The decision was made and the next step was the foley bulb. Due to having a previous c-section there are only a few options available to get the cervix ready. My doctors preferred the foley bulb. Having the foley bulb placed hurt just as much as getting your cervix checked early in labor. It did not feel good but it was not near as painful as had been explained to me. I spent the entire day with the foley bulb resting on my cervix and the tube taped to my leg. It never fell out on its own. When they came to my room to pull it out I did not have my hopes high. If it had helped my cervix in any significant way it should have come out on it’s own. When they checked my cervix post foley bulb I was only 1 cm dilated. Having been a labor a delivery nurse in my past, I took that as no change. All the providers’ fingers are different sizes so a finger tip to one could be 1 cm dilated to another. They did note that my cervix was thinner which is also a goal of the foley bulb so there was that at the very least.

The next step was to start Pitocin. I had the foley bulb placed during the day (despite what my OB doc and I wanted) because the anesthesiologist team had requested they be in house in case I needed an emergency c-section. Otherwise, in most cases, the foley bulb is placed at night and you can sleep through it. In fact, I have heard that low risk mamas get the foley bulb placed and then go home with it in. What this meant for me was Pitocin was going to be started at bedtime. Just like with my first baby (who was medically induced) the Pitocin kicked me into a regular, strong contraction pattern right away. I will say I was handling the pain much better than I did with my first baby and when they came to my room to discuss the plans I told them I would allow my water to be broken before getting the epidural. They checked my cervix which was at 2 cm dilated and then called the doctor to break my water. The nurse came back to tell me the doctor had decided not to break my water until morning. I still had several hours until then and though I was managing the pain better than I expected I was tired and worried that if something went wrong I was going to be put under general anesthesia if the epidural was not in. Maybe I jinxed myself with that mind set because it did not take long after the epidural for things to get wonky.

First thing that happened was my systolic blood pressure fell into the 80s. This was not a huge concern for me because I was not symptomatic and I normally run in the 90s so it was not a significant drop. I had a newer nurse however who started to panic. I would rather a nurse be reactive than brush it off so I didn’t think much of her flooding me with fluid to get my pressure back up. A more experienced nurse advised her not to give any medication for it because I was not symptomatic. I felt totally normal. As she battled my blood pressure baby started only liking certain positions I was in. In labor they want you changing positions to get pressure on the cervix. I was becoming limited on positions as baby’s heart rate dropped with contractions. We did have a solid hour of a happy baby again so the midwife that works with the obstetrics team came into break my water. Call me weird but that was a cool feeling when the water gushed out. When my water was broken with my first baby there was barely any in there, hence why I had to be induced. This time there was A LOT! My socks were soaked. My bed sheets were changed multiple times; just a bizarre feeling, even if you have an epidural placed.

As the Pitocin dose increased and with a broken water sack, baby lowered and I started feeling pressure in my butt. With the pressure from baby’s head came more problems. Each contraction started affecting baby’s heart rate again. This time it was not correcting itself with any position change. The midwife placed some internal monitors to have a more accurate reading and it showed the same results. This is where I can pretty much copy and paste my first labor into this one. An upset baby led to an upset cervix and I started to swell down there. I was 3cm dilated but a swollen cervix makes it feel like you are closing up. This is the same thing that happened last time but I had gotten to 5cm with baby number one. So here I was again with a dropping heart rate and a swollen cervix. I had already messaged my mom and sisters and told them I thought I was headed for a c-section but the midwife hadn’t called it yet. Once the midwife felt my cervix and confirmed with the internal monitors that something was not right she asked me if I was ok to go back for the surgery. My exact words: “I have already had a c-section so the pressure is off. Let’s get this baby out safely.”

As we waited for the teams to arrive and all the prep that comes with the surgery. Rob was given his attire and the midwife explained to me there might be something internally with my hips that does not let baby come down correctly. This being the thought because I literally had the exact same thing happen with my first labor. To have this happen twice the same way seemed like more than just an occult prolapsed cord which was how my first labor ended. We thought I was a great VBAC candidate because my first daughter’s labor came to a halt with an occult prolapsed cord despite all the other issues, but when the same scenario started to play out again it seemed there was more to it than that.

Things did not go as planned obviously, but we have another little girl here and healthy. It was the recovery from the surgery that I dreaded the most rather than the actual procedure. I would say I did a better job of managing my pain this time, but I was very swollen from all the fluids I was given. I was given fluids for my blood pressure and more fluids when her heart rate started to teeter. Plus then the standard fluids you receive with labor/epidural, surgery, and postpartum recovery. I am not even kidding you, I could feel the fluid sloshing in my feet as I walked!

By Friday, July 3rd I had had two nights in a row of uncomfortable cramping. I could only hope I was going into labor but the cramps never got stronger or closer together. I timed the cramping on my way to the Midwives’ office and it would come on about every 8-10 minutes. At the office they ran through a series of tests requiring an ultrasound and monitors to record baby’s heart rate and any contractions. Everything look good except we were running low on amniotic fluid. They said they needed baby delivered this weekend.

I met with a midwife and she did another cervical exam. To our surprise I had dilated to 2 cm and I was 90% effaced and baby was low. She notified the midwife we were hoping would deliver for us. A few twiddle of the thumbs later she opened the door and said “Lets Go.” Unable to see the look of shock behind the cloth mask I had to wear, she smiled and said I no longer needed my cervix prepped. I was making moves on my own, but because the low amniotic fluid I still needed baby delivered by the weekend. She told me to call Rob, go home, pack up, and meet her at the hospital.

We were not on a time crunch so I called Rob who was working from home. He clocked out and started cleaning the house. Our hospital bag was already packed. I got home and helped him finish up a few chores around the house. Rob drove me through Jimmy Johns to eat on the drive to the hospital and we called our parents to let them know we were headed in. We pulled into the hospital and parked sometime around noon.

Masks were required at the door. They took our temps and sent us on our way. Once in the room a rapid COVID test was taken. Fifteen minutes later I was negative for COVID19 which meant no more masks on this girl and no mask for Rob unless he left the room.

What I love about the midwives is that they are there the entire time. They leave the room to give you some personal space but as things pick up they come back in to help support. I was already cramping on my own but once the Pitocin started things picked up quickly. It was very painful. Every time a contraction started I had to remind myself that it would taper off and I would get another 2 (ish) minute break. I felt all the pain in my abdominal area and was fortunate it was not traveling to my back. I made it a few hours and was 3 cm dilated when I asked for the epidural. An epidural was always a part of my plan whether I started labor on my own or was induced.

I was shocked to find the epidural placement to be quick and not bad at all. There were a few zings but the needle insertion was painless, or maybe the contraction pain just made everything seem a lot less painful. Once the epidural was in we started changing positions every hour and they broke my water. There was meconium in the amniotic fluid which meant a NICU nurse would need to be present during the birth in case baby had swallowed some. The chances of meconium increases with babies that are overdue as their digestive tract is ready to work.

While my body worked on dilating slowly, baby started showing signs of stress. The heart rate and rhythm were beautiful in between but with each contraction we started seeing deceleration on the heart monitor. They tried so many positions to resolve the stress on baby. They stopped the Pitocin. They gave me a bolus of fluid through my IV to try and perk baby up. Nothing was working and I started to get a low grade fever. We were not in an emergency situation but the midwife looked at me and said something is not right. She checked my cervix again in hopes that I made a sudden change and that was what stressed our baby. Unfortunately I was only at 5 cm and was swelling on one side of my cervix. She took this as a sign to finally have the talk…Cesarean birth. I remember whispering to Rob that I think we were headed in that direction. I was ok with it, though it took me a little bit to convince the midwife of that. She brought in the OB/GYN to take a look at our situation. He looked at Rob and I and said we can keep trying and find ourselves in an emergency situation or we can go back now. I looked at the midwife and said “I just don’t want to be scared, I want our baby out as safe as possible.” They handed Rob his OR outfit and said “Then let’s go.”

I felt calm as I watched the nursing staff prep both Rob and I for our new birth plan. Our midwife spoke with Rob privately to make sure he understood the situation and why things changed so fast. He too was handling it well. We both were until they started wheeling me down the hall. I was suddenly flooded with nausea and Rob said he started to feel nauseous too. He is not squeamish with surgeries. He has been in many as he once had a job in medical sales and sat through many orthopedic procedures. He said this was completely different as it was his wife going to surgery and that it was made his stomach turn. My nausea was resolved with a little Zofran from the anesthesiologist but Rob was left sitting outside the OR doors until they made the first cut.

Right away they encountered baby’s umbilical cord. The surgeon’s cuts were slow, thank goodness, as he avoided slicing through it and prevented a whole other emergency. With one crisis averted surgery continued. At 9:24 PM they pulled baby out. ITS A GIRL and she has a necklace said the OB/GYN. Rob and I were so happy our baby girl was out safe and what we understood from the “Necklace” comment was that baby had the cord around her neck. Later we found out she had an occult prolapsed cord. Her umbilical cord was trying to come down the birth canal with her instead of behind her. It was wrapped up over her head leading the way. The decelerations, the swollen cervix, and then low grade fevers were all signs from God (And I like to think my Dad) not to let our baby enter the birth canal. Had we not listened to them both the midwife and the doctor told us we would have been running back to the operation room, I would have been intubated, and Rob and I both would have missed the birth of our baby girl. I am very thankful for the Midwife, OB/GYN, anesthesiologist, and the nurses who all helped with our baby girl’s arrival. She was taken to the nursery along with Rob while they finished up my surgery. They found a fibroid on the outside of my uterus and offered to remove it. I agreed so surgery was slightly longer than normal. The midwife was in the OR with us so she talked with me while Rob was away.

I never made a formal birth plan. When asked I just told them I wanted the “Normal.” Skin to skin after delivery and Rob cutting the cord. I had pictured laboring at home as long as I could and having my youngest sister, who is a labor and delivery nurse, check on me until we headed to the hospital. I imagined I would get to the hospital, sign up for that epidural, and work baby down and out. Nothing went like I pictured, but we got our beautiful baby girl safe, healthy, and home.

Next on the list was to tell our parents. I see my mom all the time so I knew getting to her would be easy. In fact, I had been planning an early birthday celebration at her place so I could take some photos for my blog post “That’s A Wrap.” I called mom and told her I would like to have the photos taken that weekend. We arrived to her house that Saturday evening. I took photos with my husband and with my cake. Next I wanted a photo with my mom. I told my husband I was going to tell her then so he would have his camera skills ready. While my husband shot some portraits I whispered “I’m pregnant” in her ear. Mind you my mom had just found out that we had been trying for a year. I posted a blog about two months prior exposing our secret, she was one of my readers. She didn’t believe me at first. She just kept repeating “No you’re not” over and over. All I kept thinking was “Mom, seriously why would I joke about this?” Then it finally clicked and, well…

Telling my mom made my husband anxious to tell his parents. We started stressing how we were going to plan a visit without making it obvious something was up. My husband’s parents live about 45 minutes from our house so we do not just stop by often. In fact, we have “Just Stopped By” twice since we have been together. The first time we did we left his mom disappointed. She thought we stopped by to announce that we were engaged. Instead we stopped by to drop off a wreath. The second time we just stopped by we again left his mom disappointed. That time she thought we were coming to announce a pregnancy, but really we were just bored and thought we would drive to see them. Meeting up with them needed to seem like “Their idea.” Well God must have known we needed some assistance because that weekend his mom texted me that some Shutterfly coupons came to their house addressed to me? I acted like I really wanted the coupons so we should meet up asap. His parent’s invited us over for dinner so I could get the coupons. My husband had wanted to do a T-shirt reveal for the longest time so we ordered shirts in the mail. My shirt came in time but his shirt (that was supposed to ship Prime) did not. I was so disappointed but he was optimistic that my shirt would be just fine. I took the jacket off after dinner and my husband pulled out his phone to film. He had to keep ending the film and restarting it because his parents were not noticing my shirt. I tried to whisper to him that I was too short and the table was covering up the lower half of my shirt (the important part). I tried to sit up on my knee to expose the shirt better but it didn’t help. Finally we just looked at each other and I turned to his parents with my shirt stretched out. They were so excited and right away his mom wanted to tell his sister. We were looking forward to doing a reveal to her in person ourselves, but they live and hour and a half away so we do not see them often. His mom planned a dinner for a couple of weeks later so we could tell them and she could be there.

Telling my brother was probably the most anticlimactic announcement we had, but he is a very chill guy so I expected nothing less. He was at my mom’s house the day I stopped by. I decided to tell him because I never know when I am going to see him next. He lives in the area but I feel like he is the ghost child. The only thing that keeps me updated is his SnapChat. He was happy about the news. I think he was pleased/shocked that I told him the news before I told our sisters. Since then he has mentioned several times that he is excited we are having a baby.

The way we shared the news with my sisters was actually my mom’s idea. She had already bought some baby clothes once she found out we were expecting. She switched into “Grandma Mode” quick! She asked if she could wrap them up as my birthday gift and I would open it in front of my sisters. My actual birthday falls on Oct 30th. Every year on Halloween we go to a family member’s house for the trick or treating. My mom brought my wrapped gift and I opened it as planned. At first they did not believe it. Again they had just recently found out we had been trying for so long. They too read my blog. In fact, the gift they got me for my birthday was an oil, Progessence Plus Serum, that two of my sister’s friends had used to get pregnant. When I found out my sisters had split the cost to buy me this oil I felt so bad. Of course, they did not care at all. They were too excited about the news. My littlest sister downloaded “The Bump” app on her own phone and now texts me every Saturday with the latest fruit the baby relates too.

We only had one more person to tell and that was scheduled for Nov 9th. It was the night my mother-in-law had set up to see his sister and her family. My birthday had just passed and our brother-in-law’s birthday was coming up quick so she used that as a reason to get together. Talk about a turn of events! I do some photography on the side so my sister-in-law had asked if I could bring my camera that weekend to take photos for a Christmas card. As we were planning the outfits she told me she would be making an outfit change but I was sworn to secrecy. She sent me a picture announcing baby number two for them. So here we are planning to announce our pregnancy to them this weekend and here they just found out they were pregnant and planned to use the weekend for their special announcement too. Now most people would probably stress over this double announcement, but remember we already told my husband’s parents we were expecting. In fact, his mom told him that my birthday gift was pregnancy related so she thought we could announce to his sister the same way we announced to my sisters. I wanted so badly to text my sister-in-law back that we were expecting too, but I knew my husband would want to be there and so would his parents. Instead I sent her a congratulations message. The day of our get together my sister-in-law had her son, our nephew, wear a shirt announcing his promotion to big brother. As soon as my mother-in-law recognized the shirt she squealed and looked at Rob and I. She didn’t say anything but we knew she was in shock. Two babies within weeks of each other! Once inside, I opened my gift from my in-laws. I announced they gave me Belly Butter and my sister-in-law did not miss a beat! She looked right at me, eyes huge, asking if I was pregnant too. She jumped and cheered and hugs went around.