Aimee's Birth Story

For any of you who already know Aimee, you know that she is nothing short of sunshine. After delivering her first son, we were so excited when she came into our care with her second baby. Enjoy reading her perspective on birth!

When we found out we were expecting baby #2, we were delighted and overjoyed! September couldn’t get here fast enough! It was so fun sharing the news with friends and family, but the best part was watching our son, Noah, 1 1/2 at the time, begin to understand what was going on as my tummy grew bigger and bigger. The more he understood the more excited he became!

We knew after Noah’s birth that we would without a doubt choose Brookhaven for our next child! I could hardly wait to call and schedule my first appointment! At that appointment, Misty couldn’t hear the heart beat with the Doppler. I tried not to panic and remained calm when she suggested we take a look on ultrasound to find the baby’s heart beat! To my relief, she found it!!! At my next several appointments still no heart beat was heard. More ultrasounds and there again was a very active heart beat. What was going on? Why could we see it but but not hear it? Fast forward several weeks to my 20 week appointment we finally heard the heartbeat for the first time! We discovered that I had an anterior placenta which was making it difficult to hear the heartbeat early on in my pregnancy.

As September approached, I made sure I had all the supplies ready for our home birth, my birth team in place (my sister to take pictures and my mother in law to be with Noah if he were awake during the birth) and meals in the freezer. I tried to imagine when this baby would come since Noah came 4 days early. I wondered if it were true that second time labors go faster than the first. I had a fast first labor, 5 hours, so I had to wrap my head around a faster one yet. I watched a lot of home birth videos on YouTube to re familiarize myself with the whole process! I absolutely love watching birth vlogs!

On September 16th, my due date, I went to church as usual. Everyone was surprised to see me there, but not as surprised as I was to be there. So, this is what it feels like to reach your due date, lol. The whole next week someone I knew had a birthday so as each day passed I wondered who this baby would share a birthday with. To my dismay, that entire week went by and no baby. On Wednesday of that week my grandfather passed away peacefully. I then had mixed feelings of all the events to come, a viewing, a funeral and possibly the birth of my child. Monday, during the meal after the funeral I began to feel very uncomfortable. I told my husband, Andrew that I thought it was time to head home just in case this could be it. At this point I was 8 days overdue, so I was hopeful this was the real deal. Upon arriving home we put Noah down for a nap, I showered and decided I should lay down too just in case anything start happening… Nope, nothing. To say I was bummed is an understatement.

I went to my appointment on Wednesday and we made a game plan. If I hadn’t had the baby by Friday then I’d come in for a non stress test, have my cervix checked and have a sweep done if I wanted. Friday came but baby had not. Went in and had great results on the NST and my cervix was 1cm dilated and 50% effaced but my cervix was still firm. Misty suggested taking evening primrose oil to help soften my cervix, which I started right away along with eating Larabars (dates) which I read can help with that too! We rolled around the idea of giving castor oil a try only if things hadn’t started by Sunday morning, the 30th.

The next morning was a normal chill day at home! Andrew was working on his truck and needed me to run to the auto parts store for parts. So, at 11am before leaving the house I went to the rest room and discovered mucus plug! YES, FINALLY!! I casually mentioned it to Andrew before leaving just giving him a heads up. Noah and I went to town and decided to stop by Walmart and get castor oil just in case things took longer than I was hoping.

I attended a friends baby shower that afternoon to help take my mind off the waiting. While I was there I started to have a few new twinges that were noticeable but still not note worthy. At 4pm, I decided I should head home and get supper made and take it easy if labor were to start. At the dinner table, I had the first contraction that felt to be more than just a Braxton hicks! After supper, we enjoyed a crisp evening outside tinkering on one of Andrews projects. I had a few more random contractions and decided to end the evening with a quick walk around our driveway.

We put Noah to bed and got ready for bed ourselves. While doing so, I asked Andrew if he thought we should go ahead and set up the birth pool since last time we waited and we’re setting up the pool at midnight half awake while I was in labor. So, we agreed to go head and set it up before we settled into bed, just in case! We crawled into bed around 9:30. I asked Andrew to pray for me, the birth, the baby, the midwives etc… as soon as he said amen I had a nice strong contraction. I made mental note of the time and we said our good nights. 14 minutes later I felt another contraction starting and another 10 minutes after that. I decided to opened my tracker app at 10:05 and stated tracking from then on. Things were definitely starting to ramp up with each contraction getting closer together but still at 6-7 minutes apart. I had a random 11 minute break between contractions but the contraction that followed was super intense. A few minutes after 11, I decided I should let Misty know that things were starting to happen. I sent her a screen shot of the contractions I’d had so far and she said that it looked like we still had time to get some rest, but asked if I thought they should come. Hesitantly I said no, but told her that I would get up and move around and keep her posted. She advised me to hydrate and maybe take a bath or shower. Once I got up things started progressing really fast. Contractions went from 4-5 minutes to 2-3 and sometimes even less than 2 minutes apart. Those intense contractions got my bowels moving so I spent quite a few contractions in the bathroom. At one point I wasn’t sure what to do… I thought I may have this baby while on the toilet, yikes. I felt the cold sweats come on and at around 11:30/45 I decided I need to wake Andrew. He got the water going in the pool right away. Well, after he discovered that the hose that was provided in the birth pool kit didn’t reach so he had to go get our hose. We probably should have checked that beforehand… you live and learn! At 11:52 I notified Misty and my birth team telling them it was time to come. At 12 [midnight] I called Misty just to make sure she was soon heading our way.

Contractions were so intense now that I had to pray and say Bible verses out loud to help me stay focused, not tense up and to remain in Gods strength. One thing that I learned before giving birth to Noah was to not tense up during contractions but to let them “wash over me”. It helped me so much then that I knew I would do that again with this birth! I also visualized my cervix opening more and more with each contraction! I embraced the hard work my body was doing instead of resisting it.

My sister and mother in law arrived around 12:25 or shortly there after. At 12:31, I told Andrew to call Misty to see where she was in her travels because this baby was coming very soon. Thankfully she was in the little town we live in and only a few minutes from our house! Soon after he got off the phone with her I got into the birth pool, which didn’t have very much water in it since everything was progressing so quickly. The moment I got in and sat back on my heels during a contraction, I thought “this was a bad idea”. I could feel the baby getting closer and I was starting to feel the urge to push. I wasn’t sure if Misty would make it in time. I ended up sitting in a semi reclined position with my arms out over the top of the pool to give me support. Whenever a contraction would come I’d stretch out my legs so that my feet touched the other side of the pool. I pushed against it so that my butt was off the bottom of the pool to take pressure off. Andrew was planning to deliver the baby which I thought he might do at any moment. Misty arrived at 12:35, she set up her things and checked the baby’s heart rate. I began to push at 12:48, the head was crowning quickly and Andrew was not in the pool yet. Misty lifted my skirt to see what was going on and Andrew realized then that he better hurry up and be ready to catch this baby. He jumped in so fast that later after the birth, Misty was teasing him asking if he had one or two feet in the pool!!! I felt another contraction coming and I knew this would be it. Head was out… I paused for a second and realized I still had a lot of contraction left to go ahead and get this baby out! Baby was born at 12:52. Andrew caught the baby as Misty unwound the cord from the baby’s neck. He placed the baby in my arms and made a comment about needing a bigger shop! It must be a BOY, I thought to myself! Sure enough we welcomed another sweet boy, Henry Wesson into our family!

I stayed in the pool for quite a while cuddling and nursing Henry. Danika arrived at 1:03am, just in time to help me postpartum! I passed my placenta and continued to relax and soak it all in! I had my sister record a short video of me wishing my dad a happy birthday!!!! Henry shares a birthday with his granddaddy! So special as Andrew shares a birthday with his grandpa as well! Andrew cut the cord then we made our way to the bed to get checked and to rest! I thankfully did not need any stitches this time! Danika checked Henry over and got all his measurements. He weighed 7lbs 5oz and 19 3/4 in long! A very happy and healthy little boy!

Once everyone left, after eating a breakfast casserole at 4am, I napped as best I could! It’s hard for me to sleep after giving birth, I just get so excited and over joyed! At 7:50am I heard Noah wake up. Andrew went in to get him and told him that the baby had come. I heard Noah say “out of mommies tummy?”, I smiled and couldn’t wait for him to come into the room! Noah was so happy and all smiles once he met his little brother! My heart was full and over flowing! I thanked the Lord for answering my prayer of having the baby at night so that Noah could sleep and wake up to his new sibling! God is so good and I’m so glad to finally be a family of 4!

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