Time really flies by when you have a newborn! I cannot believe our girl is almost two months old already! Now that we’ve started to settle into our new normal with two kids, I can share her birth story.
First, I was fully expecting this little girl to be born before her due date and I was extremely anxious about going into labor. With Luca, my pregnancy was perfect in every way except at my 38 week appointment, I suddenly had high blood pressure so my OB decided to induce me. I never went into labor naturally so I didn’t know what to expect. And I really didn’t want to be induced again (those pitocin contractions were no joke!) so my OB put me on low dose aspirin so help keep my blood pressure from getting too high.
This pregnancy put me through the wringer from the beginning. It was emotionally, mentally and physically harder than my pregnancy with Luca. Add a pandemic on top of that, it makes for a pregnancy I’ll never forget (and never want to repeat to be totally honest)
Due to COVID-19, my hospital wanted patients to get tested prior to birth and strict restrictions were in place for prenatal appointments, labor and delivery. I made my peace with it, anything as long as we both were healthy and safe at the end of it.
June 2nd, my sister and I took Luca to Maymont in hopes that walking up and down their hills would help kickstart labor. I got tested for COVID-19 afterwards (and got a negative result thankfully!) and then I went home to relax a little. At the end of the day, as everyone in the house started to go to sleep, I bounced on my yoga ball for over an hour and rubbed Clary Sage oil on my belly, my back and my pressure points.
I woke up at 1am with contractions but it wasn’t strong enough for me to fully wake up and it was only 3 contractions during that hour. At 2am though, I woke up with stronger contractions and decided I should probably start tracking them just in case it was the real thing. I had always heard of your belly contracting but it wasn’t in my belly, the pain was centered in my hips, pubic bone and butt! Contractions continued coming but it was inconsistent with timing, which wasn’t what I expected for a real labor and wasn’t how my doctors described real labor contractions as going. After a particularly sharp contraction that left me almost in tears, I decided to take a hot bath to try to relax at 4am. An hour later, I climbed back into bed to try to get some rest as contractions continued. By then, Vicente woke up and he decided to stay home with me today instead of going to work. Contractions were getting stronger and I was getting very uncomfortable and bracing myself with every contraction. Vicente went to shower and get our hospital bags ready as I got myself ready and tried to labor on my yoga ball for some relief (which totally didn’t work). I decided at 5:50am that I would call my mom later in the morning to come over and watch Luca so we could go to the doctor’s office. Just 20 minutes later I was calling her to come over NOW
I called my OB’s office and they told me to head to the hospital so Vicente got our bags in the car, I labored more and we waited for my mom to arrive. She did arrive shortly and I snuck into Luca’s room for a quick kiss bye before we left.
It was 7am when we left home and our hospital was a 35 minute drive away. Vicente was channeling his inner Fast and Furious since we made it there in record time. I waddled my way in and got admitted. I was admitted at 7cm and 90% effaced! No wonder I was in so much pain! As soon as I got into my room, I asked for an epidural because the pain was just too intense for me to handle. I had an epidural with Luca and had a great experience so I was just hoping I would get another epidural before it was too late! Thankfully my nurse hustled and I got my epidural fairly quickly.
The epidural kicked in and it was BLISS. I relaxed and we just let labor continue and I got some much needed rest and a small nap in! By 11am I was 10cm and ready to push but the delivering OB was also delivering two other babies (very popular birth date!) and Emy was facing sunny side up so we used the time to try different positions for her to flip the right way for pushing.
12:30pm and the OB came in to break my water and to turn Emy the right way. She brushed the top of her head and she flipped right on over! Soon after, with my amazing nurse and hubby holding a leg, I began pushing. It took just 6 contractions and at 12:54pm, Emilia Isabella Mendoza made her appearance, lungs full and with big cries. She was absolutely perfect.
7lb, 8oz. 19.5 inches long. All 10 fingers and toes. A full head of hair although less hair than her brother had. And the chubbiest little cheeks. Such bliss.
For how exhausting this pregnancy had been on me and the stress of bringing a baby into the world during a pandemic, labor and delivery was so easy and post birth was lovely too (as far as pushing a baby out of you goes). We shared so many moments with Emilia that we never had with Luca. We got to have our magic hour with her on my chest. Vicente did skin to skin with her in the hospital. She stayed in the room with us the whole entire stay. We started breastfeeding together. We got to take photos of her in the hospital on my camera. All things that we couldn’t do with Luca because he was in the NICU. I’m so thankful for the easy delivery and recovery and even more thankful for a beautiful healthy baby girl.
We are so in love with our sweet girl and I can’t wait for all the memories we’ll have with her.
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Our Maternity Portraits | Baby Mendoza No.2
