Audrey’s Birth Story

My husband and I welcomed our second child, Audrey into the world March 17, 2017. She was 6 pounds and 11 inches.

Second children are typically born early, and since my first child, was right on time (read Ethan’s birth story here), I expected to go into labor with my second early. I was prepared for her arrival since around 38 weeks gestation, so I was a little irritated when her due date of 3/14 came around and I was still pregnant.

On 3/16, I dropped my toddler off at his grandma’s in the morning, and began having contractions on my way home. Growing excited, I go home and decide to relax instead of doing some work. Within a few hours, my contractions are 10 minutes apart. Anticipating a long night ahead of us, I decided to take a nap. We text my mom to let her know that Ethan will be staying the night with them, and then I called my doula to let her know my contractions were coming steady, and that we would call her again when they are closer together. My husband and I then went to bed.

And woke up the next morning – no contractions. I was so disappointed and discouraged (and hoping this wasn’t prodromal labor!). My husband then left to pick up our toddler and bring him home until it looked like labor would begin again. About 11 AM, my contractions start coming again about 10 minutes apart, although this time they feel stronger than yesterday. I fix my toddler lunch and we go take a nap together. We get up at about 4, when my husband was off work. My husband takes Ethan outside to play, and I go back up into room to lay down and rest some more.

At around 6 pm, the contractions are still around 10 minutes apart, but began to be intense enough that I was having difficulty talking through them. My husband decides to drop Ethan off at his grandma’s again and pick up dinner. My best friend and roommate checks in on me after he leaves, and convinces me to come downstairs where she has made our living room dark, and turns on an ocean sound playlist. I continue laboring downstairs favoring active frog. My husband calls at around 6:30 to inquire how I am, and urges me to call our doula as he heads home.

My husband gets home around 6:45, and tries to get us to head to the hospital. I decline stating the contractions aren’t coming soon enough, and that I can still talk during them, so it must not be time. My doula, Amy, arrives at around 7:30, and my husband reiterates to her that we need to go to the hospital and I again decline. Amy states we’ll go through a few more contractions at home and then see where we are at.

Even though my husband and I had taken the Bradley Method, it was amazing having the doula there as she knew the best place to apply counterpressure on my back which was amazing during the conractions. Amy encourages me to try different positions and to walk around the house to help labor progress quicker. At this time, I thought my contractions were still 10 minutes apart, but looking back at our contraction app, they were actually around 3 minutes apart.

At 8:20, I start to feel really sick and began to throw up. My husband begins packing the car, and when I leave the bathroom, he calls the hospital to advise them we are coming. I still am reluctant to go to the hospital since I’m worried they will turn us away, but I agree.

The hospital is only about 15 minutes away from our house; during the drive, I got a brief urge to push, but don’t mention it to my husband since I’m sure I’m not dialated enough. We arrive around 8:49. My husband drops me off as he goes to find a parking spot. I get checked in to triage, where they hook me up to a contraction and heart rate monitor and began taking my vitals. I feel relatively calm, even though I’m unhappy about being placed on my back. The nurse asks my pain level and I say about a 7, and state I don’t want medication.

My husband and doula arrive in triage with me, and about five minutes later I start panicking and screaming at the nurse that I need to push. A midwife makes it in a few minutes later to check my dialation, and instead states she sees a head emerging. About a minute later, my daughter slides right out, no pushing at 9:05 PM.

They than transfer me to a delivery room, where we allow the cord to finish pulsing before my husband cuts it and we get to spend a little time bonding and nursing before being transferred to the postpartum room.

We love having our little girl home, and Ethan loves being a big brother. He loves giving her hugs and kisses and calling her baby. Sometimes he even wakes up in the middle of the night to cuddle and watch her (which isn’t as cute!)

Our transition to parenting both a young toddler and a newborn has been rough for all of us, but we’re getting there. That’s a whole other post though!