This is the story of the birth of my second child.

My first pregnancy was quite stressful and intense. Not only was I giving birth during the uprise of COVID, but I also developed severe preeclampsia and HELLP syndrome. That is a story for another day, as I still hold a lot of trauma from that experience.

This pregnancy was treated very differently due to the severity of my first pregnancy. I was considered high risk and was seen by high risk doctors throughout the entire pregnancy.

Early on in this pregnancy, we had a bit of a scare during the 12 week appointment. At this appointment, we were excited to learn the gender of the baby. This test not only gave us the gender of baby, but also assessed some genetic markers. Before receiving the results, our technician found a small cyst on the umbilical cord, and noted a higher than average size of baby’s neck. This then prompted the doctors to send us to a geneticist for further testing. This was a scary time for us, as we just prayed for the health of our baby and for me to stay healthy for our baby. We prayed for healing and trust in God that he would bless us with a beautiful baby that we would be the best parents for, regardless of what the tests said. We received the results back and baby was at low risk for genetic abnormalities.

So that continued our high risk journey. We prayed every night to keep baby growing healthy and help keep my blood pressure in normal range. I worked really hard to stay active through my second trimester. Once third trimester came, I still walked and tried to stay active, but I eventually stopped jogging and biking.

As we continued into the third trimester, my doctor had conversations with me about if my blood pressure did begin to rise, we would plan for an induction at 37 weeks. We also discussed my desire to try and have a vaginal delivery. During my first pregnancy, I did not dilate or progress quick enough given how sick I was and how dangerously low my levels were. As long as baby was head down, and I was healthy, he said I could try for a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean).

At around 35 weeks, I started trying to do all kinds of things to prepare my body for a vaginal birth. I drank red raspberry leaf tea, curb walked, had sex, ate spicy foods, ate dates and pineapple. Anything I could find on the internet that said could help you go into labor is what I did! The evening before my 37 week appointment, I found a reflexology video and asked my husband to rub my feet. He was reluctant but did give me a little foot rub, doing some of the techniques shown in the video. Shortly after, he said he was done and didn’t want to do any more foot rubbing (the video cautioned against doing the technique if you were at risk for preeclampsia). It bugged me that he bailed on the foot rub so I went to sleep shortly after.

It was around 2:30 in the morning when I had a feeling I needed to use the bathroom, which was not uncommon for how often I needed to pee anyway. As I sat up in bed, I felt a gush of something. So I quickly shuffled to the bathroom, thinking I might have peed myself.

I very quickly doubted that I actually had an accident so I was thinking my water may have broken. As I walked back to bed, I noticed it wasn’t stopping. I went to my husband and whispered, “I think my water just broke.” Now, my husband sleeps like a rock, not exaggerating, he can sleep through anything. So when I told him my water broke, he didn’t really seem concerned. He said to let him know if it really broke and went back to bed.

I decided to shower and get ready. During my first pregnancy, I was so run down and sick, I had no energy to do my hair or makeup. I was quite literally in survival mode. So since I wasn’t having any contractions and I felt good, I decided to try and put myself together before heading to the hospital. I also didn’t want to wake my toddler if I could wait until my parents woke up for the day and could stay with him, which would have been within the next couple hours.

After I got ready and got everything packed up to go to the hospital, we headed that direction.

I was admitted into triage and they started assessing if it was baby time. They decided I was going to be admitted and baby was coming soon! We were ecstatic! That was until the nurse arrived…

She checked me and said baby was not low and I wasn’t dilated. My blood pressure was also starting to rise and I had slight protein in my urine. It was on early stages of preeclampsia. They said if I waited another week, I would very likely be in a preeclampsia state.

Although I didn’t want that news, I knew there was nothing I could do to stop preeclampsia and the best thing to do was deliver the baby. It wasn’t until the nurse said she didn’t think the doctor on call would allow me to try for a vaginal birth and I was most likely going to have another c-section. I have nothing against having a c-section, but it was a difficult recovery with my first and I just so badly wanted the chance to labor with this delivery. I practically begged the nurse to ask the doctor. When she left the room, I burst into tears. My husband was there to comfort me and give me all the love while we waited for the nurse to return with the news on whether or not I could try and labor.

When she returned and gave us the news that the doctor was totally fine with me trying for a vaginal birth, it felt like a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders.

We got to our room and I was started on Pitocin. I bounced on a ball and walked the halls as we waited for the contractions to intensify. It took a little while, but they eventually had me speechless. I had heard horror stories of women asking for an epidural but then having to wait hours because there were others waiting for the anesthesiologist as well. I decided to request an epidural, in fear I would regret not asking for it sooner.

To my surprise, the anesthesiologist arrived shortly after and gave me an epidural. It took two different tries to get the epidural correct but once it was placed, it was game changing. They decided to place a foley balloon to try and help my cervix dilate. I had a wonderful nurse who said she would be very gentle and patient since this was technically my first vaginal labor, and it could take a while. So we waited.

Since we figured it was going to be a long night of waiting for me to dilate, my husband decided to get a coffee. I thought that was a great idea so he had enough energy to stay up with me. The coffee shop in the hospital was closed so he ran out to a nearby coffee shop.

Shortly after he left, I felt like I needed to use the bathroom. It almost felt like I had to poop or fart. I honestly thought I pooped in the bed. I was mortified. I looked at the sheets and thought I saw what appeared to be poop. So I called my husband and asked him to come back as soon as he could because I needed his help changing the sheets. I was clearly not thinking because I had an epidural and couldn’t move so as the reality of the situation sunken, I decided to call for the nurse.

As I fought the tears of sheer embarrassment, I told the nurse what happened. She was so kind and understanding. But when she checked my bed, she said I had not gone to the bathroom, but rather I was bleeding. She said that was normal with a foley balloon. But I told her I had the feeling of needing to go to the bathroom again so she decided to check me thinking it was odd that I was feeling that way. The foley balloon was only suppose to stay in until I reached 4 centimeters. When she checked me, she yelled out, “You’re complete! Oh my gosh, you’re complete!” This was total surprise since the foley balloon was still in place and it is rare for the baby to descend into the pelvis while the foley balloon is in place. We were part of the few and the balloon had gotten stuck behind baby’s head. Thankfully, it was very easy to deflate the balloon and safely remove it before I started to push.

The nurse ran out of the room and called for the doctor and nurse. People started coming in the room and setting up to have the baby. Everything was moving so fast. It wasn’t until the nurse asked where my husband was that it occurred to me I should call him again. He was still gone getting a coffee. I called and let him know I in fact did not poop myself, but it was actually the baby coming and he needed to get back to the hospital fast. He described the drive as going 60 in a 30. The nurse got my legs in stirrups and asked where he was. I called him again, and he was in the elevator. A couple minutes later, my husband ran in the room, coffee in hand. The nurse handed him my leg and told me to push. It truly felt like a scene out of the movies.

It took maybe 30 minutes of pushing during contractions and baby was here. The nurses and doctors kept telling me I was a great pusher. Such a strange comment but it made me beam with pride. I was even given the opportunity to feel her head while I was in active labor. FYI, it does not feel like what you would expect. Very soft and sponge like.

I felt so blessed to have such a quick and uncomplicated birth. What a different experience it was the second time around.

Sweet baby is healthy and thriving and is the perfect addition to our family.

I partially wrote this to document this amazing moment in our lives but I also hope people reading this feel hope and connection to our story. Every birth experience is so different and even if you experienced trauma once before, does not mean you are destined to have another similar experience. Find your support team and have faith in Gods plan.

Much love,

Stephanie