What was it like giving birth for the second time?
I had my first kid in 2011 and she is 5 years old now. She is pretty awesome and in kindergarten now. I was asked to write about my experience giving birth to my second child who is now nine months old. My daughters have different dads, which mean different birthing and pregnancy experiences for both.
So to explain my second childbirth experience I have to tell you guys about my first childbirth experience. Here is some background on that one. I was seventeen years old and in my family having kids at a young age is a huge no-no! After announcing my pregnancy to the family, with the help of my mom, you’d think things would be okay. Nope! After the talking, crying, suggesting abortions and stating that being pregnant meant “I’ll eat all the food. We don’t even have a lot of food”, the storming off and going to separate rooms made me feel horrible! I already felt awful for getting pregnant in the first place! What business does a seventeen-year-old girl have having sex anyway? Exactly what I’m thinking right now.
Anywho, as the months went on and the pregnancy progressed I got nothing but stares and questions from”friends” wanting all the details about my pregnancy. I got questions about who, what, when, where and why? I wish I had all the answers. I was just young and uneducated in the “sex” area of life. The pregnancy went on and I had many complications. I also got kicked out! I endured physical abuse which would be a whole other story to tell when the time comes. Then I moved back in with my mom and lived with her the rest of my pregnancy.
Just so we’re clear, if I didn’t already paint the picture, I didn’t get to enjoy my fist pregnancy at all! Let’s skip to my last moments being pregnant. The night before the birth, I was having especially bad lower back pain while my younger sister was doing my hair. I couldn’t take the pain anymore so I went to the hospital. Thankfully my older sister was able to drive me. It turns out I had a kidney infection and the nurses started me on a medicine that I can’t recall the name of. Later my ex-boyfriend met me at the hospital. I had fallen asleep and according to him, I was talking about having future kids and favorite colors in my sleep. Then I woke up!
I thought I had peed myself but nope, my water broke! The doctors and nurses put me on everything. I asked if I wanted an epidural I was confused because I had no idea what an epidural was. I didn’t know anything about giving birth, medicine, and what happens after birth. I didn’t care enough because I was ashamed of being pregnant.
After the epidural ( I said yes to getting a huge needle getting shoved into my spine) all the pain went away. I went to sleep and I woke up and I was told that I was ready to push the baby out and so I did. I somehow pushed wrong and popped a blood vessel in my eye. Pushing was the hardest thing but my beautiful baby girl was born 6 pounds 9 ounces at 12:34 p.m.
Now It’s time to talk about the birds and the bees. I’m joking! Five years later I am living a new life with my daughter and boyfriend and we find out were pregnant after a couple tests. Yay! It’s another girl for me!
Take note guys this is my boyfriend’s first baby and my second baby. This time it was completely different. I got to enjoy this whole pregnancy. I was twenty-three years old and we had our own home. I was free from “being too young” to have a baby. We both told everyone the news as soon as we found out but I’ll tell you, this pregnancy had its share of complications too. My baby girl tried to come sooner than expected in April 2011 and in that same month I was in a car accident. I hit belly on the steering wheel and I had to go to the hospital to make sure the baby was okay. Following that, I had many contractions and was ordered to stop working. I was put on pills to slow down the intensity and frequency of the contractions. The doctor stated, “We’re going to need you to stay on strict bed rest.” All I could think was, “crap!”
On the month of my due date- well a couple weeks earlier, my daughter was given the okay by the doctors to come and she did. This is how it happened.
My boyfriend and I had an argument that day. I chose to sleep in my daughter’s room. My water didn’t break all at once. This time it trickled out. So I thought I peed myself in the room. I got up and cleaned myself up and went to lay down again. My boyfriend noticed I got up and came to check on me.
I thought, “how sweet, right?”
I told him what happened and then I remembered my doctor explaining to me that my water could also break into small parts. My water may not gush out all at once. My water kept on trickling out and we decided to call the doctor. She told us to come in. I realized my water broke once contractions started rolling in. We woke up our other daughter and told her that the baby as coming and we have to go to the hospital. We loaded up the car and skipping forward, at the hospital, I made it to 6cm without any medicine but I was exhausted. I couldn’t take the pain anymore I was cursing at the nurses and my boyfriend. I was squatting toward the end of the bed at every contraction I had.
I couldn’t take it anymore and sadly I gave in to the epidural. I really wanted to have an all natural birth but after I was numbed from the waist down I was able to get some rest and I apologized to my family and the staff afterward. We all went to sleep and when I woke up the nurses asked me if I wanted to try some practice pushes. I agreed because I didn’t want to pop a blood vessel this time around. We did five practice pushes and then they had me lay with a “peanut ball” in between my legs for about ten minutes. We were ready to roll after that. I’d say after about seven minutes of pushing my second baby girl was born at 6 pounds 13 ounces at 8:07 a.m.
At twenty-four, I’m now holding on to two jobs, still in a relationship with boyfriend, and renting a two-bedroom rancher. The goal is to own a home before the year is up so that our girls will be happy and comfortable with more space than what we have now and a yard. Plus we have two dogs and it seems we’ve about grown out of this place.