Welcoming our second girl, Eden Grace. Our unmedicated hospital birth story.
09/27, 7:46 am we welcomed our second baby girl into our world. Here is the story of how it happened.
I started having mild inconsistent contractions around 10:15 PM on Tuesday 9/26 but didn't think anything of it and went to sleep. I was then awakened at about 12:15 am on Wednesday with a really long contraction that lasted close to 15 minutes although it was not very intense if was uncomfortable being that long. After it finally subsided, I had a pause for about 15 minutes that is when I called into my hospital where the PA-C said to watch and see if things become consistent.
After I got off the phone, I sat on my couch folding laundry and drinking water, when I noticed some more contractions and decided to download a contraction timer. This helped me notice a pattern in my contractions. They were occurring every 2 minutes and lasting for about 30 seconds each. I then decided to call my hospital back where the PA-C agreed it would be a good idea for me to call my mom since she lives an hour away from me and I needed her to come and watch my older daughter and then we still needed to drive another 40-45 minutes to the hospital.
When we arrived at the hospital and the checked us in the had the nurse check my dilation and we discovered I was at a 7 which was good news because we really didn't want to have to drive home and then come back. They then got us checked into a labor and delivery room where I continued my labor. For this labor I was either leaned over the side of the bed or on hands and knees on the bed leaning over the back and tried hard to sway through each contraction. I also was able to deliver in this position which I was grateful for since I didn't want to deliver on my back. To cope with the pain, I took deep breaths, made low moaning noises, my husband and nurse used counter pressure on my lower back, and we applied a cold washcloth to my forehead and neck for added comfort. Around 7:15 or so I felt the urge to start pushing where I spent about 30 minutes pushing and our second daughter was born safely and healthy and came out crying loudly.
Eden Grace weighed 7 pounds 10 ounces, measured 19 inches long, and was a champ at learning to nurse right from the start. This day is exceptionally special to me because it is my father's birthday who passed away in 2019. To me this feels like a beautiful memorial to my dad, and I think this is a precious way to celebrate his life with a new one he would have loved to meet.
Later that afternoon her big sister can meet her and was so excited she just wanted to hold her and kiss her. This was hard because toddlers are germ buckets and Eden was less than one day old, but I am overjoyed that she loves her sister so much and that their first meeting went well. She was a bit confused at first but warmed up very quickly and was soon nearly inseparable from her.
On our second day in the hospital, they ran their routine tests on Eden, and everything came back good except her bilirubin numbers were slightly elevated. They decided though after the one night and 2 days in the hospital and since we were second time parents, and her pediatrician appointment was set up for the next morning we were both healthy enough to go home. Now reunited with our toddler and pets we are resting and enjoying each other, and everyone loves the new addition to our family!
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