My super quick 2nd birth-TMI PIC OF BREASTFEEDING

In a previous post I told how my water broke at my 38 week appointment while waiting for the midwife to come into the room around noon. Following that unexpected turn of events, my labor decided it would not start on its own. The L&D midwife wanted to begin pitocin, but as this was my 2nd child and I delivered my first completely naturally, I knew I wanted to do whatever I could to achieve the same result again.

So we walked for an hour, I bounced on my birthing ball, and seemed little progress was being made. The nurse came in and said once the midwife finished delivering another baby, we would start the pitocin. Maybe it was fear of the drug or sheer determination, but my labor suddenly started within minutes of her walking out and it had started hard. When she returned I was in the full throws of shaking, swaying, and needing the stand and squat with every contraction. A cervix check revealed that I had progressed from a stretchy 4 to a 7 with in an hour of a previous exam.

With that the need for pitocin was no longer there and she left me and my husband to labor on our own. An hour later, she returned and immediately left to get the midwife because I was on all fours and feeling the urge to push with every contraction.

From here everything happened so fast I barely could take it all in. But as everything was being set up I began to bare down and lose faith in my ability to bring my sweet girl into the world. Thankfully my husband held my hand tight and gave me the strength and encouragement I needed to push only three times before I felt the relief of my little one on my chest.

Addison Rosalie came into the world at 10:30 pm on July 7. She was 8 lbs exactly and 20 inches long. Our little family is finally complete!