My Birth Story: Giving Birth To Our Second Baby

I am finally revealing what it was like giving birth to our second baby!

At this moment, baby girl is a month old and we have been enjoying all the newborn snuggles and taking in all the baby smells!

Going from a family of 3 to a family of 4 has been an adjustment for all of us, but we are getting through it and making it work.

And now that we have had some time to settle in, I want to discuss what it was like giving birth to our second baby.

Because even though I had a pretty smooth pregnancy like my first, my second pregnancy differed in some ways.

First of all, I had gotten pregnant during the pandemic, so I went through my entire pregnancy and experienced childbirth during these times.

Which meant I dealt with all of the covid restrictions that were in place such as my husband not being allowed to be involved as much during my pregnancy at my prenatal appointments and having limited visitors during childbirth.

When this is being written, a lot of these restrictions are being dropped in a lot of the states, so a lot of doctor’s offices and hospitals are gradually getting back to normal.

But giving birth during the pandemic was not the only thing that was different the second time around.

If you are interested in what it was like giving birth to our second baby, then just keep reading.

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My Second Pregnancy Compared To My First

Before I get into my second baby’s birth, let talk about how my first pregnancy compared to my second pregnancy with this baby.

With my first daughter, I had a fairly easy and smooth pregnancy outside of normal nausea and pains that come with being pregnant.

My morning sickness lasted for about 13 weeks with my first daughter.

My morning sickness with this baby lasted much longer and past the first trimester until 20 weeks which was really tough since I was already looking after our toddler.

All the aches and pains that I had felt much later in my first pregnancy, started much earlier in this pregnancy.

I did notice that with this pregnancy, my feet and ankles did not swell up (unlike my first), but I did have more varicose veins show up around my ankles and behind my knees.

And as far as stretch marks go, I already had a few from my first pregnancy around my belly button and I got a few more around my belly button with this pregnancy as well.

The biggest difference in this pregnancy compared to my first was that this baby was breech several times throughout this pregnancy and my first daughter was not.

She was breech at my anatomy scan at 20 weeks and several times in my last month of pregnancy.

If you all read my previous post on how I overcame my anxiety about childbirth, then you know that one of my fears was having a C-section.

Once we realized that she was still breech at 37 weeks, we had to start considering a C-section in case we couldn’t get her to turn on her own.

Luckily, I was able to get her to turn on her own so we were able to still proceed with a vaginal delivery.

This leads me to her birth and what it was like delivering our second baby.

My Birth Story: Giving Birth To Our Second Baby

So I went over my due date with my first daughter and I went over my due date with this baby as well.

It is often believed that your second baby will come earlier, but as the writers from The Bump say, there is no way to back this statement up unless your firstborn came early.

But even then, your second born could still come late.

My first daughter was full term, so I should not have been shocked that my second baby would be full-term too even if I was hoping she would come early.

With my first daughter, I went into spontaneous labor after eating a large meal and immediately started having contractions that sent me straight to the hospital.

With this baby, it was a little different.

I actually did not know that I was in early labor and was having contractions.

After having just eaten with my family, I started feeling these tight sensations in my stomach that weren’t painful but did feel uncomfortable.

With my first daughter, when I started getting contractions, they were painful and came in waves, so that was what I was expecting to happen this time as well.

I had noted that these sensations were coming every 10 minutes or so, but once again they weren’t painful or anything like that.

When you are pregnant, you get used to feeling uncomfortable, so it never hit me that I might be having very dull contractions.

I was actually scheduled to be induced the following day since I was overdue, so I figured that I would bring it up to my doctor then.

When I arrived at the hospital the next morning, I found out that not only was I having contractions the previous night, but I had already dilated to almost 5 cm.

I was in early labor and did not even know it.

I also did not need to be induced because this baby was already on her way and was coming regardless.

The only thing my doctor did do was break my water (with my permission) and that is when I started to experience the painful contractions.

As a part of my birth plan, I did not want an epidural until I asked for it and I also did not want to be laying down the whole time while I was laboring.

I requested a peanut exercise ball from my labor and delivery nurse and I bounced and rolled around on that ball for about 2 hours.

By then my contractions had started to increase in intensity, so I had my nurse check me to see how far I had dilated, and by then I was at 7 cm.

I moved back to the hospital bed since my contractions were getting pretty painful so I could focus on breathing through the pain.

For the next 2 hours, I focused solely on breathing and trying to relax as much as possible even though I was in a lot of pain.

It was at this point that I could no longer take the pain and asked for an epidural to get me through the rest of this labor.

And I barely got it in time.

By the time I had gotten an epidural, I was 8 and a half cm dilated and quickly approaching 9 cm.

My nurse said that had I waited any longer, I would have been having this little girl naturally.

After I got an epidural, it took another hour to get to 10 cm and that was when I felt the urge to push and I was beyond ready to push by then.

My epidural had dulled the pain, but the pressure I felt from baby girl pushing down was still very much there.

After 30 minutes of pushing, baby girl was out and I finally got to hold the baby that had been taking over my womb for the past 9 months.

My labor and delivery lasted a total of a little over 5 and a half hours.

This was much quicker than with my first daughter who I was in labor with for 9 hours and apparently very common for second-time moms.

Nataly from Lovely Momhood says that the average labor time for second babies could be as little as half the time as your first labor was.

This is often due to being pregnant before and your body already knowing what to do.

I had heard many moms say when delivering their second child that they often came quicker and that was definitely the case with me as well.

From breech to a quick arrival into the world, our baby girl is here and we couldn’t be happier.

She has been a wonderful addition to our family and we are looking forward to getting more settled in as a new family of four.

Your Turn

Well, there you have it! That is what happened when giving birth to our second baby. For any other second-time moms out there, what was it like delivering your second baby? Did your second baby come early? Or late? Did they come quickly like my baby did? Let me know in the comments below and while you are still here, check out my previous post. Until next time!

• Read More: Overcome Your Anxiety About Labor and Delivery

Love,

Just Jass