I awoke around 2am on Easter Sunday & felt the pillow between my legs was slightly damp, upon standing up to go to the bathroom there was trickle down my legs. I remained pretty calm, went to the bathroom, grabbed some towels & such and went back to bed to try to sleep some more. Upon getting back in bed Ron asked me if I was ok & I told him my water may have broke but was very minimal. Of course we were both pretty wide awake at the thought of possibly having our baby. He was immediately googling how to get better ASAP because he had a pretty bad cough though he wasn’t feeling sick anymore as he was recovering, but we were a little worried with all the Covid precautions if he’d be allowed in the hospital with me. I started having some very mild contractions and so by 3am I called my midwives just to check in, they agreed on trying to get more rest, then eat breakfast, & come in in the morning.
We finally fell asleep by 4 and then Ro had us awake around 6am, so thankfully we did get a little more sleep. After I talked to my midwives I had sent my mom a text so that when she woke up she would know to please come to our house to stay with Ro so we could go to the hospital – they had come over to our house Friday/Saturday to celebrate Easter, it had probably only been just over 12 hours since they had went home and I was asking her to come back lol.
Anyway, Ro found his Easter basket & enjoyed looking through all his goodies. My mom arrived around 7am. We had breakfast together and Ron & I showered and got around like normal. I was still having very mild, not painful, and inconsistent contractions. So, I put in another call to my midwives. I really wanted to labor in the comfort of home as much as possible rather than spending hours upon hours at the hospital. However, since they said I thought my water broke they wanted me in sooner rather than later because they would’ve expected contractions to pick up more by then. So we headed off for the hospital and arrived there around 10am.
They set me up to monitor my contractions & then it took FOREVER for a doctor to come in & examine me. The doctor who examined me said that the paper to test for amniotic fluid tinted blue indicating it was positive but checking under the microscope it was negative so not very clear, however I was dialated to 5cm so I’d be staying. It was crazy to me that I was so dialated because my contractions were still so inconsistent & not painful! Then I got to see my midwife, Dejai, and she said she thought probably I had a small tear of waters up high which is why the test was negative but that I had been very slowly feeling a leak. She encouraged me to walk around while they prepared a delivery room for us.
We were roomed around 12:30, contractions continued to be 6-7 minutes apart sometimes and 3-4 minutes other times though never lasting a minute and I was able to carry on just fine through them. So we decided we’d grab some lunch and then my midwife would be back to examine me again and we’d make a plan from there. I was still at 5cm but she was easily able to stretch me to a 7. I agreed to start on pitocin to try to get my contractions more consistent. After pitocin was started at 2pm Dajai stayed in our room & we worked through several labor positions to encourage Reece to further engage & progress, doing various lunges, side lying moves, and lots on the yoga birthing ball. It’s crazy how quick pitocin kicks in, my contractions almost immediately started feeling more intense however they were still spread out & not lasting long, I rated my pain at a 5 maybe 6. Dajai left around 3 to let me continue to labor with the intention to come back & check my cervix once she saw contractions improve, thinking in an hour or two.
I continued on the birthing ball, then transitioned to leaning over the bed as pain increased. I started thinking in my mind that pain was getting higher & if I was going to do this without pain medication I needed to really find my groove and what felt right to help me to focus through these contractions. With Ro I did a lot of side lying with hands locked with Ron while he counted out my breaths during contractions, so I wanted to try that. With the first or second contraction laying down water gushed everywhere, I could feel the pop & swear I heard it too! Ron had a split moment of panic and I was like yes, call the nurse. The nurse later told us that Ron has called at 3:54… Well Reece was born at 3:57!
Instantly I felt the pressure of Reece’s head present and I swear I squeezed my legs tight waiting for the nurse & my midwife to arrive. I had another, now extremely intense contraction, then Ron asked if I was okay for him to go to the bathroom quick (he was thinking I’d be laboring like this for a bit & realized that he had to go badly) so he stepped 4ft away. The nurse arrived & she helped me through a second contraction while Ron was in the bathroom. Then my midwife entered and asked if I thought it felt like I needed to push. I immediately opened my legs, we could see Reece’s head and with the next 2 contractions my body pushed him out on its own! It was incredibly intense & fast & unexpected and after experiencing it I much preferred it go that way anyway lol!
We were able to enjoy an hour and a half of skin to skin, continually nursing before they took him to get all his measurements. After the traumas I experienced post delivery with Ro, Reece’s birth was incredibly redeeming & healing. We were able to leave the hospital just a touch over 24 hours after he was born thankfully, I do not enjoy staying in the hospital lol. And we made it home in time to see Ro before having to put him to bed and spend some last moments with Sweet Hal.
At 7 weeks old now it feels like we’re finally maybe finding our groove as a new family of four, getting a little more sleep & adjusting to the balance of 2 boys. I’ll never say it’s been easy but our hearts sure are full <3
Oh what a beautiful story- so glad you had such a wonderful experience XO
Sounds like a great experience and how it should be!