The Birth of our Second Daughter

TRIGGER WARNING! Mention of bleeding, miscarriage, anxiety, throwing up, labor, delivery and surgery.

We wanted our children to be relatively close in age. Our first daughter was older (she wasn’t even two!), we were “experienced parents” at this point, all of the chaos of taking care of a baby was fading, so the itch to start trying for another baby; to give our first baby a sibling, began. Again, determined not to have another winter baby and not be super pregnant in the heat of summer, we used conception calculators, tracked my very regular periods and started trying in July of 2021. We got a positive pregnancy test in August. I was super excited that our timing finally worked out and we would be getting a Springtime baby! But the pregnancy test was very faint and didn’t get progressively darker when I took additional tests in the days to follow. I called my OB to set up an appointment as soon as I got the first positive. Then sometime in September, I started bleeding, like I was getting my period, and I knew this wasn’t a good sign. I called my OB and they said some bleeding was normal and it might just be implantation. But I had a gut feeling that this wasn’t the case. I ended up going to the emergency room and getting an internal ultrasound that confirmed I was indeed having a miscarriage. We took a break from trying for a little while to heal from the loss even though it was really early and more so a spontaneous abortion (My body determined the pregnancy was most likely not going to result in a healthy baby and did what it is supposed to do to naturally stop things from progressing too far before potential complication could happen). These types of things are way more common than most people realize! And we probably only knew because we were actively trying to conceive and taking pregnancy tests as early as possible. I went on vacation to Las Vegas and Utah in October with my family. Then in December, we conceived our rainbow baby due August 15, 2022 (My grandma’s birthday)! The pregnancy anxiety was REAL!!!! I was so nervous about having another miscarriage. But, as I kept taking tests, they got increasingly darker as the HCG levels in my body increased day by day and I didn’t have a strange gut feeling like I did just before the miscarriage. I switched OB practices; to one I felt was more VBAC friendly, since that was my goal for delivery. I got sick fairly early on and so did my toddler so I’m not sure if that was morning sickness, a stomach bug, or a combination of both. Then a couple months later, I got Covid. My OB had me get antibody infusions and start taking baby aspirin to support the placenta from any potential complications from Covid. I craved strawberry lemonade. We didn’t find out the gender before delivery again, but we did get an elective, 3D ultrasound around 25 weeks. It was so cool and a nice experience for soon-to-be big sister. As my due date approached, me and baby were still healthy. I was getting regular massages throughout my pregnancy. I went to a few chiropractor appointments while I was pregnant. I was shocked at the difference in my OB care since this pregnancy wasn’t labeled high risk and it seemed like was given more freedom and space for things to progress naturally. At my OB appointment on August 5, they offered a membrane sweep, which I consented to because it was Summer, it was hot, I was super pregnant and willing to do anything to kick start labor to avoid another induction, like last time. But their attempts failed because my cervix was still too tight, thick, and high. My body and baby weren’t ready yet. I went to my first acupuncture appointment on August 11. It was interesting but relaxing as well. I think it caused some cramping that weekend. Then those fizzled out, so I hiked up mountains to try to induce labor naturally. At my 40-week appointment, I agreed to schedule a c-section for 42 weeks (August 29, 2022) as a just in case, backup plan. The week before my due date I was getting prodromal labor. I would do Mile’s circuit and start getting contractions when I would lay down in bed, but then they would eventually go away. I had a normal NST on August 19, 2022. I think I went into labor around 9 pm on August 21. The contractions were similar to the prodromal labor but didn’t go away, so I think we ended up going to the hospital around midnight. I labored in the triage room for a few hours because they wanted to make sure I was actually progressing before moving to an actual labor room. They checked my cervix and determined I was progressing, but they wanted to get an ultrasound to confirm that baby was head down (I knew baby was head down. I was scanning myself regularly throughout my pregnancy and had known she was head down for a while now). The provider was having difficulty, so I said, “Can I please scan myself”? They agreed, and it was determined that I was right; she was still head down. I made little progress, but still progress so they got me back to a labor room. I was coping well, breathing through contractions for awhile, but wasn’t progressing much and I was starting to get tired and the pain was getting to me so I requested the nitrous oxide gas. That helped to take a little of the edge off, but I was still in pain with each contraction, so I opted for the fentanyl. That just knocked me out and I labored in bed, asleep for a little while. When that wore off, I opted for the epidural. I had my nurse move me in different positions with the peanut ball. When they checked me again, they said baby’s forehead was presenting instead of the crown of their head. They broke my water to see if that would speed things along. I stalled at 7 cm again and it was off to the operating room… again. Our second daughter was born on August 23, 2022, at 1:07 am weighing 8 lbs. 12 oz and 21 inches long. I was disappointed to have another c-section but I was proud of my body for going into labor on its own. I was able to see more of the delivery because they had a clear drape but didn’t appreciate the medical teams’ conversation about how fast the doctor was able to perform the surgery and when he held her up, he wasn’t mindful of my condition (I was throwing up) before asking if I wanted to give her a kiss through the drape. I was able to breastfeed in the recovery room and baby girl latched like a champ! Recovery was fairly smooth and the rest is history.