If you haven’t read my firstborn’s birth story, you can read that here.  When I tell you the birth experience between my first and second babies was NIGHT and DAY…I mean it!  They were two absolutely different births.  I could have 10 babies if they were like my second! 

Well…my firstborn’s birth story was taken straight out of my journal from just days after he was born.  My secondborn’s birth story was never journaled.  Second child…whoops! But I’ve told this story a hundred times because it was SO different from my first.

On Sunday, March 26th, I started having very mild contractions.  I could barely feel them, but I had them about every 10 minutes.  That night they went away while I slept, and they weren’t very strong when I first woke up.  While I got ready for work, I started to feel those mild contractions every 8 minutes or so.  I worked in Marketing at our local hospital and went ahead to work that morning.

I had not felt baby move all day on Sunday, so I called my doctor.  I told her I had an appointment that afternoon but hadn’t felt him move and was having contractions about every 6-8 minutes but very very mild.  Since I was already at the hospital for work, she said to head up to Labor & Delivery to let them do an NST.  

When I got there, the nurse hooked me up to the monitors, and baby looked great!  She went ahead and checked my cervix then said, “Ummm…you’re dilated to a 6, and you should go ahead and call your husband…it’s game time!”  I was actually having contractions every 3 minutes but only felt the stronger ones around every 6 minutes. 

My husband arrived, and my water broke.  My contractions got stronger, but I still really couldn’t feel them much.  I knew I wanted an epidural because of my experience with Jack, so I called for one then.  When they placed the epidural, I felt a lot of tingling and no numbness.  I had them reevaluate the placement, and they placed it again.  Within a few minutes, I was feeling good!  I labored (very easily) for about 2 hours, and the nurse came in to check me.  She said I was at a 10, and they would wait until the baby was crowning before getting the doctor. She had me try one push during a contraction just to see if I was ready.  I told her I didn’t feel any pressure like I needed to push, but tried once during a contraction.  She looked at the nurse beside her and said, “Call the doctor right now…he’s coming!”

I never went through a period of transition or awful pain.  I literally didn’t even know I needed to push!  10 minutes and 3 contractions/pushes later, Baby James was here!!  Pain free!  So easy!!  I would have NEVER guessed it would’ve been that way since Jack’s was such a hard, induced experience.

Not having to be induced made a world of difference.  Baby was ready, and my body was ready!  I hope this gives those of you with a terrible first birth experience a little bit of relief.  I was so incredibly nervous to give birth again, but it was an absolutely incredible experience!