I have been dying to write this, and I really was hoping to write it sooner, but moving states with a newborn and a 2 year old can really keep a girl busy! Unpacking our things in our new home in Beaufort has been my main priority (besides taking care of Hollings and William of course), but I am finally done! Now I can sit down and tell you all about one of the best days of my life.
If you follow me on instagram or have read one of my earlier blog posts about Hollings’ birth, you might already know that I was induced with Hollings due to high blood pressure and major swelling. Although they never diagnosed me with preeclampsia, they were worried it might develop if I didn’t get induced on the early side. So, once I hit 37 weeks pregnant, they scheduled an induction for a few days later. The whole process start to birth was 27 hours, but I only pushed for about 45 minutes. I had an epidural, and quite honestly, the whole experience was actually pleasant.
Fast forward almost a year and a half, and Jay and I decided it was time to start trying for baby #2. We got pregnant our very first month of trying. I won’t go too into detail, because I already have a blog post written on it, but that pregnancy ended in a miscarriage. That was one of the hardest things we had to go through, but it didn’t stop us from continuing to try for our rainbow baby. About 3 months later, we found out we were pregnant again! We were thrilled, but also a little apprehensive after just having gone through a miscarriage.
Luckily, this pregnancy was a lot like mine with Hollings – mostly smooth and easy. We were so excited, because this time around we were having a boy! My blood pressure was definitely higher than it typically is when I am not pregnant. My blood pressure normally is in the 115/65 area. During this pregnancy it was 120s-130s/70s-80s. The magic number for when it’s concerning is 140/90. There were times when it got close, but it never quite crossed into the danger zone.
Once I was pretty far along in my pregnancy, my doctors started talking to me about a birth plan. Obviously stuff happens, and things don’t go 100% according to this “birth plan,” but they still wanted to discuss my different options. There was no reason as far as they could tell that I would need a C-section, so this would most likely be another vaginal birth. They talked to me about epidurals, which I was familiar with having had one with Hollings. They also informed me that I could elect to be induced at 39 weeks. I had no idea this was even an option. As I said before, I was induced with Hollings, and the whole process was very comfortable, so I was very open to the idea of getting induced again.
I spent a lot of the following weeks thinking about the possibility of laboring at home, something I had never done before. I thought about throwing up all over my house. I thought about having my bloody show on my couch. As if I wasn’t anxious enough around this time, a friend of mine just had her second baby, and the labor went so fast that she had her baby in her bed 2 minutes after she decided that her contractions were strong enough for her to go to the hospital. This made the thought of an induction sound better and better.
When I was 37 weeks pregnant, I went ahead and scheduled my induction. My due date was originally Christmas Day, but they couldn’t schedule me any earlier than December 21st due to things being busy at the hospital that week. That meant my induction was scheduled for just 4 days before my due date, and that it was very likely the baby would come on his own before then. Unlike with my first pregnancy, I had to have a plan for what I was going to do with Hollings while I was at the hospital. My mom was planning on coming a week before my due date, but I had so much anxiety about going into labor before then and not being able to figure out a plan for Hollings. The further along in my pregnancy I got, the more I just tried to let go of my anxieties and remind myself whatever happens is in God’s plan.
As I previously said, the hospital was busy during this time of year, so they couldn’t get me in for my 38 week check up until the day before I turned 39 weeks pregnant (December 17th). For some reason I woke up that morning thinking I was going to have my baby. I don’t know why I thought that, but for whatever reason I was so giddy going to my appointment to hear what they were going to say.
The first thing they always do at these appointments is take my blood pressure. I could tell by the nurse’s face that it was high. She told me it was 138/91 (remember – they don’t want the top number going over 140 or the bottom number going over 90). She told me to relax for a few minutes and that she would be back to take it again. After 5 minutes, she took it again. This time it was 137/91. She led me to another room, where I was to wait for someone to take my blood pressure manually, since the first two times it was taken with a machine. This time it read 141/90. The woman told me it was fine and not to worry, but when she left the room, I could hear her in the hallway saying to the doctor, “Yeahhhhh she needs to go ahead and go to L&D.” The doctor came in and told me to go home and regroup with my husband, get something to eat, and then go to the labor and delivery unit at the hospital.
I immediately called Jay to let him know what was happening, and then right after, I called my mom (who was still 4.5 hours away in Beaufort and planning on leaving the next day). She got in her car almost immediately, but I still needed to figure out what to do with Hollings until she got here. Keep in mind that it’s Covid times, and I didn’t love the idea of hiring a babysitter. I texted my dear angel of a friend Kelly, who was at work, and asked if she could come to my house after she got off and just hang with Hollings for an hour or two until my mom got there. She responded and told me she was going to get a sub to cover for the rest of the day and that she would be right over!
Before Kelly got to our house, I had Jay drop me off at the hospital. Once again, they took my blood pressure. It was still high. The nurse told me that she couldn’t officially make the call, but that if she had to guess, since I was just a day shy of 39 weeks pregnant, they would probably decide to go ahead and induce me. Sure enough, that is what happened.
Jay got to the hospital around 2pm. They started the induction at 3pm. I was hopeful based on stories that the whole process would be quicker this time around, since it was my second baby. Jay and I spent the first couple of hours watching Netflix as my contractions began to get stronger and more painful. The doctor came in to strip my membranes. After about 4 hours, I decided it was time to ask for my epidural. I was between 4 and 5 cm dilated at this point, so the doctors agreed that this was a good time for one if I was going to get one. After the epidural kicked in, they broke my water for me.
Jay got something to eat before things started closing (I couldn’t eat since you aren’t allowed to once the induction starts). Then we decided to try and get some sleep before sleep would become a stranger we once knew. The nurse would come in periodically to see how I was doing. She asked me if I had used the peanut ball when I was in labor with Hollings. I had no idea what she was talking about. She soon brought in a giant rubber ball in the shape of a peanut to put between my legs to “open things up” down there.
I eventually fell asleep, but the nurse would still come in every 30 minutes or so to switch me from lying on one side to the other. Around 12:45am, she decided it was a good time to see how much I had progress and how dilated I was. I watched as she put on some gloves and opened up my legs. She paused for a moment and said, “I don’t even need to check, I see the baby’s head right there…and he’s got hair! It’s time to start pushing – let me go grab the doctor.” Jay jumped out of his chair to look, and sure enough, he could see the top of the baby’s head.
Everything after that moved VERY fast. The doctors came in and put my legs up. They told me to push and I did. With that very first push, I was pretty much done. The doctors said “Oh yeah you definitely remember how to do this.” I pushed two more times after that, and our sweet William was born! That’s right. I pushed for less than a minute – 3 pushes and he was out.
Our sweet William Edward Wolfe III was born on December 18th, 2020 at 12:58am. He weighed 7lbs 10oz and was 20 inches long. Now he is 7 and a half weeks old and pure perfection!
