Nora Rose Baddock was born on Wednesday, February 6 at 9:14pm. She weighed 6lbs, 14oz and was 20 inches long. This is the story of her birth. (videos included!)
In all honestly, this pregnancy was a starkly different from my first. When pregnant with Dakota, I only experienced about six weeks of morning sickness and then felt fairly healthy and energetic throughout the remainder of the pregnancy.
First time pregnancies offer a sense of freedom with the ability to rest your body in the evenings or nap on weekends, but the responsibility of working (nearly full time) while also enjoying life as a stay-at-home mom to a toddler meant I didn’t have much opportunity to rest this time around. The morning sickness lasted much longer with Nora and by the second trimester I’d developed Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction (SPD), which proved to be the most difficult part of this pregnancy – physically and emotionally. Although weekly chiropractor sessions helped, the bigger my belly grew, the worse the pelvic pain became. In the last two weeks of my pregnancy, I was so sick from all the pre-labor that I lost weight and could barely eat. Needless to say by the time Nora arrived, I was more than ready to meet her.
Three days before my due date, I had a routine weekly exam with my OBGYN. The week prior I’d learned that I was 3 cm dilated — a blatant contrast to my experience with Dakota who showed no signs of coming until I was in labor. If I hadn’t shown any more progress than 3 cm, I planned to ask to have my membranes stripped. During the exam my doctor looked up at me and said “I think you might be in labor.” Turns out I was 4 cm dilated. I had a Nonstress Test belt tied around my belly and sure enough, I was having regular contractions. I hadn’t realized this was true labor because these contractions felt the same as the weeks of pre-labor I had already been experiencing. It was 11:30am.
Similarly to my pregnancy with Dakota, I planned to labor at home as long as possible before going to the hospital. So I went home to wait it out. I made my go-to pregnancy craving — avocado toast topped with eggs, sauerkraut and arugula tossed with salt + truffle oil (weird, I know) — knowing this would be the last time I’d have the opportunity to eat for a while. I put Dakota down for nap around 2:30pm and told her that grandma and grandpa would probably come over soon so that mama and dada could go to the hospital to have our baby. She asked me to promise that I’d still be home when she woke up and I told her I would try.
My contractions were getting closer and closer together. By the time they were consistently 2-3 minutes apart, I knew it was time to head to the hospital. You always hear how subsequent pregnancies often result in shorter labor and I didn’t want to wait to leave for the hospital before it was too late.
Here’s the thing about having done this before. All the fear of the unknown from my first labor and delivery was completely gone. Alex mentioned several times throughout the experience that this labor seemed easier and less painful than the last. It wasn’t at all but there is something to be said for knowing what to expect. We strolled into Anne Arundel Medical Center around 5:00pm and I was checked into triage by 6:30pm. By then I was 5-6 cm dilated.
By 7:45pm I had been checked into my own room, received an IV (which was an absolute blood bath and probably the worst part of my hospital experience), and asked for an epidural. I had always planned on the epidural. It was late at night and there was only one anesthesiologist on staff who had back-to-back surgeries scheduled so it was advised that I get it as soon as he was available.
As soon as the needle was inserted into my back, the anesthesiologist received an emergency call to go help at a C-section and had to leave before the medicine was administered. The contractions were still bearable as I waited for another anesthesiologist to be brought in from the hospital to administer the medicine. Shortly after I did receive the medication, I realized the epidural was only working on half of my body…
When the anesthesiologist originally inserted the needle, the he’d asked if I had scoliosis. I didn’t think too much of it at the time because I’ve always thought my back was shaped weird (it runs in my family…) But during labor with Dakota, I received an epidural twice because the first time it didn’t work. In hindsight, I now assume the curvature of my spine is the reason I’ve had so much difficulty with epidurals.
The doctor on call (who happened to be my sister-in-law’s doctor!) arrived and asked if I’d like her to break my water. The plan was for an anesthesiologist to come back and re-try the epidural as soon as he was available so I figured why not get the process going. She broke my water and left Alex and I to ourselves. Things went from 0 to 100 pretty quickly.
My contractions suddenly became very intense and I could feel my body opening up on the inside and the baby sliding down. Although instinctively I knew it was almost time to start pushing, I could barely concentrate — let alone speak — through the pain. Because the epidural worked on half my body, I was unable to get up from the hospital bed and my body was shivering uncontrollably (a common side effect of epidurals). On top of that I could feel the other half of my body going through transition. It was a sensation I cannot put into words.
Alex called the nurse back into the room who determined it was time to have a baby! The doctor arrived soon after and I couldn’t start pushing fast enough. Again, I could feel everything — but only on half my body — which was the strangest sensation imaginable. After just under ten minutes of pushing, little Nora Rose Baddock entered the world at 9:14pm.
Alex, yet again, had to be reminded by the nurse to announce the baby’s gender (“It’s a girl!”) and cut the cord. Our sweet little Nora came out perfectly pink, crying, and immediately wrapped her little arms around my neck once placed on my chest. Everything was perfect.
Dakota meeting her baby sister for the first time was absolutely precious. Wide-eyed and curious, she didn’t quite know what to expect. It still breaks my heart to watch videos of her learning that we weren’t all leaving the hospital together and she’d have to spend one more night away from mama and dada.
Our sweet little Nora was such a champ during her very first bath.
I also can’t get over the cuteness we captured of Nora’s first hiccups (outside of the womb… they were nonstop in utero and still are!)
