Alessia Grace's Birth Story

If you don't know this about me, I loooove birth stories and will ask for all the details of a baby's birth! It is so exciting the anticipation leading up to the birth and amazing to me how unique everyone's birth experiences are from hospital, home births, birthing center or even in the car, I just find it all so fascinating! Maybe this is why I binge watched Call the Midwife while pregnant! If you like birth stories then keep on reading as I'll share the birth of our fourth baby, Alessia Grace. She is 7 weeks old, and I'm already forgetting details of her birth so I thought I'd better write this sooner than later!!

We knew we were having a girl, but had yet to decide on a name. We had come up with a list, well rather I came up with a list as my husband kept saying no to almost every name I threw out there! We even used an app (called baby name matcher) where you can swipe right or left depending on if you like a name or not and if you link it with your significant other's account it will tell you if you have any matches for names! He joked that once we decide on a name, that's when the baby will decide to come.

I had made it to my 40 week appointment, and the doctor said she will probably see me in a weeks time for one more appointment as baby hadn't completely dropped yet. She did a sweep which I didn't recall being so uncomfortable! The cramping was immediate and I wasn't sure if I could make the 4 block trek back to my car. Also, it had snowed, and then turned to freezing rain, so it was pretty much a skating rink everywhere you went and also a pregnant woman's nightmare of falling! As I drove home, the cramping continued and I thought maybe this could be it. But then I immediately thought about when I had a sweep with Riley and how nothing happened, so I assumed the cramps would stop and I would have another week to go.

That afternoon, I packed a few things in a hospital bag just in case it was going to happen soon, which I still didn't expect. I was still cramping into the evening but it wasn't anything unbearable. Scott was working late so the kids and I had a little "picnic" in the living room while watching a movie. As we read a bedtime story together, Hallie and Brynn perched on my lap and Riley sitting beside me, they asked when baby was going to come, a question they asked almost everyday since we told them about the baby! I told them any day she could be here for them to snuggle and kiss! They gave my belly a kiss and said a sweet goodnight to "the bump". I was so emotional (which isn't a huge surprise as I cried at just about anything during pregnancy) and tears streamed down my face. Once again I had no idea why I was crying (just ask Scott or my mom how many times they saw me crying for no apparent reason haha!) but felt so overcome with emotion. Scott came home and we talked about a baby name (for the millionth time) and actually decided on a name!

I crawled into bed, still uncomfortable from the cramping and fell asleep. At 3:30am I woke up with sharper cramps and couldn't get back to sleep. It wasn't unusual in pregnancy for me to have some cramping mixed with insomnia so I still didn't think much of it. It wasn't until the morning when contractions began and were 5 minutes apart. Until then I really didn't think I was in labour. Unsure if this was "the real thing" my husband asked if he should stay home from ice fishing, which was a definite YES haha! I hopped in the bath at 8am and he made the kids breakfast and hung out with them. All of a sudden I couldn't keep up with timing the contractions. It was like they sped up over the course of a half hour and I wasn't sure how long we would have before the baby was here. Riley was so sweet and asked me if I needed anything and I told him to get daddy to call Auntie to come over right away. I sat on a medicine ball and kept trying to time the contractions but could barely focus.

Auntie came to the rescue and lives nice and close so she came within 10 minutes and we (or rather Scott) got the kids settled and said goodbye. I honestly don't remember much between leaving the house and getting to the hospital besides telling Scott to drive faster haha! We made it to the hospital just after 10:30 and slowly waddled between contractions up to triage. They began asking me questions, but realized there wasn't time for all of their intake paperwork so they took us into a triage room. Shockingly I was already 8-9cm! With not a lot of time to spare we were rushed to a room which they quickly set up and called the doctor. While they set up the room, I tried to focus but my body was shaking from the contractions. It wasn’t just after 11am and contractions were so strong with barely a break in between. They told me to hold on as they got the room ready and waited for the doctor to arrive. About 15 minutes later the doctor came The doctor asked if they could break my water and I said heck yes as I knew (or at least from my past babies) it would get me to 10cm and ready to meet our sweet baby sooner rather than later! It is the weirdest feeling having your water broken! They checked me shortly after and sure enough I was 10cm and she came a few minutes later! It was all so fast (but yet feels like an eternity when pushing a child out). She was born at 11:39am and was 8lbs 13oz.

We we were blown away by her head full of brown hair as all of our other kids were bald.

I have never gone into labour with a specific birth plan as you never know what could happen, but it was always a goal to try and do it as natural as possible and I am so thankful that it was possible. But again, if I had needed interventions I was totally okay with that! It helped to go to prenatal classes before our first baby was born and to know and understand what your options are and how the interventions work. Also, just for general info about birth - Scott said it was the best thing for him because then he especially knew how he could support me and would highly recommend it!