It's been two weeks and three days since I gave birth to our second daughter, Bailey Ann. I finally had a chance to write her birth story and I am ready to share it with you all!
They
say that with the second pregnancy the labor is easier, less painful. They
lied. They say that with the second birth of your child you feel just as much
joy, peace, and love for the second born. They definitely told the truth. I
never dreamed that I would get pregnant so quickly after having a baby so it
was a total shock when we saw those two pink lines again and Bria was only 10
months old. Did I love every minute of this pregnancy? I could say yes, but
that wouldn’t be telling the truth. This pregnancy was hard. It was difficult
at times, but the fact that there was another little human growing inside of me
was a true blessing and each day I felt more and more love growing. It was
almost as if my heart grew double in size to hold the love that I had for our
second child.
Our
second born, our surprise shining star, Bailey Ann Shultz was born on July 14,
2012 at 8:08am weighing in at 7 lbs. 12 oz. This is her story…
You
see I had it in my head that this pregnancy and birth would be even easier and
faster than my first. I was wrong. It was four days until my due date and still
no baby! On Friday July 13, 2012
we decided to walk, walk, walk. We went around Ward Lake (a local park here in
Ketchikan) and walked pretty briskly. We came home and had dinner. Around 7:00
I started having contractions. Very mild contracts, but they were consistent
for about 3 hours at 20 minutes apart (I was getting a little worried because
they weren’t getting any closer).
I finally went to bed at 10:00.
I wasn’t feeling the contractions anymore. I remember feeling pretty
upset that they weren’t coming on stronger and more frequently. I closed my
eyes and went to sleep.
Around
12:00am I woke up with my pj’s wet. Not soaked, but wet and damp. I remember
feeling so embarrassed and thinking Oh my
gosh! I peed myself! I got up
went to the bathroom and changed my pajamas and after woke Clint up. “Honey, I
think my water broke a little” He sat up in bed and said, “What time is it?” I
told him it was 12:00. Once he got his bearings, he asked me what happened. I
told him again that I think my water broke just a little bit. “What does that
mean?” he asked. I told him I needed
to call the birthing center and see if we have to go in. While I was on the
phone, Clint started googling it (don’t you love google?). We came to the conclusion that we
needed to go in to the hospital and get checked.
We
woke Clint’s mom up and we got our bags and Bria and headed into town. It’s
about a 20-minute drive from our house to the hospital. While Clint was
driving, I called my mom, my cousin Starla, my sisters Jamie and Alexis and
told them we were going in to get checked. We arrived at the hospital around
1:00. I changed in to their ugly gowns and when I came back, Starla was already
there!
The
nurse came in and put the monitor’s on my stomach and asked if I wanted an IV
(for pain meds if I needed them) I told her no. I wanted to give birth
naturally and I knew if I had the IV in me, I would ask for the meds and it
wasn’t what I wanted. Also, I had a preconceived notion that this labor was
going to be easy like the first one. She also gave me some paper work to fill
out while we wait for results. They needed to get a culture sample of the water
that broke to make sure everything was okay with the baby. So they did some tests. The test will
determine if the water was a high leak and if they needed to keep me, or if I
needed to go home.
Around
2:00 my parents and sisters came in and the tests came back that it was indeed,
my water breaking. At this point, the contractions were about 10 minutes apart
and lasting for about a minute. They were still not too intense, but I was
getting to the point where I had to breathe through them and concentrate. Time
was going by super fast for me and by the time the contractions where getting
consistent, my midwife came in to check my progress. At 4:15 I was only dilated
2 cm. and was softening. Just to let you know, I was dilated 1 cm 2 weeks ago
so it wasn’t very good progress (of course this is in comparison to my last
pregnancy). I was now contracting
every 6 minutes very strongly for about a minute at a time.
The
nurses had two other women in labor at the same time! They were under staffed
and there wasn’t much checking on my progress since it was going so slowly.
Clint and Bria along with Clint’s parents went into the waiting room because
Bria was now wide-awake talking and playing. My sisters fell asleep on the
floor while my cousin Starla, Mom and Dad talked amongst themselves while I was
concentrating on relaxing during my contractions. It was comforting listening
to their conversations and getting my mind off of the pain.
It
was about 6:30 in the morning when the nurse asked me if I would like to take a
shower, usually showers stimulate the contractions to get them going stronger
and faster. So I took a warm shower, and around 7:00 they asked if I would like
to jump into the Jacuzzi. I said yes. As soon as I got in the tub, they
immediately told me to get out because I was lying in bleach water. What? I guess a nurse forgot to drain the bleach
water before leaving. I rushed out and took another shower to get the bleach
off of me. Between going back and forth between my room and the room where the
Jacuzzi was, I wasn’t able to concentrate on relaxing. At all. It was getting a
little bit more painful. Actually at this point, I think I was grunting when a
contraction came!
Finally
at about 7:15 I was able to get back into the Jacuzzi tub. It wasn’t 10 minutes
later when I felt this huge pressure in my lower abdomen. So much pressure that
I began to scream! Immediately my mom and Starla ran out of the room and three
nurses and my midwife came rushing in. They quickly threw a sheet over me and
put me in a wheel chair and brought me back to my room.
This
was it. Oh gosh it was painful. I started pushing when I felt the urge. I kept
pushing and pushing, but nothing was happening. My midwife told me, “Tory, you
have to push like your life depends on it!” That right there scared me. I
pushed as hard as I could and felt some relief. I guess the baby’s umbilical
cord was wrapped around her neck. I pushed again and she came out! I was done.
Our baby girl was here. We are a family of four!!
Right
after She was born, they put her in my arms; this tiny little purple baby was ours
(she was very, very purple-I guess the umbilical cord was wrapped around her
neck just once but very tightly). Bailey Ann Shultz was 7lb. 12 oz of pure
goodness and was resting on me for about an hour and a half before they cleaned
her off and checked her. Of course they wiped her down a little bit, but I was
in heaven on earth with my new daughter and family surrounding me. Clint was by
my side right after the birth, stroking my hair and admiring God’s newest gift
to us. After a little while later, he looks at me after he takes a big whiff
and says, “honey, she kind of stinks.” I laughed and asked him to remember
where she came from! He smiled and kissed me and at this moment, Bria came and
wanted to see her sister. I remember distinctly that as soon as Bria saw
Bailey, she started saying, “baby! Baby!” over and over again. Bria kept
smiling and point…We were all smiling…
The
nurse came in to check over Bailey, and Clint never left her side. He followed
her everywhere while I got some rest. Everyone went home and slept for a while
and that day it was just the four of us, just my perfect family that God has
blessed me with. Bailey Ann Shultz, welcome to the world darling… You are going
shine!
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