No better way to get back to blogging than starting with my second baby boys birth story. Jaxson Andrew Brady was as punctual as they get. He came earth side on his DUE DATE. March 30th, 2018. Who does that?! Its a pretty low statistic. I am forever anticipating this will be a part of his personality as he grows up. I was guesstimating he would come on the full moon a few days later like his big brother, but he had other plans in mind. It all started on a Thursday, when I was having my weekly midwife visit at 40 weeks very pregnant. We chose to have a second all natural birth, using the same Birth Center and mid wife who brought our first son into this world. We talked about all the options and next steps if this baby boy was still cozy in my tummy come a week later. I opted for the membrane sweep, that day, to see if it would jump start labor. With my first this procedure did nothing, he then decided to stay an extra 8 days cozy in the womb. And such is his personality, two years later he beats to his own drum and does everything on his own time, as he came earth side 8 days late on summer solstice and a full moon. Read his story here.
So we did the membrane sweep, and I got my very pregnant self back in the car to drive 45mins back to where we were living at the time. Along the drive home I was having consistent braxton hicks that started to intensify to what felt more like contractions. Mind you I had been having pre labor contractions for months so it didn't alarm me, but of course I was hopeful. And by about 35min of this I decided to call my husband and give him a heads up. Got home, called my midwife and packed our bags to go have us another baby boy! Labor was progressing, but I still did all I could to get it going faster, walking circles around the center, pumping, and eventually I took a mixed herb tincture that promotes labor. My problem wasn't labor, it was just the speed of it, as my midwife had somewhere to be at a certain time and I was NOT going to have another midwife come in mid way. I wanted to work with MY midwife. After about 3hours and 7cm dilated my midwife broke my water, just as the same as my first. Did you know it's actually not very common for your water to break on its own, AND the contractions get more intense post water breaking. Once my water broke I got in the tub, as we were having another water birth, plus hot/warm water is a great natural pain reliever. Once I took the tincture that really got things moving. Here came the moo-ing. YUP, it's true, mooing like a cow. It helps open everything up down there. Naturally you want to tighten up and scream when your in pain, but that doesn't help birth, it just prolongs it and actually makes it hurt more. For some reason my transition time during birth is ALWAYS LONG. And your transition time is the most painful. BOTH labors I transitioned for about a full 4 hours, even though my second birth was 1/2 the time as my first. Go figure! Once I was through transition it was time to push. Once my body was ready it started naturally pushing my baby out, but for some reason I hesitated on the first push. The next contraction I started pushing along with the contractions. And 8min, 6 pushes later beautiful Jaxson Andrew was born earth side!!! A hell of a lot easier than his big bro, who had me pushing for 2 full hours! He was a beautiful 8.2lb 21 inches full of baby!!! Once he was out things did get a little crazy. My midwife starting sternly and eventually yelling for the clamp for the imbecile cord. She made sure to not alarm us as much as possible and told us to trust her and everything was ok. Still the commotion was a little un easy as we had no idea what was going on, especially since I had had an issue with low platelets both births. Low platelets means your blood is thin and can cause excessive bleeding. Once they got the cord clamped she explained to me that the cord was extremely short and thin, and it broke once Jaxson was placed on my chest. So all the sudden there was ton of blood and they didn't know why or where it was coming from, she drained the tub instantly and realized it was the cord. There is still no explanation nor has there been an issue with my cord being short and thin, it's a bit of mystery since the cord and placenta tend to tell a story as to how healthy the mothers is. And with my first I had an impressively large placenta and cord. Very weird, but I guess there is a reason he came out when he did. He had a little bit of a hard time breathing once out, just as our first did, but a little suction and breathing treatment is all he needed. He was given to Daddy quickly after so I could be cleaned up and prepped to deliver the placenta out of the water. But right after, Jaxson and I bonded over breastfeeding as long as we could. It's definitely an experience giving birth the second time, almost weirder than the first in my opinion. This time you know what to expect so it's almost more nerve racking, and once you give birth it's a whole other tiny human that you've created, after you have gotten use to your ONE child. It was so emotional knowing I had grown this beautiful baby boy and that I was now a Mama X2. I really couldn't wait to get back home to show our first son his new brother. Something I love about natural births out of the hospitals is that you get to go home within hours of giving birth. Some may like the extra stay but I love being home in my own bed with my family. So we were able to leave the Birth Center 3 hours after giving birth. Jaxson's birth was a total of 9hrs, 4hrs in transition, and only 8min of pushing. Giving birth all-natural is no walk in the park, but it is the only way I would do it as long as possible medically. Every time during active labor, especially during transition I wish for an epidural, but post birth I am so elated I stuck to my birth desires. All I can ever tell Mama's and to-be Mama's is research, educate yourself, and go with your gut. And always always, a healthy Mama and baby is what matters most, no matter your birth plan or birth outcome. My MUST birth resources are: The business of being born, documentary The bradley method classes Ina May's guide to Childbirth
1 Comment
Gloria Peterson
7/22/2018 04:53:09 pm
Beautiful story!
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