Oh my goodness, I’m a GIRL MOM!!! I mean, I was before too but, ya know. Something about having two of them just makes it official in my mind, I guess. Here is Maggie Marie’s birth story.

I just can’t even. I am SO excited.

As I write this I’m sitting in the hospital bed with a sleeping Maggie on my chest and a sleeping hubby on the chair-turned-bed beside us. I decided to write everything down while it’s suuuuper fresh in my mind because I love deets. And I don’t want to forget anything. 

Now, my babies seem to really enjoy things on the inside, as proven by both being almost 2 weeks past their due date, and then still needing mama to be induced. It could’ve been because they were both posterior (read: not in an ideal position for birth)… but who really knows.

So while I was induced with Ellie at 41 weeks and 6 days, it was 41 + 5 with Maggie. 

Maggie’s birth story: Mags was born yesterday (Saturday, July 18th, 2020) at 7:13 pm weighing 7 lbs 11 oz.

After having been induced with Ellie, I was really hoping to go into labour naturally this time around. I just wanted that experience of feeling the contractions come on naturally and realizing it was go-time. And I just wanted to feel those natural contractions, period, rather than the ones brought on by pitocin.

And I tried allll the things to encourage labour to begin… I ate the dates, went on the walks, did hip circles on the ball, got the stretch and sweeps, ate the spicy food… you name it, I probably tried it.

So, we went ahead and booked the induction for July 18th. We had aimed for the day before but the hospital was full that day… funny how that dictated her birthday for, well, the rest of her life. Same with scheduled c-sections; I’ve always found that interesting.

Just me? Okay then. Moving on!

On Friday (the day before induction), we went in to the hospital to have the Foley catheter put in. Basically, it’s a balloon that goes into the uterus and encourages the cervix to dilate to 3cm. FUN! You tug on it every once in a while and when it comes out, you know you’ve reached at least 3cm. It helps to get the cervix ready and more “favourable” so the pitocin has a better chance of working well.

It caused mild cramping for a few hours but nothing crazy, and that tapered off and didn’t come back. At 4am, I thought I’d test to see if it would come out… and woohoo, it did! 3cm had been reached. 

The next morning (well, later that same morning if you wanna be specific), I got a text from our midwife telling us that the hospital was ready for us, and we were able to choose what time we wanted to go in. We chose 9am so I’d have time to finish getting ready and also have a winning breakfast (3 eggs + raw cheese, yeah!).

On our drive to the hospital, Miguel and I sang and danced to Metric’s Gimme Sympathy… we had done this exact thing on the way to Ellie’s birth, so obvi it was now a tradition. What a surreal feeling to know that you’re on your way to a place where, once you leave, you’ll have a fresh baby to take with you. Too crazy and cool!

We met up with our midwife (Tamara Youngberg from Access Midwives… we can’t say enough amazing things about her and her team!), and I proceeded to get the hospital room all ready. My affirmations got tacked to the wall, the music went on, and my snacks and drinks got lined up on the table (oh, plus my homeopathics and essential oils)… you just never know what you might need! I’m definitely an overpacker… especially when it comes to the births of my babies, I’ve discovered.

At 10 am, it was go-time! Tamara started the pitocin and the three of us chatted… it was a super relaxed environment. Tamara had delivered Ellie as well, and we trusted her wholeheartedly and she always kept us feeling comfortable and knowing that everything was okay and “normal.”

Miguel would hand me drinks or food as I requested them, and he also suggested a sniff of essential oils every so often, and of course provided comic relief. And I totally encouraged and welcomed it… I mean, laughing increases oxytocin, so bring it on!

The three of us continued on that way, waiting for things to start picking up. It’s crazy how fast time flies when you’re in labour. 

I stayed in early labour for about 5 hours, with the contractions slowly getting stronger (the lovely “beep” of the machine as Tamara turned up the pitocin every 30 minutes was a friendly heads up of what was to come). Ha! Not.

Around 3 pm, Tamara attempted to break my water but it wasn’t happening easily so she decided to try again about half an hour later… and oh boy, did it work that time!

There was SO much water, and it just kept coming. To give you an indication, Tamara had to change her outfit completely because of how wet she was. Oops. And the sensation as she was trying to break my water just before it released, ugh! It felt like the most intense feeling of fullness I’ve ever experienced… like my bladder, bowel – entire abdomen, basically – was completely stuffed AND being pushed on, hard. As soon as it released, holyyy the relief.

At about 3:30 pm, active labour began.

I could no longer talk through the contractions, and instead of simply breathing through them (as I had been doing for much of the morning), I definitely needed to make noise.

Making a low sound as I exhaled worked the best for me, as well as trying my hardest to keep everything relaxed. I had done a lot of reading on natural childbirth and I wanted SO MUCH to be able to keep my mind as relaxed as possible so my body would follow suit.

What I had learned was that fear and anxiety cause tension in the body, specifically in this case, the uterus and that in turn causes pain. So as much as the automatic inclination when a contraction begins is to tense up and fight against it, I learned that the best way through it is to breathe, make low noises (think mooing like a cow), and try your absolute best to stay calm and relaxed and let it serve its purpose. Basically, surrender to the contraction. 

And I have to say, it really did work well for me. Of course, it was a lot tougher to do when the contractions were super intense (and I definitely ended up shouting through some), but overall keeping my mindset calm and continuing to focus on relaxing really worked wonders.

After 1.5 hours of active labour, Tamara checked me to see where we were at. My cervix had thinned out a bit more, but I was still at 5cm and baby’s head was still high. And let me tell you, after going through contractions for a few hours (and some women for a LOT more), it’s disappointing to hear that you’re still at the same amount of dilation.

The toughest thing about labour, at least for me, is the “not knowing.”

Not knowing how much longer you’ll be enduring the contractions, not knowing how much more intense they might get, not knowing how long the pushing stage will last.

Each contraction is energy expended, and if you knew how long you’d be going through them for, you’d be better able to pace yourself with an “end” in sight. But alas, that is simply not how childbirth goes, and so you just… keep going! That was the toughest part for me, for sure. 

Throughout early and active labour, I had been alternating positions… I stood up and swayed back and forth (and danced, as you do), I stood and leaned over the side of the bed, I laid on each side with a peanut ball between my legs, and I went on my hands and knees in the bed. Since babe was posterior, I had to try a variety of positions to try and help her turn. I experienced back labour as well, so Miguel and Tamara would rub my lower back through those contractions…  and oh man did that help a lot!

From 5-6 pm, I remained in the hands and knees position, down on my forearms with my bum in the air. (Holla!) Those were definitely the most intense contractions yet… and I learned later that it was likely because babe had turned during that hour… and that allowed me to go from 5cm to almost 10, with the exception of one tiny part of my cervix that still had to move out of the way. 

HOLY the relief and excitement that news gave me!

I felt a burst of energy and was so, so happy that we were almost there. I remember thinking that if that was what natural labour was, it wasn’t actually awful and in fact was, dare I say it, doable! Even in that moment, I knew though, that my mindset and focus were everything. Things could’ve gone very differently if I had allowed the nerves and “not knowingness” to take over and in turn allowed my body and uterus to tense up. 

We went through some more contractions to try and allow the remaining cervix to move out of the way, and eventually Tamara asked if I wanted her to manually attempt to move it during the next few contractions. I was like, YES!! I just wanted to keep things moving along (literally) and be able to get to the pushing stage. 

By 7 pm, it had worked! Time to push!

Up until that point, I had the urge to push here and there (which is pretty much what had caused me to shout… what a crazy sensation).

Apart from those “here and there” pushes, the active pushing phase lasted from 7:05 until 7:13pm. Yes, 8 minutes. And with Ellie it was about 15 minutes. These girls of ours like to stay in there for extra long, but then when they’re ready, they are READY! They both also had an arm up by their head when they came out. I’m guessing the similarities will just keep on coming!

A second midwife, Cait, arrived as I neared full dilation, and she was a fantastic addition to our little group. 

The quick pushing phase is likely what caused the broken blood vessels in my eyes… we’re talkin’ scary looking, RED-all-over eyeballs. 

Even though the entire labour and birth was surreal, I have to say that the pushing phase was the most surreal. I mean, you can now feel your baby coming down, you’re gonna meet her any minute (and find out if it’s a girl or boy, in our case), you know you have to keep going and get through this part in order to get your baby out… I mean, surreal doesn’t even begin to describe it, really. 

The ring of fire? A real thing, in my experience. But I just kept pushing (literally) towards it, again knowing through was the only way out. But honestly? I didn’t find it horrible. A LOT?! Oh yeah. But horrible? No. And right after its peak, it released and there was baby’s head, and soon to follow, entire body.

Tamara laid babe on my chest and What. Absolute. Relief! (Along with a rush of oxytocin and other feel-good hormones.) They had Miguel check to see whether it was a boy or girl and at that moment I totally thought he was going to say “boy” (even though for the entire pregnancy I was convinced it was a girl). After a moment he said… it’s Maggie! And omg I couldn’t believe it… another GIRL and a sister for Ellie!

So now that babe was out, time to deliver the placenta (I found that pretty easy) and then check for tearing.

Aaand yup! There was indeed. A partial 3rd-degree tear, to be exact. Tamara says it was a lot less extensive than with Ellie, and based on my recovery, I absolutely believe that. Last time, I literally could not believe how painful my vaginal (and yeah, bum) recovery was, and this time it was SO much better. 

I had actually been pretty anxious about getting stitches without having had an epidural. I knew that they do local freezing, but I mean, even that is given with a needle! But it really wasn’t that bad, and of course, I had my Maggie on my chest the whole time, so that was a great distraction. It was still noticeable (ha), but not awful. 

All in all, I’m SO happy I was able to stay in the right mindset to be able to experience a natural birth. I had gone into Ellie’s birth also not wanting an epidural, but agreed to it when Tamara suggested it as a way to help baby turn since her heart rate was starting to be affected by contractions. I definitely wanted to avoid a c-section so opted for the epidural to try to prevent that. (It worked, by the way!)

I had the same mindset this time… I would take it if needed but was hoping to go through it naturally. So, woohoo! I’m so freakin’ happy with the experience, and I also like the fact that I’ve experienced birth both ways. 

You might be asking which way I’d choose next time if we end up having another one.

Well, I can honestly say that I’d choose the natural route (once again being okay with the option of epidural).

There was just something about being fully present in mind AND body and being able to experience the sensations of my body going through the birth process. I know, I know, it sounds crazy, right? Yes, it was tough and extremely intense… but it was also one of the coolest things ever. I knew my body could do it and I just stuck with that truth the whole way through.

Satisfying, surreal, amazing… just a few words that can’t even come close to describing the awesomeness of that experience.

I’d love to hear about your experience. Please feel free to share below!

If you haven’t yet read the birth story of my first daughter, Ellie, click here for that.