Lola Marie Lamb's Birth Story — erinlamb

If you have been around a while, you probably know my first baby Ruby and might have read Ruby’s birth story. Although different I loved both birthing experiences in their own way.

I love hearing and reading birth stories so heres one for you who love the same! But maybe you are just here for the GUT STUFF! I can’t write a blog post without tying it back to the gut 🙂 One thing both of my birthing experiences had in common was I had to take a TON of antibiotics. If you have ever taken antibiotics or are currently taking them then you will want to read on! Skip to the bottom if you need the info ASAP!

From my experience to make my birthing experiences as amazing as I dreamed, I have found that being willing to try different things (stretching myself a bit but not with things that make me feel unsafe) has been part of what have made my experiences so great. I do recognize that some things are out of our control – but what we do throughout our pregnancies can make a big difference!

A few of these things were

learning hypopressives which seemed like silly useless breathing exercises to me at first but have been life changing for my body
practicing hypnobirthing which I thought was totally hokey at first
moving my body daily even if it was a few simple exercises at home or going on a walk
making sure I ate enough fiber + taking a magnesium citrate supplement to help keep me regular (that first poop after birth is not always fun, but it wasn’t an issue this time!) We made a lot of recipes from my Fiber Fix meal plan)

I was much more impatient this time for baby to come! I’m not sure why – but as soon as I was 37 weeks I just couldn’t help but think is it going to be today?! With Ruby I had mentally prepared myself that I was going to be overdue so I wouldn’t be disappointed if she didn’t come early or on time. It wasn’t that I was more uncomfortable this time – in fact I think I was less uncomfortable but I was just so excited! Ever since I had ruby I was excited to give birth again. I think giving birth is just a magical and beautiful experience. I know however this isn’t the case for everyone and some births can be really hard and traumatizing. My heart goes out to you and I think you are amazing for enduring so much to bring your beautiful babies into this world.

I was measuring small up until I was 39 weeks so sent for multiple ultrasounds to make sure baby was okay – and every time all looked good! I must have carried her really close because my belly felt quite small. I was consistent with practicing hypopressives throughout my pregnancy which I think help a lot with my core and could have been the reason my belly stayed smaller. I found out I has diastis recti early on in my pregnancy so hypopressives helped manage things so it didn’t get too bad. Honestly, I didn’t have a hard time bending until I was 39 weeks which was nice since Ruby never sits still and I am always chasing her around.

Apparently I like giving birth on Sunday’s and my babies like to come 3 days early. Scott says – maybe it takes you a whole weekend to destress and then the baby comes on Sunday! This sounds like it could be accurate in my case haha.

AUGUST 29TH, 2021

I thought I felt a few contractions as I was sleeping probably around 5:30am but had had contractions in the night before so I didn’t think much of it. They seemed to get a bit stronger by 6:30am. I got up because I had to pee and at that point I felt like they were real so I went to bounce on the ball and did some inversions so see if they would continue or if they would stop. They seemed pretty consistent so I was pretty confident I was starting labour. I figured I might as well get ready while I was waiting to be sure and I hoped ruby would at least sleep til 7 so I could focus on the contractions. She did and then just played happily in her bed for a while!

When I started tracking contractions a bit before 7 they were about 5 minutes about and started at about 45 seconds. It got to about 3 minutes between contractions by almost 7:20am and then I decided I should probably tell Scott. He was like “are you sure?” So I tracked a bit longer and I was definitely sure. I called Kate (our midwife) – Scott heard me on the phone and came into the bathroom to shower quick and then ran Ruby over to my Sister’s house. I was pretty confident it wouldn’t speed up too much while he was gone and luckily it didn’t. I was able to finish packing our stuff while he was gone and before Kate got there. The contractions started getting more intense and I would just kneel on the bed or floor and rub my tummy. When Scott got home he made me some toast and I ate a banana and a bit of yogurt but didn’t have much of an appetite. I figured I should eat something but I couldn’t finish anything. When Kate got there she was saying she didn’t think I was in active labour yet so so we going to check my vitals and then go get a coffee then she could check me. I was like “can you check me now” because I wanted to get to the hospital in time to fill the pool! Anyway in the time she checked my vitals I started getting shaky and my contractions were more intense, so she checked me and I was 6-7 so she said we should leave right away which I was glad about!!

It was the perfect time to drive to the hospital – a Sunday morning where no one was on the road! I turned on my hypnobirthing track in the car which was comforting but at the same time freaked me out a bit because it was saying “you will dilate twice as fast….” And I was like please not while I’m in the car!! At one point of our drive we ended up behind a police car … of course! Luckily he turned shortly after. We got to the hospital a bit after 8am. We had to get a COVID screen at the front door (so annoying when you are in labour) and the guy was talking so slow and Scott was like “we need to get up to the room now!!” So he finally hurried up haha. They had a room ready for us right away which was nice! We beat Kate there so I had a nurse with me for a bit. As soon as we got into the room Scott started filling the pool like a mad man. Another reason I was so happy it was on a Sunday is that my sister could come because her husband could watch and Ruby and their son. It was nice she was there so she could put pressure on my tummy while Scott filled the pool. That always feels best for me in labour – having the counter pressure on the bottom of my tummy.

I was starting to feel like I had to push soon but the pool was still filling so I was worried I wouldn’t be able to get in… but Scott literally finished at the perfect time! I hopped into the pool and almost started pushing right away! I had a few contractions before. I only pushed about 10 minutes before Lola was out! I felt my water break before she came out and it was such a funny feeling, like this pop and gush in the water. I felt like I could control my breathing more this time compared to last time with Ruby. Last time I used laughing gas which I feel helped me breathe and I’m sure took the edge off the pain a bit. The water did help, but I could still feel the ring of fire. I feel like I’m pretty quiet in labour until I push and then I grunt and after it kind of hurts my throat after haha. I felt her head come out pretty quick but then felt like it wouldn’t push out more so she had me flip over – it was kind of hard to do so Scott basically flipped me and then I pushed one more time and Kate seemed to pull her right out and put her in my arms. She felt so little!!!

She didn’t feel quite as chubby as Ruby but they were only 1 oz apart! She had a bit of bruising on her face from coming so fast and I think because her hand was by her face. I delivered my placenta a few minutes later and it felt good to push that out. The water wasn’t too gross until the placenta came out and then I was sitting in a tub of red… like red wine. Lola came out so calm and didn’t even cry. She didn’t open her eyes for a long time. Her lower lip seems to sink in a little bit so we had to work it to get a latch but she seemed to latch better then Ruby! She is such a sweetie and we love her so much already! I just wanted to cry looking at her because she is so perfect! I thought labour and delivery with Ruby was amazing but this one went even better! I’m not in as much pain as last time except there were after pains this time which almost seemed as bad as labour haha. I didn’t tear much (even though it felt like I was tearing) and only needed 3 stitches. I could control my bladder this time after giving birth and was not bleeding as much. There were some huge gushes after and they gave me some oxytocin to slow it down which worked perfect. I can’t believe we have 2 babies now!! It seems so crazy!