Hudson's Birth Story

March 1st, a week before his due date, was the first time I felt some contractions that were more than just Braxton hicks, but they only lasted an hour. On the 7th, I woke up in the middle of the night with contractions that were 6-8 minutes apart but fell asleep after a couple hours and woke up to nothing. It was a Saturday and the day before our due date. The pipes of our house were clogged (great timing 😒) so Allen was occupied with that most of the day and Nora and I spent all morning outside playing in the dirt. It was a beautiful, relaxing 60 degree day, aside from the pipe situation. I did the miles circuit in the afternoon and we had Indian food for dinner to try and encourage labor to start (fun fact, we had Indian food on my daughter’s due date and she was also born 2 days later!).

I had some contractions in the early morning of the 8th but they went away again so we went to church and listened to Allen finish up a series that started over a year ago and happened to be ending on our due date! We went for a walk that afternoon and had dinner with Allen’s parents. After we got back from dinner, I started timing some contractions at 7:30pm. Allen put Nora to bed while I showered, finished packing my hospital bag, and laid in bed, realizing baby boy was probably coming soon. I decided we should go to the hospital around 10:45pm, once contractions were about 5 minutes apart and feeling a little stronger. I didn’t want to wait too long since we had almost an hour drive to the hospital in Wenatchee. As Allen was packing up the car, Nora woke up so I got to lay by her one last time before bringing her brother home. 🥺 Our friend/neighbor came over to be with Nora until Allen’s mom could make her way over from their property. 

My contractions seemed to slow down on the drive to the hospital and all I could think about was being nervous that we were going too soon. We arrived to the hospital just before midnight and I was able to answer all the questions while they evaluated things, and the contractions weren’t feeling that strong. I was scared I wasn’t dilated at all but when the midwife checked me at 1am, I was 6cm dilated and 80% effaced! Everyone was shocked based on how I was acting. They then realized how quickly everything might happen and began to get things ready and admit us. They started my antibiotic IV since I was GBS+ and we got settled into our room. It was much more peaceful than Nora’s labor since things weren’t happening as fast and I wasn’t in “labor land” like I was soon after getting to the hospital with her. We got my diffuser and birth playlist with worship music going and the lights were dimmed. Allen and I just hung out with very little interruptions from nurses as I breathed through the contractions and we both tried to sleep off and on. 

Around 5:15am, I had the midwife check me because it didn’t feel like contractions were getting stronger or closer together. To my surprise again, I was 8cm dilated and 90% effaced. She offered to break my water, saying he would probably come within 10 minutes if we did that. I decided to wait a little longer and rubbed some clary sage oil on my belly to see if that would move things along. 

Knowing that there was a shift change coming and my not-so-favorite midwife would be coming on at 7am, I decided to have them break my water around 6:30am. Before doing so, she checked and I was 9cm dilated. Nothing really happened when she broke my water because his head was so low. My contractions maybe got a little stronger but I was still able to talk in between them and was totally coherent. A friend of ours that is a NICU nurse happened to stop in at that point and I chatted with her for a bit. When the new midwife checked me, I was 9.5cm so she suggested I do a sort of runner’s lunge in bed for 3 contractions on each side. This was the first time I needed to focus and be quiet in between contractions and started moaning a little during them. I also sat on the toilet for a couple contractions to see if that would help me fully dilate. While I was in the bathroom, they pulled out a birth stool for me to try, as I had started to feel a little pushy. I sat on it for a couple contractions and tried pushing but wasn’t comfortable on it so decided to get back in the bed on my side. I was too tired to hold myself up and just wanted to lay down. I started pushing around 8:45am, which was the most intense part. Even though I was also unmedicated for Nora’s birth, I don’t really remember how pushing felt. Maybe it was because I was more aware and not so much in labor land this time around or maybe it was because I tore so bad last time and everything was numb from that, but I felt it all this time and it was wild! The midwife helped me with my breathing to reduce tearing and had me pant when I felt the ring of fire. His head was out after a couple pushes but the contraction stopped. She described to me that he was opening his eyes and sticking his tongue out but I could still feel him mostly inside of me and said “I need him out of me” 😅 I then felt his shoulders rotate and pushed him the rest of the way out. 

Hudson was born at 9:07am and the relief I felt was unreal! They placed him on my chest and I looked over to find Allen tearing up. 🩵 We had a golden hour, he latched on great, I pushed the placenta out easily, Allen cut the cord, and they showed us the placenta with the  velamentous cord insertion that we had been keeping an eye on my whole pregnancy. I don’t remember much of that hour with Nora and one of my prayers during this pregnancy was to be more present during labor, which definitely happened! One of my other goals was to not tear because the first time I had 20 stitches for my second degree tears and lost a lot of blood. So I was happy to hear I only had a small first degree tear this time that needed one stitch! The midwife I wasn’t too sure about ended up doing a great job, was very helpful with positioning and breathing, and I felt safe with her. I’m so thankful for another great birth experience; one that was pretty much pain free up until the pushing stage!