Labour Story Charlotte (2nd Baby)

Second time around was not as dramatic and nearly not as painful. It was surprisingly easy going. We even got a few naps in during the whole process.

Sister love

Siblings meeting for the first time

So to begin, I was getting quite a few false labour contractions this time around. I was 1cm dilated for a while which doesn’t mean much and I got very mild Braxton Hicks with the first so these intense ‘feels like I’m going into labour’ contractions were confusing to say the least. They would start building up, getting closer together and more painful for a couple hours and then stop! Note: few times that they got intense were post sex. So even though it helps to jumpstart the process if you are not ready.. you are not ready. Suffice it to say I went to the hospital a couple times prematurely. But to reiterate, better to be safe than sorry. And of course once I got checked into the hospitals my contractions would slow down. It is all part of the process of getting your body ready for labour.

I did get a stretch and sweep a week before due date. It started some contractions, but died down after a couple hours. I did another stretch and sweep on my due date. A few contractions after, but nothing progressed again.

One evening, four days past due date, I started feeling those false labour contractions. But quick to not think anything of it because of all the previous duds. They were uncomfortable, but not painful that I couldn’t go to bed. I woke up a few times with some discomfort from these cramps, but would quickly fall back asleep and think nothing of it. I was pretty exhausted. By 3am, I woke up to go to the bathroom (as all pregnant ladies frequently do) and I noticed blood post wipe. Checked the toilet and saw blood. Lots of it! Like first day of period amount. I was nervous of course, but still unsure if I should go to the hospital. I woke up my husband and he didn’t seem too worried since a) he didn’t see how much blood and b) we had a few false alarms before. We decided to wait for a bit and keep an eye on contractions. Still might just be early labour. Right around this time I started feeling more painful cramping. After some time, I had to go to the bathroom again. Again more blood. Significant amount. So I told my husband we were going to the hospital. I started panicking about how much blood was coming out. I put on a pad and told him to bring the hospital bag (even though he was out of it and was like ‘are you sure? - Uh Yes I’m f-king sure). They checked us in, but took us about an hour to see someone. In the meantime I kept cramping and kept an eye on my contractions which were about 5-1-1 but inconsistent and the pain was manageable. We were staying at my moms down the road from the hospital so we just snuck out to the hospital (so my mom wouldn't be stressing all night) and texted my mom closer to the morning we were at the hospital since my daughter was sleeping upstairs bedroom adjacent to them.

When the doctor came to check, I was already 5cm dilated! They said the bleeding was probably going from 1cm->5cm in such a short time span. The doctor gave us 2 options. Wait around for the contractions to progress like I said they were a bit irregular. Or get admitted, get an epidural if that was the plan which it was and break the water to quicken contractions. I wasn't in that much pain so I hesitated a bit on getting epidural etc. But long term, I would eventually want to get one and second time around you don’t know how fast things will progress until you get to a point where you can’t get one anymore. SO I decided on option A.

I got a room and a nurse. Anethesiologst came. He seemed a bit drunk which was nerve-racking. But found out he was just ending 30 hr shift and was part of his personality - still not that much more comforting. But got my epidural safely. After that it was pretty chilled. We both took naps, waited around. No issues with babies heart rate. Nurse checked on us, but not as often as the first time around. Dylan seemed bored lol. They did break the waters soon after epidural, but it didn’t seem to help with contractions. Honestly with my first I also had irregular contractions. SO after a bit they put pitocin in my IV. That seemed to help with my contractions and they started getting bigger. I was in labour for about 8hr since the 3am mark. I started to feel pressure down there like the baby was going to come out so I asked the nurse to check. She said I was 8cm so I still had some time. Since I thought I had some time and I wanted to avoid feeling any pain since I was starting to feel some pain with the increase in pressure and contractions, I topped up my epidural.

Nurse comes back 30 minutes later and says baby is ready to come out! But I couldn’t feel anything! I was pretty useless. I tried pushing, but it wasn’t working. SO we waited another 30minutes. Now I was able to push. I pushed for 3 minutes, baby was out! It was a girl! Dylan was about to say it’s a boy since she was so big. Charlotte Maria Burt 8lbs 6oz.

Charlotte nursed no problem about 5 -10minutes after being born.

We shortly had Brooklyn come after to meet her new baby sister since she was staying at my moms down the street. She was so happy and was surreal seeming them meet. Brooklyn quickly learned to be super gentle with her sister and loved her instantly.