June Emma’s Birth Story — The Chelsie Channel

I can’t believe we have another sweet baby girl!

This pregnancy was pretty miserable ha ha and not just at the end but for basically the whole time, except for maybe a month or so in the middle. Such is pregnancy right!

However, I was better prepared mentally and emotionally than I was with the others which made it better in many ways. I was also on a pregnancy safe anxiety medication and it helped make things SO much better for me in that regard. I am so thankful for modern medicine. It really made a huge difference for me. If you have any questions about that then please hit me up!

Also- I had it in my head to do a natural birth this time around since my labor and deliveries are usually pretty quick (Eli’s was an hour and 10 minutes 😳) so I spent the end of my pregnancy researching all the ways to labor naturally.

My last doctor office bathroom pic! Ha ha little did I know June would be born later that night!

Anyway- At my last doctors appointment when I was 38 weeks and 4 days along I asked for a membrane sweep and MAN it hurt! I got one the week before too and it also hurt but didn’t do anything. After this one though, I felt super crampy right away and it lasted for hours. My doctors advice was to stay on my feet and to keep moving to help get things going. I bounced on my yoga ball, walked up and down the street for a bit and then decided to get a nap because I was exhausted! Through out all of this I was consistently cramping.

A nice close up of my swollen prego face while I’m walking up and down the street, thinking that labor just might be starting!

After a nice nap my cramping had turned into contractions. I decided to get out and walk a little bit more and do some more yoga ball bouncing to get things really going around 5 pm. The contractions were definitely still coming but they were short and about 4/5 minutes apart. I just kind of labored at home and tried to clean things, put away laundry and got my last minute packing stuff in my bag. Then things really started to pick up just after 6pm. I made the kids freezer pizza and turned on Leap Frog while Kyler ran around trying to do last minute things ha ha he was also trying to call sitters to come over but it was tricky because no one was available right then 😬 The joys of sporadic early labors 😅 so he reached out to Addie Smith and bless her! She came right over.

The contractions were starting to feel fairly painful so I’d yell for Kyler to come put counter pressure on my back when they’d come. Shortly after Addie came we headed out to the hospital! I sure disliked the car ride there, contractions in the car really hurt! ha ha

We got to the hospital and right as we jumped out I got a contraction and went straight to an all fours position in the hospital entrance. Kyler was putting pressure on my back and I’m sure we looked absurd but I just did not care! The contraction ended and he wheeled me inside and to the labor and delivery floor we went! It’s always such a dramatic and fast paced ride there ha ha Once we got inside to L&D I jumped down again on all fours through a contraction (it feels better in that position) and once it finished the nurse wheeled me into a room and Kyler ran back down to the car to get all of the things I wanted to do my natural labor with (Yoga ball, heating pad, yoga mat.) I got changed into a gown and they checked me and I was at a 5! I was really excited and thinking maybe I really could do this naturally!

Kyler got back to the room and he laid my yoga mat on the floor where I mainly labored on all fours while the nurses try to get IVs/medical info/baby heart beat tracker and contraction tracker stuff on me. I didn’t make it easy on them because they’d have to pause when my contractions came through. And then I had to get a lovely Covid test in between contractions too, and had to labor with a mask on. It wasn’t too bad, just uncomfortable on top of everything else going on.

What seemed to help me through contractions the most was kylers counter pressure on my lower back or pressure on my hips (squeezing them and kind of pushing them up towards my head.) I’d try and do some stretches or rock back and forth between contractions. After awhile they checked me again and I was only at a 5 1/2 😬 then Doctor Andrews came and popped my water and right away I became a 7. I didn’t have a catheter in so I kept leaking water and totally went to the bathroom a few times on the floor too (insert embarrassed face here.) ha ha keeping it classy! 🙃 But when you’re in full out labor you just don’t care! After laboring for another 50 ish minutes I was still just at a 7, but the contractions were coming so regularly and were lasting SO long, at least it felt like it, so it was pure misery.

Trying to channel my inner warrior princess ha ha

Growling, deep breaths, all fours and counter pressure helped the most but even with those things the peak of each contraction felt like pure hell. I swore a bit 😅 and was in tears. I tried to get through a couple more contractions but then when doc checked me and I was still just a 7 after over an hour and was totally sobbing during contractions I decided to get an epidural. I wanted to feel strong and empowered during this experience, not traumatized ha ha Turns out baby girl was posterior so that was slowing down her process to my pelvis and she was essentially stuck. I was pretty bummed I couldn’t do it unmedicated the whole way through but MAN am I grateful for epidurals. Everyone kept saying if she had been facing the right way I totally would have been able to do it, which made me feel a little better, but who knows! I have SUCH respect for the women who have done it! (Here’s looking at you Krista and Dezi!) It hurt like nothing I’ve ever felt before. MUCH MUCH worse than when I had my kidney stone. I’m glad I was able to make it as far as I did though, and I’m also really glad I asked for help when I knew I had reached my max.

After the epidural started working I still felt pinching on my right side which kinda hurt but was much better than before for sure! The epidural helped me lay on my side with a peanut yoga ball in between my legs and that helped June get unstuck and start progressing again. I couldn’t have laid like that without the epidural though because laying down intensified the contraction pain immensely.

I had to stay on my right side to help the numbness spread that way. I started shaking super bad which was quite annoying ha ha My IV port in my hand hurt and I could not move. Shortly after the epidural started working I quickly became an 8, then a 9, and then I had THE strongest urge to push. I told the nurse and she said baby’s head was right there. Doc Andrews had had to go to Timp hospital to deliver another baby so she was on her way but man was I ready to push ha ha I could not control anything down there and she felt like she was going to just slide right out! After about 15 ish minutes of waiting and hoping I didn’t accidentally push, Doc Andrew came and away we went! The nurse (Kenzy- she was awesome) put my legs up in the stirrups and literally right away Doc Andrews said “oh look! Here she comes!” I kid you not- I did not push at all and June just slid right out! It was awesome. She probably could have been born a half hour earlier ha ha she was ready! And thankfully I didn’t tear or bruise at all which was even more great! No stitches!

June cried a little after coming out and then cried more while she was being rubbed down with the towel but then calmed right down. She weighed 7lbs 1oz and was 18.5 inches long. Her skin looked so pink and cute and her hair looked dark brown with zero traces of red.

My placenta took a bit to come out fully but then Doc Andrews cleaned me up and all that fun stuff. We took some pictures and I gave my doctor and the nurses their gifts/snacks/thank you cards and then we just kind of hung out for a bit. The nurse brought me ice water, a sandwich and OJ which tasted ridiculously delicious ha ha it was a ham sandwich which was kind of a bummer (I’m a turkey girl 💯) but I put mustard on it and that helped hide the taste ha ha I was still shaking SO badly which was crazy annoying, my legs were still super numb so I couldn’t move at all and my IV port hurt super bad. I felt kind of frazzled because I was uncomfortable and really wanted to move. I think this was probably my least favorite labor and delivery because of all the chaos of trying it naturally and then having to switch to the epidural at a late stage. This made the numbness last longer after delivery than it did with my others and it was frustrating being unable to function how I wanted post delivery. Every other labor and delivery I’ve had the epidural usually starts to wear off a little around the delivery point so I don’t feel so stuck. Regardless though, I’m just grateful my June girl was healthy and that my body didn’t tear or bruise!

We knew that her first name would be June for a few months before she was born, but we STRUGGLED on finding a middle name we could both agree on. We also like the middle name to be after someone we really look up to and admire, but those names were just not meshing with June. Finally, during the hospital stay, we decided to go with Emma, for Emma Smith, and even though the name doesn’t flow as much as I’d like we feel really good about it. ❤️

I can’t believe it’s only been a few months since all of this happened. It already feels like a life time ago. We are absolutely loving having our June girl here, and I’m so happy I’m not pregnant anymore! Ha ha She is just the sweetest, happiest baby and she smiles and coos SO easily. It’s so fun! We are so glad she’s a part of our crazy crew!

PS - shout out to the Nelsons and the Johnsons for watching our big kids during our hospital stay so Kyler could be with me. We really appreciate our family and community, it truly takes a village! ❤️ Now, please excuse me while I go snuggle my sweet baby girl.

Meeting henry and rose for the first time ❤️