It’s hard to believe that this already happened five months ago. Time has gone so much more quickly this second time around! My labor with Clara was SO different than with Jamie (read his birth story here!), and I love having a record of the whole experience. I used mainly hypnobirthing techniques and put in a lot of work beforehand, and I really believe that it allowed me to have a smooth and peaceful delivery.
Early Labor
With Jamie, I went into labor the day before my due date, so I was expecting to go into labor at the same time or earlier, especially since my body was starting to show some signs of being ready for labor in the weeks prior. But my due date came and went and no baby! The night of my due date, we watched About Time, looked at pictures, and made sure to spend lots of time snuggling (for oxytocin reasons, of course). I also listened through my Christian Hypnobirthing tracks, which were my absolute favorite tool for birth prep. I listened to them for several months leading up to birth. The scripture readings, gratitude/visualization exercises, and affirmations were AMAZING and so empowering.
The next morning, I woke up around 3:30am with a contraction. It was pretty mild and I was able to go back to sleep and continued to get some mild surges for the next few hours. Around 5:30, they started becoming close enough together and strong enough that I decided to wake up. They were still very easy to work through myself but getting harder to sleep!
I went downstairs to the kitchen and started timing the contractions, and they were coming every 5 minutes. (At this point, I took my one and only video of the labor! I had high hopes to film throughout the experience and put together a video like we have for Jamie’s birth, but that did NOT happen.) By 6:00, contractions were coming every 3 minutes! I decided to hop in the shower at this point and let Scott know that it seemed like things were moving quickly. He let my father-in-law know (thankfully he was in the area already), so he came by to pick up Jamie.
Middle Labor
Around 7:00, things were really getting intense and I told my husband we should go to the hospital. Scott ran around and packed the car in between contractions. I kept having him apply counter pressure to my hips which was SO helpful; it made things so much more manageable! (Maybe TMI but right before we left it felt like I needed to use the bathroom but I couldn’t sit down on the toilet which I figured meant I was pretty far along.) Scott had called the hospital around 6 or so and they said they’d call us back, but they hadn’t by this time. I was timing my surges and decided it was time to go in anyways. (Good thing we didn’t wait because we would’ve had a baby at home!)
We left around 7:30 and I was very nervous for the car ride, knowing how intense things already were and I couldn’t move or have Scott apply counter pressure in the car. I told Scott during the car ride that I wanted an epidural once we got to the hospital; I could tell I was probably in transition at that point! He reminded me that we could start with the nitrous oxide once we got to the hospital, since that was our plan, and then see where we wanted to go from there. (Get yourself a birth partner like this, friends.)
Scott was very sweet and kept asking if I wanted to listen to any of my hypnobirthing tracks or watch any of the family videos we had made to each during labor. I kept telling him NO because I needed to focus. I was so in the zone during the car ride that Scott told me later he was concerned that I wasn’t as far along as we thought, but turns out it was just that I was really managing the contractions well! At this point, I was using a ton of up breathing and positive affirmations and felt so in control, it was amazing! (There is not much scientific evidence specifically on birth affirmations, but there is a nice summary here. Anecdotally, I will say they were very beneficial!)
At the Hospital
We got to the hospital around 8:00 and as soon as we parked I started walking towards the doors; Scott semi-frantically grabbed all our stuff and ran after me. I had several surges on the way from the parking garage to the doors and kept having to stop to breathe through them. (Please note: I totally could’ve just gotten dropped off at the doors. However, I had no idea how far along I was so I figured walking was fine.) Once we got to the doors, another patient outside noticed I was in labor and flagged down someone with a wheelchair so my husband could whisk me up to the labor and delivery floor. The people at admissions were so great and got me into triage really quickly.
When I was in triage, they asked to do a cervical check and I accepted, but told them I didn’t want them to tell me how dilated I was unless I was far along (over 6cm). The nurse said, “I don’t think that’ll be a problem; I think you’re pretty far along!” (She was right!) The admitting OB came in, checked me, let me know that I was fully dilated! They asked me not to push until I was in a delivery room, so I kept having my husband apply counter pressure while they got me set up in a room.
Once I was in the room, I met with my midwife and asked for nitrous oxide. They delivered it very quickly so I had it during the pushing stage. It was really helpful mentally and made me feel like I could really stay on top of the surges!
Pushing!
I pushed on my hands and knees for a bit and was surprised that it seemed to be going pretty slowly. My midwife asked if she could break my waters to help things progress, and I agreed. I felt a huge sense of relief once she did, and got baby pushed down a bit farther. She started crowning (I did not really feel any ring of fire, but was able to feel her moving down the birth canal during pushing which was so cool!), and again I was surprised that it was taking so much time to get the rest of her body out.
A few minutes later, the midwife let me know that my baby’s shoulder had gotten stuck and that she had called in an OB to help with the delivery. (Apparently a bunch of people rushed into the room at this point but I was so in the zone that I barely noticed.) They changed my position and the OB manually twisted baby girl to help get her shoulder out, and she was born right away! Baby girl was born at 9:17am (<6 hours from very first surge, <4 hours from established labor, and after about 30 minutes of pushing).
Golden Hour
Since it was an assisted delivery, they had NICU staff there to check on baby girl to make sure she didn’t have any nerve damage or a broken clavicle, which can happen with shoulder dystocia. Thankfully she was totally fine. When they weighed her, we realized why she had gotten stuck – she was HUGE, weighing in at 11lbs! (I did not have GD, my first was born at 7lb 5oz, and she measured right in the 50th percentile at my 20 week anatomy scan; no one had ANY idea that she would be so big!) They handed her back to me and my midwife checked me and let me know that I had NO tearing – which I still can’t believe!
We had the most beautiful golden hour; our baby girl was so sweet and nursed like a champ right from the start! We decided on the name Clara Elanor, which we think suits her perfectly. After birth, I felt empowered and alert (not out of it at all like with my an epidural with Jamie); I still feel such a sense of accomplishment and pride when I think about my birth story!
Recovery
I did have a postpartum hemorrhage (which apparently can happen with large babies and quick labors, and I had both). They treated it quickly, but this was the most unpleasant part of the whole experience. They did a few sweeps to make sure I had no retained placentas, several ultrasounds, a bunch of medication, and uterine massage for like a straight hour which hurt so much! (Fun fact: I needed so much medication at this point that they had to add a second IV.) I did accept some pain medication through my IV at this point, which mostly just made me feel very chill. The midwife and doctor were both very impressed at how well I handled it all; I used a LOT of up breathing to keep calm through the whole process.
After a few hours (around 1:00pm), they were satisfied with how much my uterus had contracted and that my bleeding had mostly stopped. They kept me in labor and delivery for a few hours after that so they could monitor my blood loss. We got released to our postpartum room around 6:00pm and we finally got to order some food. (Thankfully we brought our own snacks that we were able to eat while waiting!)
Other than the postpartum hemorrhage, my recovery was really easy (way better than with my first)! I was able to get up and walk around right away and had very little discomfort. We have had the most wonderful couple of months with baby Clara; she is the sweetest baby! She and her big brother love each other so much and she is the perfect addition to our family.
Lessons Learned
- Hypnobirthing works for me. Last time, I used a lot of Bradley Method prep, and this time around, I focused mainly on hypnobirthing techniques. Up breathing was SO beneficial for me; it really gave me a job to do during contractions. I loved all the mental prep you do before labor, too; it really put me in the right mindset. Some of my favorite resources were:
- Once again, I loved midwife care. My midwife was SO great and did such an amazing job asking for my consent, explaining things, and making sure I knew what was happening. She did a debrief with me after the birth and the following day, which I loved. It all helped me feel like everything was under control the entire time, even with an eventful delivery.
- Ask for the nitrous oxide. This was such a great tool to have during labor; I was really able to stay on top of the contractions. It doesn’t take away feeling like an epidural was, but really helps with the mental aspect of labor. Since it wears off almost immediately once you stop breathing it in, I felt way more alert between contractions and after delivery. I was also able to move around during labor.
- I will never use a birth plan or labor guide while actually in labor. Like last time, I had a really nice birth plan and labor guide set up, but once I was in the actual labor process, I didn’t look at either one once. It is a really nice way to prepare for birth and it was nice for Scott to have a cheat sheet, but not useful during labor/delivery for me.
- Bring your own food. I can’t stress this enough. Literally nobody offered us food for NINE HOURS after Clara was born. Even after we asked it was several hours before we were able to actually order anything. (Delivering a baby makes you HUNGRY, and also I lost quite a lot of blood and needed the food.) Thankfully we brought lots of our own snacks so I wasn’t too starving. (But it’s maybe worth having a home birth just to be able to eat whenever you want.) My midwives do allow people to eat, but I was way late in labor and not hungry once I arrived.