Zion's Birth Story
At my 36 week prenatal appointment, I had the routine Group-B Strep swab test, I asked my OB if she could check to see if I had dilated at all yet because with Mason I was already 2cm dilated and 50% effaced at that point! Before she checked, she warned me that whether or not I am dilated, that could mean absolutely nothing at all, babies come when they’re ready - of course, I knew that already! She went to check and felt his head immediately and said that I was 2cm dilated and 90% effaced. I had a feeling because I had been feeling A LOT of pressure lately, so I knew some progress was being made!
Because Mason was born at 38 weeks, I had a feeling that Zion would come around then, if not earlier so I started walking even more and focused on resting and getting the final things ready for his arrival!
On Wednesday July 24, Randal was on his way home from class. We lived in Sacramento, CA at the time and his class was in San Francisco (about an hour and a half away). I started having really intense contractions, so I called him to let him know to hurry up and get home just in case! He got home quickly and ended up calling my parents to come in case we needed to head to the hospital and someone needed to stay with Mason. I got up and started moving around and cleaning to hopefully keep the contractions coming and by the time my parents arrived, they had stopped. They stayed until about 3 a.m. and NOTHING! So they went home!
The next day, we slept the whole day, I was exhausted and we were in bed pretty much all day! Later that evening, around 5pm, we went down to the pool and Randal swam with Mason while I walked the pool, swam as best I could, and did some exercises in the water. I started feeling different, not contractions, but I could tell that something was happening or about to happen, hard to explain! I told Randal we needed to get in, I took a long hot bath with Mason to relax my body a bit and we continued on with our evening!
My routine that week was to leave things as they were because around 12/1am every morning I’d feel some mild contractions and discomfort, so I wanted to get up and keep my body moving. That night was no different. I went to bed around 11
o'clock and around midnight I started to feel some milk contractions, so I got up and went to the kitchen to start my cleaning! They were very mild and because of what happened two nights prior, I wasn’t giving them too much attention. They slowly got a bit more intense, but still very manageable. I was texting my friend who lives here in Ohio and she told me that I should wake up Randal, of course, I waited. After about an hour I finally told him that my contractions were starting to become more consistent, so just be on standby - he went back to sleep which was totally fine with me. Another half hour or so went by and I knew we have reached the point where it was definitely baby time! My contractions were about 1-2 minutes apart lasting about 45 seconds long and they were the most intense that I had ever felt, Randal could hear me breathing and doing my best to power through them, and woke up like “What is happening?!” HA! We told my parents to come over, it was around 4 am at that point, but I still wasn’t rushing things. I called the hospital to let them know what was happening and in the 2min I was on the phone with the nurse I had 3 contractions - she asked if this was my first or second baby and she said “Come In NOW!”
By the time my mom arrived, at about 5 o'clock, I was still trying to clean up and make sure everything was ready for Mason for school. Y’all, why was I trying to pack his lunch with contractions less than a minute apart...Anyways, my mom arrived, took over and Randal and I headed to the hospital which was only about 5min away!
We arrived at the hospital at 5:35a.m. My contractions were back to back with little breaks in between, the nurse checked to see how dilated I was and I was 8cm dilated. They were surprised that I was even coherent and able to walk (barely). We got settled in, quickly, and they quickly began preparing for delivery.
My mom arrived a little after 6 o'clock, and I could feel that it was almost time to push but my water hadn’t broken yet and for some reason my cervix was tilted slightly to the right, so they had me lay on my side and they said they were going to have the doctor break my water. Almost immediately after me switching to my side, my cervix had aligned properly and I was able to lay back on my back. The doctor broke my water and I could feel Zion’s head already about to come out. After 3 pushes, Zion was here at 6:47 a.m. He seemed so tiny to me and was absolutely perfect!
My dad arrived at the hospital just after 7 and was so surprised that he had just missed it! He was on Mason duty, thanks papa! About an hour later our spiritual parents arrived at the hospital and it was a fun little celebration after Zion was born! I was surprised that I had so much energy after that whirlwind, but there is something about being surrounded by those who love you the most in one of the most important days of your life that gives you all the good feelings!
I have always heard that the second baby comes much faster than the first, but I had no idea he would come as fast as he did! I was grateful that everything went smoothly and we were both perfectly healthy!