Devon and Jasper
April 26, 2012
I was pregnant with my second baby and I was 9 days past EDD of April 17th, 2012. Beth and Rachel were both surprised I had gone this long without anything to indicate labor although not concerned. I had had an ultrasound at 30 weeks and they told me the baby weighed close to 5 pounds and were changing my EDD by almost an entire month to March 27th. So, here we were still on schedule, well past March 27th and expecting a big baby. My first baby, Jackson, was 8 pounds 11 ounces.
Other than feeling like the size of a walrus, I was fine with still being pregnant. I have truly wonderful pregnancies; I don’t even miss sleep until the night they are born!
On April 25th, I had an appointment with Rachel and when she felt the head she said he was engaged and so far down she couldn’t move the head at all. So any day now!
On April 26th, at about 8 in the morning, I broke a pocket of water. I called Beth and she told me she would stay close by throughout the day waiting for my updates. I had no contractions but just mild cramping continuing to leak fluid throughout the day. At about 9:00 at night, contractions began at 15 minutes apart, mild but still like clockwork. We called Beth and told her that we were going to try to go to sleep. This of course did not happen and at about 10:00 my husband, Josh, ran me a nice hot bath and I got into my favorite laboring position, for me is the fetal in the tub. The hot water felt so good and immediately eased the frontal cramping that was growing stronger with every contraction. While I labor, I like things to be fairly quiet, I do not talk or make much if any noise, I do not like to be touched. I feel like once I get into ‘Laborland’, it’s just my body and baby doing what it was designed to do. I was able to be in my own little world and talk myself through each contraction waiting on Beth and her assistant Nikki to arrive. If I got the urge to push, I tried to ‘ignore’ it because I did not want to push prematurely. I needed Beth to tell me it was okay and we were ready to go. By 10:30, the contractions were 3 minutes apart and lasting for 45 seconds. Nikki and Beth both arrived by 11:15. The contractions were intense and Beth asked me if I would like to change positions & get out of the tub. I gave her a look of absolutely not although I did give it a try and when I stood up to get out my mucus plug was discharged. I got right back into the same position that I had been in. Beth said it was just fine and she could deliver the baby no problem. Beth never checked my dilation when she came in, it is something that I’ll never forget, she said, “I can tell you are ready, go ahead and push.” At this time, Josh went to go wake up my Mom who lives 5 hours away and missed the birth of her first grandchild. She had come down a week early this time, not wanting to miss the second. 5 people crowded around our bathtub as I began to push. I had a fairly significant tear with my first baby and although I was ready to push, I was very afraid to do so and actually kept my legs closed. Beth talked me through this that if I was to get this baby out I needed to open up. I did and I don’t remember so much pain as I do pressure on my perineum as the baby’s head was being born. The pressure was intense and Beth applied counter pressure to help me stretch. After the baby’s head was born, Beth asked Josh to hold his head so that it remained under the water until the rest of his body was born. This was such a special moment for my husband to be a part of the birth when he is unable to do too much in this process. I had no contractions for a good two minutes, which seemed like forever as the head was already born! With the next contraction, a perfect, plump, and pink little boy had slipped out. When Beth picked him up out of the water to hand him to me, she said, “this is a big baby.” I said, “he is?” He looked no larger to me than my firstborn son. Well, he was not only larger; he was a whopping 1 pound and 3 ounces larger and not only that but almost 3 inches longer! He came in at 9 pounds and 14 ounces, 21 3/4 inches long. Jasper was a beautiful little piggy.
I have now had a third baby, another boy born in 2014. My second birth, was my easiest and quickest even though Jasper was by far my largest baby. It was a wonderful birth experience.
I was pregnant with my second baby and I was 9 days past EDD of April 17th, 2012. Beth and Rachel were both surprised I had gone this long without anything to indicate labor although not concerned. I had had an ultrasound at 30 weeks and they told me the baby weighed close to 5 pounds and were changing my EDD by almost an entire month to March 27th. So, here we were still on schedule, well past March 27th and expecting a big baby. My first baby, Jackson, was 8 pounds 11 ounces.
Other than feeling like the size of a walrus, I was fine with still being pregnant. I have truly wonderful pregnancies; I don’t even miss sleep until the night they are born!
On April 25th, I had an appointment with Rachel and when she felt the head she said he was engaged and so far down she couldn’t move the head at all. So any day now!
On April 26th, at about 8 in the morning, I broke a pocket of water. I called Beth and she told me she would stay close by throughout the day waiting for my updates. I had no contractions but just mild cramping continuing to leak fluid throughout the day. At about 9:00 at night, contractions began at 15 minutes apart, mild but still like clockwork. We called Beth and told her that we were going to try to go to sleep. This of course did not happen and at about 10:00 my husband, Josh, ran me a nice hot bath and I got into my favorite laboring position, for me is the fetal in the tub. The hot water felt so good and immediately eased the frontal cramping that was growing stronger with every contraction. While I labor, I like things to be fairly quiet, I do not talk or make much if any noise, I do not like to be touched. I feel like once I get into ‘Laborland’, it’s just my body and baby doing what it was designed to do. I was able to be in my own little world and talk myself through each contraction waiting on Beth and her assistant Nikki to arrive. If I got the urge to push, I tried to ‘ignore’ it because I did not want to push prematurely. I needed Beth to tell me it was okay and we were ready to go. By 10:30, the contractions were 3 minutes apart and lasting for 45 seconds. Nikki and Beth both arrived by 11:15. The contractions were intense and Beth asked me if I would like to change positions & get out of the tub. I gave her a look of absolutely not although I did give it a try and when I stood up to get out my mucus plug was discharged. I got right back into the same position that I had been in. Beth said it was just fine and she could deliver the baby no problem. Beth never checked my dilation when she came in, it is something that I’ll never forget, she said, “I can tell you are ready, go ahead and push.” At this time, Josh went to go wake up my Mom who lives 5 hours away and missed the birth of her first grandchild. She had come down a week early this time, not wanting to miss the second. 5 people crowded around our bathtub as I began to push. I had a fairly significant tear with my first baby and although I was ready to push, I was very afraid to do so and actually kept my legs closed. Beth talked me through this that if I was to get this baby out I needed to open up. I did and I don’t remember so much pain as I do pressure on my perineum as the baby’s head was being born. The pressure was intense and Beth applied counter pressure to help me stretch. After the baby’s head was born, Beth asked Josh to hold his head so that it remained under the water until the rest of his body was born. This was such a special moment for my husband to be a part of the birth when he is unable to do too much in this process. I had no contractions for a good two minutes, which seemed like forever as the head was already born! With the next contraction, a perfect, plump, and pink little boy had slipped out. When Beth picked him up out of the water to hand him to me, she said, “this is a big baby.” I said, “he is?” He looked no larger to me than my firstborn son. Well, he was not only larger; he was a whopping 1 pound and 3 ounces larger and not only that but almost 3 inches longer! He came in at 9 pounds and 14 ounces, 21 3/4 inches long. Jasper was a beautiful little piggy.
I have now had a third baby, another boy born in 2014. My second birth, was my easiest and quickest even though Jasper was by far my largest baby. It was a wonderful birth experience.