On February 14, 2021 at 12:00 a.m. (on the dot), our daughter Capri came into this world weighing 9 pounds 3 ounces and measuring 20.5 inches long! Unlike Julian’s birth story (which you can read here!), Capri’s arrival was much quicker and less traumatic, but still pretty intense!
If you tuned into my #babywatch on Instastories you know I went beyond my due date of February 11, 2021 and my pregnancy was starting to feel endless! After having about 4 months of intense morning sickness, followed by pregnancy insomnia and heartburn, all while being quarantined in this pandemic, this pregnancy has been a wild ride! I was SO ready to have baby girl!
SHOP CAPRI’S HOSPITAL OUTFIT here!
On the day of my due date (Thursday), I went in to see the Doctor and confirmed that Capri was head down and ready for a vaginal delivery. The Dr. checked how much I was dilated (3, just like Julian at that point) and she asked me if I wanted the membrane sweep, which I was like YES (I had this done with Julian and I went into labor that evening). They also did a non stress test where they monitored baby girl’s heart rate and the nurse said I was having contractions but I wasn’t feeling them… yet. Everything checked out so they scheduled my induction at 41 weeks just in case baby girl hadn’t been born yet.
The next day (Friday) came and went and while I felt aches and pains, I knew I still wasn’t in active labor so the waiting game continued. I kept comparing to how I felt with Julian and it wasn’t matching up at all! With Julian my body was getting ready for a whole week prior to giving birth and with Capri I was not feeling anything. I started getting antsy, mainly because I wasn’t sure how baby girl’s arrival would be… would my water break like with Julian? Would contractions start all of a sudden? Would I have to push for 4 hours like I did with Julian?! I think I exhausted myself with so much thinking and worry.
On Saturday, I made a conscious effort to just chill out and rest to preserve as much energy for delivery. At this point, 40 weeks and 2 days pregnant, I felt so huge and uncomfortable that my husband took over Julian duties. I laid in bed and started season 2 of The Mandalorian to distract myself. I had not been able to binge it because I couldn’t pay attention before with an active toddler around. The more episodes I would watch, the more the intense the contractions were feeling, but because they were still too far apart (I was keeping track on an app, and they were 40 minutes to 1 hour apart) I knew that if I went into the hospital they would send me back (triage had said that my contractions needed to be about 5 minutes apart). They were getting so painful that I remember looking at myself in the mirror with tears in my eyes thinking what did I get myself into?! I got to the final episode of The Mandalorian and if you have watched it, it is an emotional one! I cried because of the episode all while crying because of the painful contractions! My husband walked in and saw me crying and thought it was all because of the show! Since he had been playing with Julian outside, he didn’t know that I had been laboring in bed so he was surprised when I told him I wanted to go to the hospital.
SHOP MY IT’S A GIRL DELIVERY SOCKS here!
Coincidentally it was getting close to Julian’s bed time so I waited for him to go to bed while I texted my sister to come over so she could watch him. Side note: I chose my sister because she has both her COVID vaccines and she, along with most of my immediate family, have been extremely cautious. My biggest fear during my pregnancy was catching COVID since I already felt my body taxed with pregnancy alone and also pregnant women are considered “at risk”. They were also going to test me at the hospital and God only knows what would have happened should I have been positive so we were taking all precautions!
My sister showed up and at this point my contractions were 15 minutes apart. We grabbed our hospital bags and away we went. My husband thought they would send us back because my water hadn’t broken and my contractions were still too far apart, but on the way to the hospital when the contractions would hit I was in so much pain that I was practically yelling in pain.
We get to the hospital and we make our way up, THANK GOODNESS there was no wait when I got there because as I was checking in, woman after woman started coming (all of the quarantine babies!) Due to COVID protocol, I had to go into get checked alone and my husband had to wait in the waiting room until I got admitted. Meanwhile I get into get checked and still managing through the painful contractions but crossing my fingers that I would not be sent away. They checked me and I was 5-6cm dilated and contractions were spiking so she said I was getting admitted and that I could get the epidural already… already?!
They wheeled me into the delivery room and it all felt so surreal because everything started happening SO fast. I was still thinking I was going to get the epidural and take a nap and then push like I did with Julian BUT baby girl had other plans! I get to the delivery room and the nurse is trying to get me all set up while my contractions were getting SO painful, I didn’t recall them being that painful during Julian’s labor! She called the anesthesiologist to get my epidural started. I was thinking the epidural is going to give me the relief I needed but once they set it up I was still in full pain mode. *update: I forgot to mention that as I lay there I felt a burst and hot water gush out, and I knew my water broke!* Since it had only been like 20 minutes they said it would kick in in another 20 minutes but guess what? The nurse checked me and said I was fully dilated. She started calling the midwife/doctor over and I just remember them preparing me for delivery. This was all within the hour of me stepping foot inside the hospital. My husband and I were like wait, this is happening, like right now?! And I was thinking, my epidural hasn’t even kicked in yet!
The pain was so intense that I was like I need to get this baby out, so I put my everything into pushing. After push number 2, the nurses and doctor said “good job” and I was thinking oh they’re just saying that to be nice, but then around push number 3 one of them said “oh she’s got a lot of hair” I was like wait… you can see her head?! And then just like that, around push number 6 she came out! The doctor said she looked up at the clock and it was 12am on the dot, making her a Valentine’s Day baby by seconds! Having her on me, instantly gave me mental and physical relief. I kept thanking God for the healthy delivery.
We were still shocked that here we were thinking they would send me home but really we got to the hospital just in time to deliver. Oh, and the epidural kicked in after she came out, the delivery was that fast! Before they weighed her they asked us how much we thought she weighed and I said 7 pounds because of how easily I pushed her out. Come to find out she was also a 9 pounder like Julian. What can I say? We make big babies! Thank you all who wished us well on Instagram, I have made a Capri and Baby no. 2 Highlight reel if you want to see my pregnancy to now journey!
