Lucy James’ Birth Story

17

Nov

IN THIS SERIES WE SHARE BIRTH STORIES OF ALL KINDS FROM WOMEN AROUND THE GLOBE — WITH THE HOPE THAT THEY INSPIRE, EDUCATE AND INFORM EXPECTING MOTHERS. INTERESTED IN SHARING YOUR BIRTH STORY? EMAIL US AT INFO@THEMAMANOTES.COM . READ MORE BIRTH STORIES HERE

So excited to welcome my friend and fellow blogger, Natalie as she shares the birth story of her beautiful baby girl born just over 2 weeks ago!

Mama’s Name: NATALIE
Baby’s Name: LUCY JAMES
Birth Date: OCTOBER 30, 2017
Birth Size: 7 LBS 15 OZ, 19.25 INCHES

This was my second pregnancy, so I definitely had an idea of what I was getting myself into with labor and delivery. With my son, I had been induced a week after his due date and pushed for what felt like eternity to get him into the world. I didn’t feel anxious about birth the second time around, but definitely was curious if I’d need another induction or if I’d go into labor on my own. Due on Halloween, I told myself I was having this baby in November so I wouldn’t even consider October as an option and feel like I was waiting the whole month for her to be born. But sure enough, this little lady had a different idea and made her way into the world differently than her brother did!

It all started around 3am when I woke up to what I later realized was a mild contraction. I went back to sleep, but then another one came. Again back to sleep, then another. I decided to start timing them with an app and soon realized that a pattern was developing. They weren’t super consistent, but generally 5-10 minutes apart and 30 seconds to 1 minute long.

After texting one of my best friends (who is a mom of 3 and went to nursing school!), I realized I should call the doctor and see what the next steps were. Since I wasn’t in pain yet and the contractions were still developing their pattern, they suggested I stay home a bit longer to be sure it wasn’t false labor. So my husband Brian and I decided to let my parents stay at our house with our 3 year old son Jack and went out for a walk to get things moving along. It was actually such a nice way to start off what ended up being our baby girl’s birthday!

I eventually got uncomfortable enough that we decided to drive towards hospital. It was right around when rush hour was about to start and we figured it was better to be close by. Since my parents were already here to watch Jack, we packed up the car with our hospital bags and headed over there.

By the time we arrived it was around 8am and they did a quick cervical check in between contractions—I was at 4cm and 80% effaced. Since I was still able to fairly comfortably talk through contractions, they had me walk around the halls for a while to move things along further before admitting me. They told us to wander around for an hour, but within 30 minutes the contractions were INTENSE and coming quicker and quicker so we came back to the room to get checked again, and found that I had progressed to 6cm. They got me admitted right away, and since I wanted an epidural they called the anesthesiologist to come meet me in my room when he was available.

From that point it took about 45 minutes to get the epidural and my contractions got INTENSE, rolling one into the other so fast I felt like there weren’t any breaks. I definitely didn’t experience contractions like that with my son Jack! Thankfully the anesthesiologist was speedy once he got there and I got to rest for a little while as the epidural settled in and gave me some relief from the contractions.

Around 10:45am the nurse checked me again and I was 10cm and fully dilated. She called in the midwife to get things started and told us we would meet our baby by 11:15am. We were skeptical because I had pushed for 4.5 hours with Jack, but they ended up being right!! I started pushing at 11:00am, and she was out in 3 sets of pushes by 11:13am, measuring 7 lbs 15 oz and 19.25 inches.

The quickness of the delivery was insanely surreal. I was in disbelief at how fast everything unfolded that morning and that I was literally holding my daughter already!! I had been convinced she was going to be born in November, but there she was—my October baby! Born on October 30th, on my grandmother’s 94th birthday. It really was just so perfect. Jack couldn’t wait to hold her when he came to visit in the hospital—he’s such a proud big brother! We are so happy to be home now and settling in as a family of 4, absolutely over the moon in love with our new baby girl.

Motherhood

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Lucy James’ Birth Story

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