Birth Story 2.0

Oh, how we love our baby Julia! She is the sweetest, funniest little addition to our family. The first year of her life (and the months leading up to her birth, honestly) has been a little rough, but we've had some incredibly sweet moments thanks to our baby girl.

My pregnancy with Julia was very similar to my pregnancy with SJ. The first 15 weeks were miserable, and at exactly week 17, when I started feeling better, I had a feeling I was having another girl since it was the same time I felt better with SJ, almost to the day. I'm a little sad to say that, when we first saw that she was a girl on the ultrasound, my first thought was, "Great, if I ever want to have a son, I have to do this all over again?!" That thought was quickly followed by an overwhelming sense of gratitude for a healthy baby and by excitement to raise two sweet little besties.

The latter half of this pregnancy was significantly more uncomfortable than my first. Instead of cozying up in sweats during the holiday season, I was huge during the hottest months of the year. Of course, it was a record-breaking hot summer, just like 2021 when I was pregnant with SJ, only this time, I was even bigger. That really put a damper on my summer. I vowed never to have a fall baby again!

Toward the end, I just felt generally less comfortable and couldn't ever sit at less than a 110-degree angle. I was not surprised when, at my 36-week appointment, my doctor discovered that Julia's head was stuck right between my ribs! I spent the next week doing all sorts of acrobatics to try to get her to flip. I made myself physically ill, stressing about doing everything I possibly could to get her head down. When exercising, lying upside down, doing flips in the pool, and even acupuncture didn't work, I went in at 37 weeks for a cephalic version.

Of course, the internet told me that the procedure was going to be "more painful than labor" and I should just "opt for a planned C-section," but I was NOT interested in that. I knew I would regret not at least trying to have the doctors flip her. So, we checked into labor and delivery, hoping beyond hope that we wouldn't be leaving with a baby.

It's a little scary, getting a cephalic version. They have you in the labor and delivery room with all the tools set up in case something goes wrong and they have to do an emergency C-section. I was reassured that I would be a good candidate for a successful version: this was my second baby, and I was measuring pretty huge, so there was plenty of room for the baby to move around. Of course, her bum had already settled into my pelvis, so when the doctors went to attempt to move her, they had to dig their hand so far into my lower belly while handling her head between my ribs. It was definitely uncomfortable, and I had to do some deep, deep breathing and take little breaks while my two very petite female doctors put their whole bodies into moving my baby. With the help of some fentanyl, I pushed through it, and she actually flipped! It was one of the craziest experiences of my life, watching two women handle my baby while still INSIDE of me. They had us wait there in the room for an hour or so to monitor her heart rate and make sure she wasn't in shock. Gratefully, I was able to leave the hospital still very pregnant. When I went to sit down on the toilet for the first time after the procedure, I was amazed that I could actually sit up! It was so much more comfortable to sit without a giant head right in my ribs!

The next couple of days, I was incredibly sore and bruised, but so happy that I wouldn't have to have a C-section. Two weeks later, on October 9th, we went back to labor and delivery for my planned induction, this time far more excited than nervous.

The rest of Julia's birth story is relatively unexciting. The cephalic version was probably the most interesting part of the whole thing! I loved my induction with SJ, so I chose to do the same with Julia. From start to finish, the process took almost the same amount of time: eight hours of labor and 15 minutes of pushing. The difference was that I felt so much better and less shaky than the first time! It's like my body just knew what it was doing. I was anxious about getting the epidural since it was so incredibly painful the first time. This time, the nurse offered me fentanyl (I took fent twice in less than a month, whatever), and that really helped me chill out. With the exception of one scary ZING of the needle, the epidural insertion was totally painless, and boy, did it work. I was SO NUMB, maybe even more than the first time, and it was glorious.

Julia's heart rate dropped a couple of times when I would switch positions, so that was a little concerning, but other than that, everything was great! There was a moment when I was progressing really quickly, and my doctor got called into an emergency C-section, so my nurse actually stopped the Pitocin to slow down my progress. That was a little annoying. After an hour or so, she restarted the drip. I was actually able to relax, and by the time I could feel pressure, I had progressed to a ten.

Pushing this time was crazy. Unlike the first time, I wasn't as scared to see the whole thing, so I requested a mirror and got to watch as her head crowned. I couldn't feel A THING. I was surprised that anything I was doing was even helping her down the birth canal! Seeing her come out of me was incredible. She had a perfectly round head, unlike her poor sister. I guess the birth canal was much more open this time around!

She made a few little sounds when they laid her on my chest, but she wasn't crying as much as the doctors had hoped. They took her over to the weigh station to suction her nose and throat and eventually gave her an oxygen mask, which she needed for only ten or so minutes. Meanwhile, I was getting stitched up, and I was THRILLED that I had no external tearing! They got Julia all cleaned up and laid her on me, and she was perfectly pink and plump. She was the most beautiful newborn I've ever seen! (No offense to SJ...she was a little scary looking). Within a few minutes, my mom arrived with SJ, and the sisters got to meet for the first time. What a special, tender moment. I love my babies with my whole heart!

The rest of the hospital stay was fabulous. The epidural wore off fairly quickly, so I stopped shaking almost immediately. I let go of the guilt I had the first time of having them take the baby to the nursery so we could sleep, and we got a couple of four-hour stretches, which was amazing. I could actually have visitors this time, which I enjoyed. I was up walking around within 24 hours. Some of the food was even really, really good! 

My mom stopped by with SJ one more time the next day before she took her down to St. George for a couple of days. Of course, she had a snotty nose, which made me nervous, but she was so cute and excited to meet her sister. I was actually really sad that my mom took her. Most of my anxiety around that time was how SJ would adjust. I wanted her to know how much I loved her and that having a new baby wouldn't change that at all.

Coming home with a newborn is always hard, although I felt much less hormonal and sad this time around. Again, it's like my body knew the drill and reacted less intensely than the first time. I cried a couple of times out of exhaustion and just being generally overwhelmed, but I feel like I adapted pretty quickly. Sara Jane was a rockstar. We had a couple of meltdowns during the first week, but that could've been from being sick or being spoiled after spending a week with Sassy. Since then, she has been an amazing big sister, always wanting to help out with the baby and wanting to hold her.

Julia May was named after two of her great-grandmothers, and I hope she will grow up to be as resilient and faithful as those two women. We love our girl so much and can't imagine life without her!