In honor of Wren’s 2nd birthday I’ve shared her birth story! Such a beautiful day for a beautiful baby girl with so many surprises along the way.
Go Wrennie, It’s Your Birthday!
Nearly 10 months into blogging and I finally get to share with you all one of my absolute favorite stories to tell, the birth of my youngest child, Wren Elise. She turns TWO this week and sometimes I still look at her like the baby in the photo above. 7 pounds and 8.5 ounces of pure, sweet bliss.
She is my bashful and clumsy child, the one who clings to my legs during any public outing and constantly has a busted lip. She is my finicky child, the one who picks all 26 crumbs off her feet while clueless to the spaghetti sauce on her face. Of course she is her mama’s child to a tee with her red hair and blue eyes but no doubt an introvert like daddy. She is perfect in every way possible and will ALWAYS be our baby, our precious Wrennie Poo. (that nickname is forever staying! Sorry not sorry to her social life.)
Wren’s Birth Story Video
My Pregnancy
I had a pretty normal pregnancy and no issues that I can recall other than a bit of placenta previa that resolved itself before third trimester. As a typical pregnant woman, I did have some nausea during the first trimester but thankfully never got sick. I was also incredibly tired, as expected for being a pregnant mother of a one year old!
I’d say the most unusual aspect of my pregnancy was the fact I didn’t know the gender! That may or may not be the norm for you but from where I’m from it’s almost unheard of. At least it seemed that way to each and every person I spoke to.
It may have drove my mother crazy but I would do it all over again for that magical surprise at the end.
As my due date approached I was beginning to wonder when I would go into labor. With my first pregnancy I agreed to induction at 40 weeks 3 days but wanted to avoid that this time at all costs unless medically necessary. Because my mother delivered her second child at 39 weeks I expected the same.
However, there I was 40 weeks pregnant on my due date with absolutely no sign of labor. My OB said he would allow me to go to 41 weeks before talking about induction so here I was hoping and praying labor started up soon.
Early Signs Of Labor
On my due date I thought it would be a good idea to walk around as much as I could to hopefully kick start labor. We walked and walked throughout the mall but no such luck.
The next day I decided to try pumping. I had a few braxton hicks contractions but nothing more so I decided to stop.
That night at about 9:30 I began to feel sick. I threw up once and started getting awful stomach cramps. These were not contractions but it was super odd for me so I sensed that this would be the start to something. I had read before that sometimes pregnant moms will have rounds of diarrhea before labor starts to “clean themselves out.” This was true for me because I was up ALL NIGHT LONG. Every 1-2 hours I was in the bathroom. Finally around 5:30 am I felt all better, like nothing was ever wrong with me.
That’s when the contractions started.
At first, I assumed braxton hicks because they were 100% painless. My only concern was that I felt them in my back. I had an app on my phone that timed contractions so at that time I started to time them. The plan was for me to labor at home until it became too uncomfortable. Then we would drop off my son and head to the hospital to give birth ideally soon after arriving.
The app indicated that my contractions were sort of regular but definitely not what I was expecting for “the real deal.” They continued painless for the next several contractions. Just in case this turned into something I decided to take a shower and warn my mother that she may need to head home from work.
Contractions continued as I packed up and my husband, Kody suggested that we go ahead and drop Wyatt off with my mom so that would be out of the way. When we got to my mother’s I intended on heading back to the house to labor at home. My mom and husband both agreed that didn’t sound like a good idea. I was absolutely positive that it would be a long while before I had this baby and did not want to be stuck in a hospital all day long.
They persuaded me to at least call a labor and delivery nurse and see what they thought. Of course she wanted me to come in because we were 45 minutes away and this is my second child.
Although I disagreed, ultimately my husband wouldn’t take no for an answer so we made our way to the hospital. Before arriving we stopped by McDonald’s for breakfast where I wolfed down oatmeal and a hash brown.
Active Labor
It was about 9:30 fast time (an hour ahead of us) and as I walked down the hallway to labor and delivery I felt a bit embarrassed for not being doubled over in pain. The only thing going through my head was,
“this is probably a false alarm”
However, as they hooked me up to a contraction monitor it proved otherwise. I remember saying, “Are you all going to send me home?” The nurse said, “Not with contractions like that! You aren’t going anywhere.”
Soon afterwards the on call OB checked me for dilation and I was at a 4-5. My jaw nearly hit the floor because at that point with my first delivery I could not speak and was vomiting from pain. I thought there is NO way I was at a 4.
The next 2 hours I spent talking to my husband, browsing Facebook and setting my camera up for him to take photos. It all still felt so surreal and odd that we were actually having a baby today! Contractions were getting stronger but still painless. They were intense but as each one came I relaxed my whole body and all I felt was tightening.
Shortly afterwards it was noon and my OB arrived. I was so happy to see him! He walked through the door and the first thing he said was, “No induction for you!” with a big smile. I was so happy to see him. He checked me for dilation and to my surprise once again, I was at a 7 with bulging waters that ended up bursting as he finished up. He said now was the time to get an epidural if I wanted one but because I was still completely comfortable, I said I’d be fine. Since my waters were broken he expected contractions to pick up fast.
I had a feeling things were about to get real!
Transition
I spoke to my Dad on the phone and updated him on what was going on and after I hung up the phone I felt a stronger contraction than I had previously been getting. It was still very manageable and as long as I continued to breathe and stay relaxed I felt no pain. The next 3-4 contractions were about the same. I remember the nurse came in to check on me and all was well! She told me to let her know if I felt like I needed to make a bowel movement.
Photo Taken 15 Minutes Before I Started Pushing!
One minute I’m fine and the next I became very uncomfortable. It’s still hard for me to believe how quickly things changed and now I realize that at this point I was in transition. I remember browsing through Facebook on my phone and suddenly feeling “a drop.” It literally felt like the biggest poop of my life was stuck on my behind and weighed 300 pounds!
I said to Kody, “Take my phone and get the nurse!”
He took off running down the hall yelling for a nurse and I’ll never forget how chill she was walking through the doors. I kept telling her I felt like I needed to poop over and over again. I knew that I didn’t but it sure felt exactly like it. She slipped her glove on as calm as could be and checked me for dilation. Without saying a word she removed her hand, tossed the glove and took off running down the hallway.
I knew right then baby was coming!
My OB had started to leave the building to check on other patients at his office but they had paged him to come back. I was so worried he wouldn’t get there in time but within a couple of minutes he was in the room dressing up.
I couldn’t believe it was about to happen. Within minutes I would know if I was having a boy or a girl and it was crazy!
Time To Push!
Pushing lasted a total of about 15 minutes. I now know why they call it the “ring of fire” because it literally burns like fire. The pushing part of this birth story is the reason I added in (almost) to the title because although my labor was pain free, I can’t lie pushing was painful.
When I say painful though I don’t mean excruciating. This birth was very manageable.. There was no yelling, no screaming, crying or thrashing around. Relaxing done absolutely nothing to take away the ring of fire but I knew that within just a few short moments it would all be over. That’s what got me through it the most!
When they told me her head was out I knew because I got a bit of relief from the pain. I asked what color her hair was and they said it looked light. For a moment I thought I had a blondie!
I was told within 1-2 more pushes my baby would be here. As I felt the next contraction one of the nurses said, “Do you think its a boy or a girl?!” I was ready for relief and said, “I don’t know, just want it over!” Haha!
The moment she was out every ounce of pain was gone. Complete and utterly painless and how amazing that feeling was! The nurse shouted, “Its a girl!!” and I said, “oh my sweet Wren!”
Wren was born at 12:58 pm EST weighing 7lbs 8.5 ounces and 20 inches long.
She was and still is the most beautiful baby girl.
The Name
To add to the excitement of not knowing the gender, we didn’t share our name choices either so it ended up being one big surprise!
I’d love to be able to tell you all that her name is a super sentimental family name or that it means something special. However, we just simply liked it! I heard the name Wren about a year before she was born and it just happened to go with Wyatt perfectly. Her middle name Elise is from a song I used to play on the piano as a kid. “Fur Elise” is still the only song I remember how to play from memory!
Final Thoughts
Prior to my daughter’s birth if someone had said my labor would only last 6 hours start to finish I would not believe them. If they said in addition to that it would be painless I’d call them crazy.
Two years later I’m still in shock of how different it was from my first delivery! It’s nearly laughable that I only planned to head to the hospital when I could no longer labor at home comfortably. Still thanking the Lord today that my husband wouldn’t take no for an answer. Otherwise we would have had an unplanned home birth!
Did Your Birth Story Go As Planned?
I LOVE reading other birth stories. Each are special in their own way and I can almost feel the love when I read about a new precious life being brought into this world. Let me know how your birth story went!
Other Related Posts
Why I Didn’t Want Visitors In The Hospital
Leave a Reply