Scarlett's Unassisted Birth Story + Photos

Justin, Silas and I had all been really sick for a week so on Sunday Dec 21, my mom and I decided to go to Amarillo to fill a script for medicine and do some last minute Christmas shopping. I was 41 weeks and 4 days pregnant at this point. We arrived around 2 and when we stopped at Starbucks for coffee & a potty break, I noticed I had lost a quarter size chunk of mucus plug & was feeling really crampy. I told my mom we should make the trip kind of snappy in case labor was close. We walked and shopped all afternoon and decided to eat before we left. At 7pm, we were walking into the restaurant and I had a contraction. I was able to walk and talk through it but I thought to myself "that was my first real contraction I've had this pregnancy." We sat down to eat and I didn't notice any more until we finished up everything in Amarillo and hit the road at 8:30. As soon as we were out of town, I started having light contractions every 8-10 minutes. When we were maybe 45 minutes from home they were a little closer, maybe every 6-8 minutes. I wasn't "timing" per say but just noticing what time it was.. I did not think that was my early labour! We got home around 10:30 and I unloaded the car. Justin had a friend over and needed to take him home. My contractions completely stopped. Once Justin got back home and we got into bed, around 11:15, my contractions started up and were feeling a little more strong. I got up to pee and there was the sign I was looking for- pink on the tissue. I knew it would be happening soon! I laid back down and then got really cold and started shivering- exactly how I started labor with Silas 2 years ago. At this point, I really knew it would be happening that night. Justin and I stayed in bed for a little while then he got up and got busy- he's good at that! I found my birth ball and robe and got to work on my contractions and timing them while Justin set out all our birth supplies, tidied up, did dishes, ect. We called our doula, Rebecca, around 12:45 and asked her to head this way. She lives 2 hours away. My contractions were more intense more quickly this time around and were about a minute long coming every 2 minutes. I was frustrated to not have more time between them but I didn't realize that all the contractions in the car were my early labor! I'm pretty sad to not have been home with Justin through that. I spent the first half of labor at home on the ball at the end of the bed while Justin had an instrumental record playing. It was really uncomfortable to stand or walk so I stayed there as long as I could. I was hungry but nothing sounded very good so I ate a little oatmeal and called it good. I had lost track of time by now and was enjoying working before things had gotten super tough. But it didn't take long for the contractions to get more intense and require more concentration to get through. I started to worry that Rebecca wouldn't make it on time because I felt like I was starting to get transition-y. I had used the restroom a few times and I suddenly had the urge to throw up so while Justin was on the phone with Rebecca, he had to run and bring me the trash. After forcefully getting everything up, I knew I was really starting transition. Looking back at the phone logs, this was around 3am and Rebecca arrived shortly after. I ended up back in the bedroom laboring along the dresser by the bed. I stood and swayed my hips, bent down as needed and held the dresser for support. I was having a really hard time getting through them and sometimes they would take my breath away but I just worked to not get overwhelmed each time. The space between contractions didn't feel like a break at all, just a break from the peak of the contraction. I started thinking "I don't want to do this again for a long time" and knew those were still transition thoughts. It seemed to be taking forever! I said i was exhausted and Rebecca brought a spoonful of honey for an energy boost. I kneeled down by the bed and started working there & Justin brought water and cold rags for me. I was getting really tired and frustrated and asked how long transition was supposed to take?! I don't remember them answering but Justin told me they responded and tried to encourage me. I was really grateful that both Justin and Rebecca gave me my birth space. I had all the support I needed but it was still my work to be done and I was so grateful that it turned out that way. I feel like I really owned the work and the birth! Anyway, I started feeling like I needed to poop and knew baby must be moving down. I asked for some privacy to see if I really needed to poop or if I was about to start pushing. I was surprised when I started grunting and really baring down hard. It was not the slow, peaceful, feel good pushing I had heard about and imagined. It was intense and hard just like all of labor had been. Somehow I told them to come back in and it was time to get baby moving down! My pushes were so strong and forceful, I could feel baby's head moving quickly down the birth canal. I was really overwhelmed with this part and once her head was just about to start crowning, I nearly had a meltdown. Intense and hard are the only words I've been able to use to describe it. I started saying "I don't know" "Help me" "I can't do this" and Justin and Rebecca just encouraged me and reminded me to trust the process and that I will have the labor that baby and I need. So when my body was ready to push her out super fast like the last pushing contractions, I made myself take it super slow. After a few minutes, I suddenly felt an intense pressure and I hollered then my water broke. Trying to be intentional about being slow when your body's trying to shove baby out was so hard! The ring of fire came and I was so ready to be done. Out came baby's head, finally! I ended up being on my hands and knees beside the bed. I had envisioned kneeling to deliver the baby on the bed but I think I needed the solid ground to feel grounded myself. Justin was behind me ready to catch our little one and I think I was paranoid about him intervening or something. I made sure to tell him that baby needs to turn and not to touch baby yet! (He already knew all these things, not sure why I was freaking out about it!) Baby turned and slipped right out into Justin's hands where I directed him to lay babe right below me. I had really wanted a moment, a pause, where I could breathe and just have an end to the work and a beginning as a new mother. Baby was very gurgly though so I took my breath quickly and picked her up. What a joyous moment for me! I could feel the hormones rushing and there is nothing in the world like that high. Babe was covered in vernix and was so perfect! We had waited all these months to find out the gender and when I checked, I was in total disbelief! We had a little girl!! I looked over at Justin and told him we have a daughter! Very quickly after, I felt myself grunt and start to push again. Out came my placenta followed by a big gush of blood that covered both of us. That was a bit of a shock to me! I had waited a good half an hour for Silas' placenta to come and this one took just a couple of minutes! Her sack was caught inside so the placenta was hangin on. A piece of placenta was handed to me to put in my cheek before we realized it was just the sack and needed a little tug to come out. I was brought some warm rags and I cleaned baby up and we got the placenta in a bowl. I decided that I wanted us to take a bath and get the blood washed off so we did that and baby girl loved it & was so calm! After we got washed up, we moved to the bed and cut her cord. We nursed for the first time and decided her name was Scarlett Cherie Cole. After maybe an hour, we called our families and asked if they wanted to join us to take measurements. Everyone was so excited that she was here and that she was a girl! She was born Dec 22 at 4:21am. Weighed 7lbs 14oz and was 21inches long. Her head & chest measured 13.5" so overall just slightly smaller than her big brother was at birth. Silas, by the way, slept through the whole thing! It was awesome and just what I had hoped would happen!! The family had come and gone by the time he got up and we got to introduce Silas to Scarlett with just the four of us in the morning. It was so special!! Justin made us breakfast and we ate then my mom took Si for the day so we could rest up. Scarlett is so beautiful and spent her first two days sleeping and nursing. The birth has taken us a bit to process but being able to give birth totally unhindered, totally by instinct- amazing. There was nobody worried about checking my dilation or telling me I could start to push. I listened to my body, labored in positions I needed to to effectively give birth and it was so beautiful. I don't think I'll ever be able to do it any other way and I've realized this week that I really can do hard things. 

I could see & feel her squishy head!

This moment is one we are both unbelievably proud of. 

I am so grateful for my supportive, amazing husband.

Finding out that we had a little girl!!

& this moment is what makes it all so worth it!

Big brother meeting Scarlett!