I can’t believe it’s already been a month (!!) since little Skye’s arrival, and because you all expressed interest & I wrote one for Isla, I thought I’d share her birth story! I will preface just by saying that I’m so grateful that it was smooth for the most part (especially bc I was anxious af), and that if any of the below is tmi sorry, but I mean it’s birth lol.
Ok, so right off the bat Skye’s birth story was super different than Isla’s bc this time my water didn’t break. With Isla I had the big movie-style gush and this time it was just the contractions that alerted me we had to go to the hospital. I was supposed to go to dinner with my girlfriends on the Thursday night and bailed, which is so not like me, bc I was really uncomfortable. On the Friday night, we put Isla to bed and shortly after I told Ryan he had to call my sister to come over (he then replied, ‘so should I tell her to be here in like, an hour?’ and I was like ‘NO NOW’ lol).
When we got to the hospital, there was someone at the front doing covid screening, and once we answered his questions and told him we were heading to labour and delivery he asked me ‘if we had an appointment’. I almost killed him lol, but ultimately we made our way to the maternity triage. I had a VERY uncomfortable cervix check (I don’t know what was wrong with the doctor on duty), and I was shocked to learn I was already 2cms dilated bc with Isla even hours after my water broke I was zero lol. In any case it worked out bc it meant I got to be admitted instead of going home to wait it out. The nurse working in the triage was the NICEST woman ever and when Ryan expressed my concern about not being able to get an epidural since that almost happened the last time, she said she would note that I wanted it as soon as I was admitted (angel). She also kept calling me ‘Mich’ which I thought was adorable lol.
Once I was admitted, I had a pair of excellent nurses who got me all ready to go. I will say right now, that once again my labour was long (16.5 hours total from when my contractions started), so there were several nurse switches and all were amazing. I also got a lot of questions about covid protocol during labour, and it was pretty standard – verbal question screening, a covid test (for me only, Ryan didn’t have to take one), and we had to wear masks if anyone was in our room besides us. Not ideal, but definitely not anything major.
I have been asked often if I got epidurals for both my deliveries, and as mentioned, the answer is a resounding yes lol. I am pro drugs/modern medicine when it comes to not suffering. I commend anyone who goes the natural route, but I have enough anxiety about birth as is so getting the epidural is huge for me. I will say the application of it this time was a little more unpleasant (last time I swear I didn’t feel a thing beyond the pinch of the numbing needle), but still small potatoes for the relief it gives.
So since my water didn’t break naturally this time, they had to break it for me. Again, not ideal but bc I already had the epidural I was less stressed. But then the BEST thing happened.. the doctors came and there were two bc one was just about to finish her shift but wanted to check in and IT WAS THE DR THAT DELIVERED ISLA!! I couldn’t believe it, but she introduced herself by her first name and then Ryan said her last name back and she was like ‘ya?’ and we told her she delivered our first baby and it was such a nice little reunion lol. She literally held my hand and Ryan showed her pictures of Isla to distract me while they broke my water. Would have been great if she had been working to deliver Skye too, but I still thought was a good sign lol.
Three hours after having my water broken, they came to check my progress and I was SHOCKED that I was fully dilated. I had literally asked right before “ok, so after this I can take a nap?” LOL. So at that point it was time to push and thankfully, Skye made her debut 12mins and 3 pushes later! Ryan was once again the best husband-doula, announced that it was another girl (yes, we love leaving it a surprise!) and cut the cord and all that good stuff. I know people will ask as well, so will address that I had no tearing, which is hugely helpful as far as recovery. I was also way less swollen than last time so it felt much easier this time around.
The one major unfortunate aspect of Skye’s birth story is that unlike with Isla, my placenta did not come out easily and on it’s own. After Skye was delivered it took almost 30mins (which is the max. they will allow before further intervention), and lots of manual effort from the doctors and further pushing from me, to get it out. That resulted in a lot of abdomen pain after the fact, a UTI, and because of some prolonged bleeding, what we found out via a pelvic ultrasound was some retained placenta. I was very lucky that I brought up the prolonged bleeding to my Dr. bc if your body doesn’t end up passing the retained placenta on its own, it can have pretty serious complications.
Skye looked just like Isla when she was born (still does, only with more my eye shape than Ryan’s, we think), and was tiny as well at 6lbs9oz. Overall, we are so thrilled to complete our family with another healthy angel girl!
I hope sharing my birth story helps ease any anxiety for other moms-to-be bc I’ve found so much about birth is fear mongering and I don’t want to perpetuate that. Whatever your path or plan ends up being, do what is right for you, be your best advocate and take comfort in the reality that women do this every day and you are a rockstar! As always, happy to answer any q’s about my personal experience, x!
PS – here’s a link to everything I packed in my hospital bag which was all so clutch!
