I can hardly believe that our little Allani is almost one month old already. The more I know her, the more amazed I am at the fact that this is who was inside of me for so long and at the miracle of birth and life. As such, I had a hard time deciding what to write about her birth. So… sorry for the delay and sorry it’s so long… But here is the story of Allani’s birth.
"God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1:7)
I am not really sure why I feel this way, but I really wanted to have a natural birth. I don’t relish the idea of being in horrible pain for hours. But after studying and pondering, I concluded that birth doesn’t have to be that way. I wanted to "go natural" when Hyrum was born, but I wasn’t prepared. I experienced a lot of fear and turmoil and had an epidural about 30 minutes before he was born. So I put a lot into preparing this time and prayed for help to approach this birth with faith and hope instead of fear.
My body also did a lot to prepare with plenty of Braxton Hicks contractions and false labor. So, on Sunday April 27th when I woke up at about 6 am having a contraction I was cautious about concluding that it was the “real thing,” even though it felt "different." These contractions continued to come more than 20 minutes apart with 1 or 2 Braxton Hicks contractions in between.
Our church meetings started at 11:30 am and I decided that I would rather be there listening to uplifting messages than at home getting frustrated by a lack of progression. So, we went to sacrament meeting and I was happy to be there.
Sometime around 2:30, my stronger contractions went from being 7-18 minutes apart to suddenly being 4-5 minutes apart. When I decided that they were going to continue and it was time to go to the hospital, I suddenly became very nervous and for the first time my contractions became what I would describe as painful. I had Adam give me a blessing and I was able to relax again before we left. Once I was calm, the contractions felt like they had before.
On the way to the hospital I told Adam that I really hoped I had progressed enough to not be sent home. It had been so easy and I was so calm that I wasn’t sure. My contractions were 2-3 minutes apart when we arrived at about 4:20. After a few pre-admission procedures which made me very nervous (i.e. more painful contractions), I was relaxed and smiling again. The nurse checked me and said that I was 6 to 7 cm dilated.
After the nurse managed to placed the IV, which took multiple tries, my doctor came to check on me. He looked at the monitor and said that I was “contracting like crazy." He checked me and said I was at 8 or 9 cm (10 cm is complete and ready to deliver). Wow! I was amazed because I was still peaceful and pleasant. My contractions were still very manageable and all I did for them was relax and breathe deeply.
However, soon I started shivering and then the contractions really started to build in intensity. It became harder and harder to breathe slowly and Adam started trying to get me to slow down my breathing. After several of these intense contractions my water broke and I immediately felt Allani moving down the birth canal.
“She’s coming! She’s coming!” I called out. As soon as my nurse realized what I was saying she got right in my face and said the classic “Don’t push!” My doctor hurried in and as soon as he was ready to catch the baby, the nurse told me to push. I did and Allani’s head came out with that very first push! She was born at 6:06 pm.
Now… while I do remember some stinging as I started to push, I don’t remember terrible pain. However, judging from the fact that 1) I tore, 2) I screamed as her head and then her body came out (in a total of two pushes) and 3) I remember thinking “I don’t think I ever want to do this again,”I would assume that I did feel a significant amount of pain. But it only lasted a moment. And then there was our sweet, little baby girl! And I felt so… normal… and happy about our precious baby and what I had accomplished.
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Both the birth and especially recovery have been immensely better this time around. I have been so much happier and more myself. I know that the Lord has greatly blessed me. And I am thankful to everyone who has helped to make the transition to being a mother of two easier. Thank you!
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