’t realize the water bag could come out in tact like that… but somehow out it came and plopped onto the ground between my feet before bursting like a water balloon. It was the weirdest sensation ever and I’m still confused by this haha.
Things were crazy intense at this point. All of my energy was focused on maintaining my breathing and keeping my body relaxed during contractions. I was moaning loudly and talking was 100% out of the question at this point. Around 1:00a I laid down on my side with the peanut ball in between my legs and started pushing. At 1:30a the midwife checked my progress to see how close we were and told me that I had an anterior cervical lip that the baby was stuck behind. This is when a small portion of your cervix is in the way of the baby’s head, making it hard for the head to get further into the birth canal. The midwife tried to manually push it out of the way for his head to get past, but when she wasn’t able to she told me I needed to stop pushing and allow the cervical lip some time to move out of the way on its own.
Let me tell you, when your body has the urge to push, it is absolute hell to not push. I think I am pretty good at staying focused and calm during labor, but this is when I started to really struggle. I spent the next hour and a half fighting with my own body and trying to resist the urge to push to allow the lip to move out of the way. I pretty much lost it at this point. My calm focused breathing went out the window and during contractions I would yell, every muscle in my body would tense up and I felt like I had absolutely no control. I was crying and Jordan kept reminding me to just breathe. I felt so discouraged and terrified that this labor was going to end up like Theo’s, with four hours of pushing and an inevitable hospital transfer. I told Jordan I couldn’t do it anymore and asked him to take me to the hospital for an epidural. He gently told me that I could do it, and I didn’t need the epidural. I knew I couldn’t even muster up the energy to transfer anyway, so instead I resorted to asking for Tylenol. I was desperate for any kind of pain relief at this point, although in retrospect it’s hilarious to me that Tylenol is what I asked for. I got an IV to prevent dehydration, and sipped on coconut water in between contractions. I threw up a few times at this point as well, and I was definitely exhausted.
At 3:20a my midwife was able to successfully move the lip out of the way (and let me tell you this is not a fun process). She basically had her hand up in there holding it out of the way while I pushed, until finally the baby’s head was able to move past it and descend further into the birth canal. Jordan held one of my legs and the second midwife held my other leg. I pushed with everything I had at this point, and in between pushes I had my hands on my belly and was talking to the baby telling him it was time to meet, and that I couldn’t wait to hold him and kiss his little face. Maintaining this communication with my sweet boy was exactly the motivation I needed to muster up the energy to push him out. I also kept feeling like I was going to get a calf cramp so I yelled for Jordan and the midwives to massage my calves in between pushing haha. A calf cramp in the middle of pushing would not have been fun.
The moment of birth was almost surreal, and was everything I could have hoped for. It was so different than the frantic and aggressive hospital experience I had with Theo. The midwives laid warm compresses over me while I was pushing, the lights were dim, and everyone was so calm and encouraging. On the next push his head was out, just casually looking around, but his shoulders were stuck. One more push and the midwife was able to get his shoulders out and Jordan helped pull him out into the world. The cord was wrapped around his neck just like Theo’s was, and the midwife quickly moved it out of the way before Jordan laid our little boy on my chest. Our second son entered the world at 3:38a on 1/20/19, 24 hours after the first contraction. 
The second he was out all of the pain and intensity went away and I was almost giddy with happiness. I was so giggly and just basically in disbelief that he was finally here. Jordan and I couldn’t stop looking at his sweet little face and I was just euphoric at what my body had just accomplished. He latched on pretty quickly and has been a great eater so far. I didn’t tear with this delivery, so no stitches were needed, which made recovery so much easier.
After I delivered the placenta I still had some pretty heavy bleeding. I was given Pitocin and Cytotec to help my uterus effectively contract, along with the midwives massaging my uterus. And by massage I really mean mash on my poor abdomen to help the uterus contract… yeah, it’s about as pleasant as it sounds. I honestly didn’t even care about the discomfort though, I was just thrilled to be holding my little boy.
After the bleeding was controlled we all took a little nap together for a few hours. When we woke up I waddled my way to the shower to get cleaned up. We got the baby’s height and weight; he was 7lbs 15oz and 20 inches.
Jordan and I were so thrilled with the birth experience that we had at the birth center. Our midwives were so comforting and did such an amazing job of letting us labor alone when we wanted while simultaneously knowing exactly when to step in and give us their support without us even needing to ask for it. They gave us so much confidence in the process and it was such a beautiful experience to have the birth center birth that we had dreamed of. Six hours after our baby was born we headed home to introduce our new little unnamed baby to his big brother and to start our lives as a family of four. 
Big brother was instantly smitten<3
We finally settled on his name later that afternoon.
