Anthony’s Birth Story

Our little guy is finally here! Part of me thought he would hang in my belly forever 🙃 The last six weeks of this pregnancy went so slowly that I actually cried tears of joy when the triage nurse told me I was in labor. I couldn’t believe I was finally going to hold my son.

Our due date was April 19th. Gigi was two weeks early and I was showing signs he would make an early arrival since 34 weeks, so I just knew I would go into labor before his due date. This little guy obviously had other plans. He finally joined us earthside at 40 weeks and 2 days. Yes, only two days late, but if you have been pregnant for 10 months, you know how long those last few weeks can be..

My last bump pic @ 40+1 days pregnant

April 20th, Tuesday morning, I did a 45 minute Peloton ride with Kendall Toole around 5:30am. After I finished, I felt a lot of cramping, but assumed it was from the workout. I was only training a few clients at this point, so I had the day off and was going to meet my sister for lunch. The cramping stayed fairly consistent throughout our lunch, so I started thinking this could be it. I had one last appointment with my OB after lunch and was praying she was going to say, “Oh my gosh, you are 4cm, go to the hospital now, baby is coming!” But, nope. She said I was still only 2cm (where I have been since 36 weeks), so she did a membrane sweep and sent me home with an induction scheduled for Sunday April 25th.

When I got home, I had a spicy buffalo chicken salad for dinner and went for a nice, slow walk. We put Gigi down and I was quite uncomfortable at that point, but still nothing consistent. Nick & I settled in to watch a show, and then the real contractions started. Everyone always said, you’ll just know when they aren’t Braxton Hicks anymore, and isn’t that the truth?! By 11:30pm, they were growing stronger and were coming 7 minutes apart so we called my doctor. Since Gigi’s labor was only 8 hours start to finish, my OB advised we grab our bags and head out to have a baby! 🥳 We called my mom to come watch Gigi and arrived at Highland Hospital about 1:30am!

Unfortunately, my water had not broken AND I was STILL only 2cm. They kept me in triage for about 2 hours, but since I had not progressed enough, they sent me home to “rest” for a few hours. I think with all the anticipation, I went in too early, and wish I would have labored at home a few hours longer. We left the hospital, and of course needed gas. Note to self: Once you hit 36 weeks pregnant, never let your gas tank get below 1/4. Also, just FYI, very few gas stations in Rochester, NY are open before 5am. And last, but not least, contracting in the car is really terrible. You can imagine how sweet I was to my poor husband while he was trying to find a gas station…

My mom was already at my house, so she offered to wake up with Gigi (reason #392933 she is the best). Nick and I went upstairs, and tried to sleep. I was too uncomfortable, but wanted Nick to get some rest since neither one of us had slept yet. After about 2 hours, I was in too much pain to lie there, so we went downstairs, told Gigi we were headed to meet her baby brother, and left for the hospital (again)!

I wasn’t sure I was going to survive the car ride to the hospital. My contractions were 3-4 minutes apart and the pain was at the point where you have to go to that special place in your brain to survive. When I had Gigi, we went to an incredible birthing class and they emphasized this was “pain with a purpose.” It became my mantra, and through every contraction, I squeezed Nick’s hand and recited that in my head, while I envisioned meeting my sweet boy.

We returned to triage, and the doctor came to check me quite quickly. THANK GOD I was 4cm, which bought me a ticket to stay and have our baby!! Cue tears of joy because I thought this moment would never come.

I was handed over to a nurse named Alison, who was a real angel on earth. From the moment she met us in triage, she was professional, efficient, sweet, funny and kept both of us calm. I will never forget her kindness. Before we even left for our room, she had paged the anesthesiologist as, upon arrival, I asked for an epidural. Trust me, if you want an epidural, the last thing you want to do is wait for one. Kudos to all you mama’s who do this natural. You rock!

The epidural was administered and started to relieve my pain almost immediately. As soon as my legs started to numb, I relaxed and literally laid back to just enjoy the next few hours. This is why I choose pain medication. Could I push through and do it natural? Potentially. But, I LOVED my birth with Gigi (blog post here), and it was because the epidural left me calm and comfortable. I respect everyone’s choice as to how they want to safely birth their baby, but my anxiety gets 1000x better once that pain is minimized.

The next two hours were so beautiful. Nick and I were the only ones there because of COVID. We prayed, chatted about what color his eyes might be, and made our guesses on his size. We reflected on this pregnancy compared to our first, and soaked in every minute knowing it may be our last baby. When Gigi was born, we didn’t realize how surreal the birth of our child would be. This time we made a pledge to shut everything else off, and soak in the magic of what was soon to come.

Two hours later, I started to feel some pressure, so we paged the doctor. He checked me and said I was 10cm, and ready to push! I pushed for a little less than 10 minutes before baby boy was in my arms. Just as it was with Gigi, I loved labor. I loved the challenge. I loved being a team with my husband. And I would never take for granted the ability to carry a baby to term and experience a healthy birth. The joy of your newborn baby being placed on your chest compares to nothing else in the world. Welcome Anthony Cole. You are a dream and the answer to SO many prayers.