Delivery

This labor was completely different than Lia’s labor! We were all a little on edge about how this labor and delivery would go considering how fast and intense Lia arrived. With the theory that each labor has the common potential to go faster than the first, we all weren’t sure what to expect but we wanted to take every precaution just in case. When David and I toured the Atlanta Birth Center and decided this would be where we delivered baby number two we came up with a game plan to ensure I wouldn’t give birth en route. The Birth Center is about 35 minutes from us without traffic so we planned to just head to the center once contractions picked up and depending on the time of day hang out in the area.

Well the day of August 14th, Mom, Lia and I decided to run to Costco and the grocery store. We have been literally trying EVERYTHING they say you can try (except for eating eggplant parmesan) to help labor get started. By now I had had two different days of false labor (contractions that get more intense but ween off and eventually stop) so I had already thought labor would start and it didn’t. This many days after my due date I was getting annoyed, frustrated, uncomfortable, and we had already eaten the first round of food we had stocked up on. So to the stores we went.

Around 4pm I started having cramps while at Costco. These occurred about every half hour or so and continued into the evening, getting more intense every so often. Once we got home and rested they calmed down but proceeded to pick back up after dinner. Contractions got more intense around 8pm and we started monitoring their progress more intently. At about 11pm we called the midwives and we all agreed since I was contracting about every 4 to 5 minutes, we should head in. We let Mom know and kissed Lia and left. David and I arrived at the Atlanta Birth Center at 12:30am and our Doula arrived to join us at around 1 am.

After some basic monitoring and a check of my dilation I was only at about 1 cm so we were given a room to relax in and ‘wait it out.’ The midwife came in at 4 am and rechecked my progress which by then had gotten me to 3/4cm so we were officially admitted for labor (again going on my labor history from Lia). We all had no idea what the next hours would entail!!

Contractions intensified and I got into the birthing tub around 6am after throwing up a few times (a sign that transition into active labor is occurring) and progressing to about 7 cm. After some time labor actually slowed down and the progress completely dropped. I felt so defeated and tired at this point! Labor had been going for so long that the midwife and nurse shifts actually changed. I decided to get out of the tub in case the water was the reason for the delay. The midwife had me lay down for a while to get my body some rest. Around 9am we decided to try puncturing my water to get progress going again. This really did kick it in gear! Extremely intense contractions followed and we were finally getting somewhere again. I got back into the birthing tub around 10:45am and after some intense pushing Nora was born at 11:09am to music and a slight daylight coming in the windows. Once she came out it took a bit to get her breathing, we rubbed her back intensely and covered her with blankets. Just when we were all starting to get a little worried and they were about to put her on oxygen the midwife noticed a knot in the umbilical cord. When she loosened it Nora took a deep breath and started to cry and we all took a huge sigh along with her.

David cut Nora’s umbilical cord and I double checked that she was in fact a girl (haha, we just started calling her Nora before checking). David got ready to hold his second daughter for the first time weighing in at 7 pounds 0.5 ounces and 21 inches long.

Nora’s birth was intense, long, and not anything I would have expected but I am beyond grateful for the way that it went. Her head is perfectly round which means that she spent little to no time ‘waiting’ in my hip cavity before delivery. The midwives theory is that Nora and/or my body knew that due to the knot in her cord, if she had dropped further down into my hips like a typical delivery she may not have had the luck that we had in her arrival and ultimately her survival.

Upon arriving home Lia was introduced to Nora and she was SO excited and gentle. We just know she will be an amazing big sister! We are in love and looking forward to the adventure ahead as a family of four.