Micah's Birth Story — Samantha Leigh Burns

My second pregnancy had many similarities and a few differences from my first. One of the biggest differences was the end of the pregnancy. Max had totally surprised us by coming early, with very few Braxton Hick’s contractions. With Micah, I had been having much more noticeable Braxton Hick’s contractions for weeks leading up to my actual labor. There were even a couple nights where I wondered if something real was going to happen, but for weeks I would wake up every morning still pregnant & waiting. I was more pregnant with Micah than I had been with Max!

On April 7th, I was laying with Max in his bed as he was falling asleep and felt my water break at 8:30pm. It was a very different sensation than it had been when my water broke for Max. With him I felt a definite gush that woke me up and I jumped out of bed and ran to the toilet. With Micah, I could slowly feel water coming out and soaking my underwear, but thankfully nothing got on Max’s bed! I told Max I had to go to the bathroom and left his room to investigate. Thankfully, Kyle was in the bathroom and I told him what happened and then I called my sister, Stephanie, who was in PA waiting for labor news to hop on a plane. I explained what had happened, and she told me to smell it to make sure it didn’t smell like urine. (Pregnancy problems.) I looked at Kyle and he said, “Do not make me smell it.” HA! Men. It was definitely my water.

I had to recreate the same photo I took after my water broke with Max.  This time I was less shocked, but just as excited! — I had to recreate the same photo I took after my water broke with Max. This time I was less shocked, but just as excited!

Stephanie started making plans to get on the first available flight and we talked about what I should do. My parents had already been staying with us in California, so I let them know what was going on and they helped me get ready and cancelled some plans they had for the next day. I packed up the rest of my birth bags and food. At some point, I leaned over to get something and felt more water gush out. It made me laugh! Then, I showered, repainted my nails and then got into bed to try to sleep. We put The Office on so I could try to relax my mind and not dwell on the impending labor. As I suspected, I got no sleep, and Kyle got maybe an hour.

At 9:55, I had my first contraction, but it was super light and easy. I continued to lay in bed, relaxing, but not sleeping.

Around 11:00 pm, I texted my sister that the contractions were closer together than I would have expected so soon, but they weren’t hard, just uncomfortable. I ate a Clif Bar to try to store up some energy for the fun to come.

At 12:55, I decided to get into the bath and told Kyle I needed him to wake up and be with me and time my contractions. I wanted him to have as much sleep as possible, but emotionally, I needed him with me. They weren’t insanely hard yet, but I was trying to keep calm and relaxed and hoping that maybe, just maybe, my sister would be able to make it to California in time. Though, I was definitely having my doubts that Micah would wait that long. If she made the flight, which was full, she would land in San Diego at 9:30am. My contractions were averaging between 4-6 minutes apart and were around 40 seconds in length. While I was in the tub, I also ate a banana and kept drinking lots of water.

You have to fuel up before any big event!

At 1:18 am, I called the birth center to let them know that my water had broken and I had been having contractions. My midwife, Shari, told me to drink lots of water, have a snack and try to sleep. I told her I would try but that so far I wasn’t able to get any sleep.

At 2:20 am, I got out of the tub to try to see if I could sleep between any contractions in bed. I got into the side lying position, but I did not get any actual sleep. During each contraction, Kyle stroked my arm and told me I was doing a great job and reminded me to breathe with my belly.

At 2:50 am, we called the midwife to let them know that we would be coming in soon. I had a hard time deciding if we should bring Max at this point, and Shari told Kyle not to have me make any decisions. After we got off the phone, we woke up my parents to let them know we wanted to leave and we were still trying to decide if we should bring Max. I ended up getting super emotional and crying saying I wanted him to come. I didn’t want to be away from either of my boys and I knew I wanted Max to be there for the birth, so I just knew I needed him to come. I was crying and said, “I need to go see Max now!” It definitely wasn’t a logical or rational decision, but a purely emotional one. I went into Max’s room and laid with him because I just needed some time with my little boy before everything changed. After a few minutes he woke up, while Kyle and I were laying there. He was a little confused at first but we asked him if he wanted to go to the midwife so we could have his baby sister. “Hear baby sister’s heart beat?” he asked and Kyle said, “We are going to see your baby sister’s face!" That warmed my heart. I had a couple contractions while we were in Max’s room and he just watched me and I heard Kyle say, “Look at Mommy, tell her she’s doing a good job!” Then, Max got up, unaffected by it being 3 in the morning, and said “Let’s go! Let’s go to the midwife!”

At 3:10 am, we were on our way to the birth center. When we walked out the door, Kyle grabbed my hand and said, “We’re gonna have another baby!” It made me smile and get so excited and then I had another contraction and made Kyle hold me up in the hallway as I breathed through it. Kyle, Max and I were in one car and my parents were in Kyle’s car. Kyle and I were discussing the decision to leave because we knew we weren’t as far along as I was with Max when we went to the hospital, but we were glad we were on the way. With Max, I showed up 8cm dilated, at 0 station, 90% effaced, and basically in transition. The midwives had told us NOT to wait as long this time because everything would move faster with baby number two and we didn’t want to have the baby in the car. The car ride was about 15-20 minutes long and I had multiple contractions. Because I was sitting up straight, they were very difficult to manage. I was glad we didn’t wait longer because I didn’t want the car ride to be worse. When we got to the birth center, I heard a baby cry from another mom that had just given birth and it made me excited knowing I would meet Micah soon!

We headed up to the birthing room, so I could get checked. I was 5 cm and at -2 station. I was a little bummed hearing that she was at -2, but I also reminded myself that everything would move more quickly than it had with Max. I also thought to myself that I was an absolute champ during Max’s birth for laboring for so long at home. Not to toot my own horn, but- toot toot. That was impressive!

Once the bath was ready, I got in and reclined back, doing my best to relax. I was very vocal and told everyone how much it hurt. Kyle was right by my side, holding my hands through contractions and being an amazing coach. The contractions were getting so intense and I was really struggling to stay calm and relaxed, but he kept telling me that I was doing a good job. He and one of the midwives were great about feeding me small bites of applesauce and blackberries as well as having me drink water and gatorade between contractions.

There were 4 midwives in total at my birth, the CNM, a second midwife, and they each had a student midwife with them. I felt so supported and never felt overwhelmed by the amount of people there. My parents were also in and out, helping with Max and checking on me. My sister, was on a flight from Newark to San Diego, sitting in the jump-seat in the cockpit, and was facetiming pretty much the entire time with the help of my mom. She can now add “virtual doula” to her resume!

As the contractions got more intense, the midwives, Steph and Kyle were reminding me to breathe with my belly, to breathe low and they were helping me change the noises I was making to more productive sounds. Even though I felt like I wasn’t necessarily doing a good job, it was really helpful to have all these coaches and supporters guiding me. At the peak of the contraction, I was definitely breathing rapidly and with everyone’s help by the end of my contraction I was able to slow down. They kept telling me to say, “Open, Open” and I tried to visualize everything opening for Micah and while I wasn’t always successful, I do feel like it helped. I'm sure it was just as hard with Max, but there was a part of me that felt it was more intense this time around. I held Kyle’s hand pretty much the whole time and it helped me focus and stay calm. If he ever wasn’t holding my hand and a contraction came on, I would call out his name so he would grab it. He tried putting pressure on my lower back at various times and other massage techniques, but I really didn’t want anything but him holding my hand. After the birth he told me I made it easy on him, ha! Having his love and support was everything to me during labor. I literally could not have done it without him. Whenever Max came in, Kyle would tell him how I was doing a good job and I felt his little hands rub my arms a few times. I felt so loved even though I felt SO much pain. There were a few times where I just couldn’t believe that things were going to get harder before it was over, but I would tell myself, sometimes out loud, “It will all be worth it. She’s coming soon!” I was also reassured every time they listened to her heartbeat because it was strong and they kept telling me she was a champ.

Around 5:30 am, they had me get out of the tub to try to use the restroom and it was very intense and I could feel that Micah was getting so low. My sister said she could hear how my vocals had changed and thought to herself, “Wow, that baby is moving down!”

At 5:44 am, second stage labor began. When I was back in the tub, I was in a half squat position while holding on to the side and felt an intense change in the contractions. I shouted, “I’m pushing!” because there was nothing I could do to stop myself. This was another thing that was really different with Max because I never felt an overwhelming urge to push with him. With Micah, it was insane how overwhelming the feeling was. I couldn’t have stopped my body from pushing if I tried, and I did not want to try. It was extremely expulsive and felt radically different than first stage contractions. I then got back into a traditional position to continue pushing. I told Kyle to tell my parents to bring Max in and he said, “he’s already here behind you.” I thought that was really funny. My mom had Max and Stephanie on FaceTime behind the tub. Max wanted to get into the bath with me so badly, so he took all his clothes off and was waiting somewhat patiently. My mom told me she was trying to cover his penis so he didn’t pee on my head… not that I would have noticed, ha!

With each contraction, I could feel Micah getting closer and the midwife, Tatyana, who was going to catch the baby was helping me stay in control as much as I could. Kyle also got into the tub at this point and was in front of me, holding my hand and my leg.

Tatyana did an amazing job helping me slow my breathing and steady my pushing so everything could stretch naturally without tearing. She had me reach down and feel Micah’s head when she had started to crown and I remember saying something along the lines of, “so squishy!” Pushing her head out definitely hurt the most. The midwives were reminding me to breathe slowly and use “horse lips breathing” where you blow your lips out so you don’t push as forcefully. Tatyana was great at helping me push with control. Once her head was all the way out, I got a nice long break between pushes which I needed. My mom told me afterwards that it was crazy seeing Micah’s head out and just under water, even though she had seen my sister’s previous water births. I was just so thankful to get a breather between. I felt her head and a huge smile crossed my face, but I couldn’t keep my hands down there for whatever reason, so I brought them back up. I told myself, “We can do this. We can do this.” With Max, after his head and shoulders were out, Dr. James told me to reach down and grab him and I did. I wanted to do that with Micah, but physically wasn’t able to at the time. I was also a little nervous still because I knew pushing her shoulders out was going to be another challenge. I told everyone, “This hurts a lot!” as if they didn’t know, ha! Then I cried out, “Someone hold my hand!” (The one Kyle didn’t have.) Kyle reached for it, but I told him I wanted his other hand back on my leg, so my dad ended up grabbing my hand. At the time, I had no idea who it was, for some reason I just needed my hand held. My dad had strict instructions to be behind me, so he and the camera didn’t see anything I didn’t want them to see, ha!

After about a minute and a half, Tatyana told me I could try some slow, controlled pushes. Approximately 30 seconds later, at 6:03, after 20 minutes of pushing, Micah was out, and I reached out to grab her. Max got into the water and was watching and waiting. She hadn’t cried yet, but one of the midwives turned her on my chest and then she let out a beautiful, miraculous cry. Her first breath took 26 seconds. At 1 minute after birth, her APGAR was 8 and 5 minutes later it was a 9. Tatyana said she almost gave her a 10, but her hands and feet were not totally pink yet. I started crying and just felt an overwhelming feeling of gratitude. I cried/shouted, “Max it’s your baby sister! Hi baby girl!” She was covered in vernix and I kind of laughed saying, “Oh my goodness she’s covered in so much of that stuff!” because after pushing a baby out of your body, vocabulary words are hard to recall.

I felt such a ridiculous, overwhelming amount of love. “Hi pretty girl. Thank you Jesus, Thank you Kyle. Thank you everybody so much!” I cried. Even though I had just pushed this baby out of me, I knew I couldn’t have done it without all the love and support of everyone around me and that feeling just overwhelmed me. I was beyond grateful. I was overjoyed, relieved, ecstatic, exhausted and probably like 17 other emotions as well. Kyle was holding Max who wanted so badly to get closer and I told him, “Max, we did it!” and he reached out to touch his baby sister. Then, I made everyone check to make sure she was definitely a girl! Max was so excited and so focused on his little sister, and I’m so thankful we got to experience this moment as a family. It was so important to me that Max was there and he did an absolutely amazing job. He was never scared or overwhelmed by anything. He just wanted to touch her.

When it was almost time for my placenta to come out, Kyle and Max got out of the tub. Once the cord had stopped pulsing, they clamped it and Kyle cut it. At 6:14, I birthed the placenta and I am not gonna lie, the feeling of it coming out was amazing. It felt so good and like such a giant relief. After it was out, they gave Micah to Kyle so I could get out of the tub and into bed. I had a little bit of excessive bleeding, so they told me they were going to give me a shot of pitocin. This freaked me out because I didn’t want anything to be wrong and because I hate shots. I might have just pushed a human being out of my hoo-ha, but the thought of being pricked with a small needle threatened to overwhelm me. Thankfully, I was fine and I barely felt the shot. It was a small dose and they said everything was okay.

Micah started nursing so well and basically nursed for close to two hours, while Kyle and I just laid in bed. We enjoyed our celebratory Bradley orange juice, and ate bagels & a Clif Bar. I was so happy and so relieved to be on the other side. At the birth center, they give you the “golden two hours” where they do not take the baby from you and let me tell you, it’s amazing. With Max, we had an hour which was wonderful, but it’s just so nice to not be rushed for any reason. They checked Micah and I while I was holding her.

After she stopped nursing, she was weighed and measured. She was 7 pounds, 9.5 ounces, (slightly bigger than her 7 pound 7 ounce brother) and 19.5 inches long. (Max was 20 inches.) She peed while Tatyana measured her and then they told me she had pooped so much when she came out. They had hardly ever seen so much meconium at birth. I remember seeing it in the tub, but I’m not gonna lie… there’s a lot of stuff going on that I didn’t know what was what or from whom it came. Then, my mom put a diaper on her and we swaddled her.

Now it was Max’s turn to hold her! He was beyond excited and looked at her with such adoration on his face. Happy doesn’t even begin to describe the feeling of being with my family of four. Once he was done, my parents got to hold her. Micah is their 9th grandchild and Steph is due with number 10 this summer! Then, we gave Max some of his “big brother presents” from Micah. I had wrapped a few little things to entertain him during labor if my parents needed it. He was having plenty of fun playing with the toys and checking on me, so he didn’t open anything until afterwards. He was very excited about his new hotwheels and will tell you that they’re the ones from his baby sister Micah.

Tatyana, the wonderful midwife who caught Micah!

My sister arrived around 9:50 am and she got to hold Micah and we started getting ready to go. One of the most amazing things about giving birth at the birth center is that you go home so much sooner than at the hospital. I couldn’t wait to leave with Max, so it was something I was really looking forward to. Micah and I were both healthy and I could go to the bathroom unassisted, so approximately 5 hours after she was born we headed home, happily. I sat in between the two littlest loves of my life as Kyle drove us home!

When we got home, I nursed Micah again, enjoyed a glorious double double and large chocolate shake from In-N-Out, because really what else would you eat after 9 ½ hours of labor and 20 minutes of the most intense pain of your life?! I took one of the most refreshing showers in human history and then everyone took a much needed nap, except Stephanie who held and watched Micah for us. She had been awake for close to 48 hours, but what are sisters for?! I still remember spending the night at her house after my oldest niece, Kaila, was born to watch her while they slept.

April 8th, 2017, 20 days before her big brother’s 2nd birthday, will forever be one of the best days of my life. It’s tied with April 28, 2015, July 5, 2013 & the first day I danced with Kyle in our Pathways of American Dance & he stole my heart and we unknowingly started our journey towards this beautiful life with this beautiful & perfect family.

Thank you Jesus.