4 years after having our first we started talking about a second child. I had been overly content having just one but the hubby wanted a few more. I ended up attending another home birth of a friend and for a hot minute decided a second would be something I was open to.

By the end of summer, we were expecting our 2nd.

We Hired a Midwife!

The day I found I out I was pregnant I called my midwife friend and told her I wanted to hire her. She was so excited to attend another one of my births and to support me through my whole pregnancy. It just so happened I had sent a friend to her a couple weeks prior, so we ended up doing almost all our prenatal appointments together which was a great time of bonding and support through pregnancy.

Through this pregnancy, I saw her on a regular schedule. I did skip the doppler but had one anatomy scan which she requested around 20 weeks. I found out I was having another boy! But my husband didn’t want to know. So that was fun to keep a secret between one friend and myself through the entire pregnancy.

I asked two friends to attend as doulas. One was my new chiropractor and another was a friend who had trained with my midwife. My mom was also invited to help out with our first in case she needed to take him somewhere if things didn’t go as planned again.

Fast and Furious Birth

Since my first took so long, I expected another multi-day experience. Instead, my body remembered what to do, and I may have been in a bit of denial so I just focused on resting.

Mid-afternoon on Saturday, April 11th I started having some inconsistent contractions and some bloody show. I let my midwife know, made my way home from a friend’s house, and laid on the couch expecting to need lots of rest so I could get through the marathon.

I used a massage pillow and heating pad for comfort and to relieve pain. My chiropractor came to visit me around 7pm and see how things were. She said I was doing great, spent some time massaging my back and hips, and headed home to get her daughter to sleep.

My midwife had to start a night shift at her job and I knew the earliest she could get to my home would be 8am, so I just prepared my mind to go through a long labor and aimed to rest as much as possible.

She ended up calling me between a department change to check-in. She encouraged me to continue resting. Within a few minutes she called back saying she was leaving work because they didn’t need her for the rest of the night. I knew things were going to pick up after that phone call. She had me contact my doulas and she started on her way as well.

The chiropractor got there around midnight, my water ended up breaking at 12:15am. I ended up on my bathroom floor to labor and the others filtered in as they arrived.

I experienced the “ring of fire” this time around and thanks to a quick review of “The Unassisted Baby” I remembered to stop pushing when I felt the intense fire and instead breathe deeply and count to 30 until the pain resided. I believe this is the practice that kept me from tearing which helped my recovery time tremendously!

There were two memories that I will hold dearly forever with having my first present. He hung out with my husband and mom in our bedroom and he would come out and check on me. The oxytocin boost of hearing the words “You’re doing great mommy” and “The baby is almost here” kept me going and focused.

He was born just over an hour after my water broke. It was perfect. My husband, son, and mom popped out of the bedroom when they heard his cries. We admired him for a little while as the cord continued to pulse and when it was finally all white we cut the cord and got to focus on the placenta. Using herbs and gravity we were able to get the placenta out quickly.

As I showered my support team cleaned up the bathroom and everything was back to normal by the time I got out.

Recovery & Postpartum

The recovery of my second was so much quicker than my first. I did have more pain directly postpartum as my uterus shrunk back, but overall my body knew how to recover and I even stopped bleeding so much sooner.

It was a bit different getting to stay home and just rest and enjoy my new baby.

A fun part – he was born on Easter Sunday. So my mom took our first home with her so we could sleep and rest, went home and got some sleep, and then made Easter dinner and brought it to our house that afternoon. It was the best way to eat after having a baby! And we got to keep the leftovers and were well-fed for the next week!

We are currently planning our 3rd home birth (with the same midwife and some other supports), so stay tuned for that birth story.

Read the other two birth stories here –> Birth #1 & Birth #3