Dante’s Birth Story Part 2

A few hours went by and I started to feel my contractions again. Stronger and stronger. The epidural seemed to only be working on my right side. The anesthesia crew came in and gave me another bolster of pain meds. Better.

My midwife came in to check on me and said I still had to wait. She said delivery would be a breeze because it was my second baby.  Well after feeling like I was in labor for a month that was so great to hear. Once I was admitted into the hospital I was not allowed to eat or drink anything except ice chips.

I tried to take a nap.  I knew I was in for a long night ahead.  I started to doze and about 25 minutes later my water broke.  No more nap! I knew that things would progress quicker now.  A few hours later and it was time to push.

Since I had a wonderful experience delivering Max, combined with the fact that every doctor, nurse and midwife informing me that the second time around is much easier, I was not nearly as scared to give birth.  An hour or two of huffing and puffing and I was really starting to get tired.  I was actually trying to doze off between pushes!

Suddenly alarms began to sound and a few new nurses appeared in the room. My stomach dropped.  What was happening? My husband looked like he was going to pass out.  I was a wreck. The doctor said I was contracting every 30 seconds which was causing the baby’s heart rate to act up. I had to stop pushing and they placed a monitor on baby’s head. About a half hour later, my contractions had calmed down and the baby’s heart became more regulated. I was allowed to push again. I didn’t feel like the baby was moving anywhere. Then the pain started to return. Intensely. This wasn’t happening!  I began to get upset and really frustrated. Not only did I feel like I wasn’t getting any closer to meeting this baby, but I have been in active labor for hours.  I hated that I went through the nervousness and drama of getting an epidural for it to not work. This labor and delivery was mentally and physically breaking me down.

All I kept hearing in the back of my head was every doctor and nurse telling me how easy a second baby’s delivery was going to be. Ha! I wanted to let them all know just how easy of a time I was having.

My husband was a wonderful support and my biggest cheerleader. Thank God he was there by my side.  I did not want to be in pain anymore and I wanted to meet my baby. I knew it was going to get worse before it gets better.  I had to dig deep.  Much heavy breathing and some yelling later, I felt relief. He was finally here. The midwife placed a plump baby boy on my chest.

I don’t remember him crying, I don’t remember the afterbirth, I don’t remember feeling any pain after that point…I do remember how he immediately cuddled up to me. I felt an instant bond with him. Like we have both been waiting for that one moment forever.

All of my fears that I wouldn’t be able to love another baby like I do my first or that I wouldn’t have enough for both kids had immediately vanished.  Here is a clip of Max meeting Dante for the first time…

So I apologize in advance if you follow me on Instagram for the influx of pictures of my babies, but they are my pride and joy.  Seeing them together and seeing how Max loves Dante turns me to a puddle of mush.

Welcome to the world little love…

To read Max’s birth story click here.   To see more photos, check out my Instagram here.