Junior’s Birth Story

Junior and Ted had dramatically different entrances into this world. After the experience of Ted’s birth, I spent a lot of my 3rd trimester with Junior preparing for postpartum & recovery. One thing that I did was keep active and take Chester for a walk every day. We walked (waddled) about 1.2 miles on a down & back trail in our town. We started walking the trail at 31 weeks, when Ted was able to go back to daycare. Before that we walked our driveway (0.5 mile down & back) until about 28 weeks, when the 30% incline hill halfway down, became too much. Every single morning, Chester and I would drop Ted off at daycare, then go do our 1 mile walk, including the morning of July 30.

It was later in the afternoon that day that I noticed that every time I stood up from sitting, lifted anything heavy (when I returned from Costco), or otherwise put pressure on my pelvic floor, I had a leaking sensation. I didn’t think that I was peeing myself (although pee leaks happen commonly in pregnancy too), but it also didn’t seem like regular vaginal fluid. So after dinner, I decided that it was time to call the hospital and get a professional opinion. Labor and delivery told me to come in and they’d check me out, if it was a leak in amniotic fluid, I’d be admitted and we’d have a baby within 24 hours! So I gave Ted a hug and kiss, told Michael I’d keep him updated, grabbed my hospital bag, and drove myself in.

Upon my arrival, all of the delivery rooms were full, so I waited in the lobby where families typically wait. It took about 20 minutes for them to finish cleaning a delivery room for me, so I wasn’t checked in until about 8pm. The nurse initially tested the fluid in the pad I was wearing to see if it was indeed amniotic fluid, and the results came back a weak, inconclusive positive. So she did a pelvic exam, with no gushing of fluid, and tested a sample from there. Still inconclusive. She then called the doctor in to take a swab and check it under the microscope, but it took nearly half an hour for him to come in. (Did I mention that L&D was FULL!) He assured me that based on the fact that when pressure was put on the amniotic sack and it didn’t gush, in his experience, it wasn’t likely to be a fluid leak, and that I’d probably be sent home. *Cue staring at the camera like The Office* When he came back (you guessed it) it was indeed amniotic fluid, and we were having a baby!

By now it’s well after 9pm, so I called Michael to update him and tell him that he’d need to find someone to watch Ted because we were having a baby before his mom could arrive the next day. Up to this point the only reason I knew I was having contractions was because the monitor was picking them up, so we had no reason to believe that Little Man was in any kind of hurry. But by 11pm contractions were increasing in intensity and frequency rapidly. So I called Michael, “I don’t think we’re going to make it to morning. I’d hate for you to have to wake someone at 3am because the baby won’t wait. You’d best call now and get Ted set up for the morning.” Our wonderful friends were able to come stay the night and keep an eye on Ted.

Michael arrived at the hospital around 1am, and we bunkered down to get what sleep we could. By 2:30am the contractions were painful enough that it was time for the epidural, but due to the filled-to-capacity L & D, it took the anesthesiologist an hour to get to me. After the meds, I was able to get a few more hours of sleep. (Thankfully!) The nurse told me to call her in when I felt the urge to push. What does that even mean?! With Ted, the epidural was so strong, I couldn’t feel anything so I had no idea what ‘the urge to push’ felt like.

At 6:20am, I realized what she meant. I pushed the call button, and when she did her exam, she said, “Normally I’d have you give a practice push, but don’t. Wait until the doctor gets in here.” Then she hustled out of the room to get the doctor. He came in and was surprised at how far along we were. He got Michael, himself, and the nurse in position, then it was time to push!

6:51am brought Michael Jr into the world. They placed him directly on my chest, and Michael was able to cut the cord. We had an hour of uninterrupted skin to skin time, and they did all of his tests while he was on me. It was a relaxed and peaceful environment.

Jr’s birth was such a huge difference from the emergency, rushed feeling of Ted’s birth. But they did have a few things in common. Both were less than 24 hours from start to finish. Both had about 30 minutes of pushing. Both resulted in a healthy baby.

Top left is Junior. Bottom right is Teddy.