Holy crap, I have two kids! I honestly don’t think it’s really hit me yet since we’re still in the middle of the super-new-baby-and-super-sleep-deprived-and-figuring-it-all-out phase. What I can tell you is that I am beyond happy and wouldn’t change a single thing.

I haven’t really been checking in to the blog the past few months because I honestly had no desire to share much in depth, but now that Number 2 has made his debut I want to make sure to document his birth story and monthly updates just like I did for Wes.

So sit down and relax (if you care to read this whole thing) because I’m gonna dive right in on how Tanner Owen came into our lives.

My due date was November 21st and since Wes made a SUPER EFFING FAST entrance two days early, I for sure thought I would also deliver this baby early. But my due date came and went and there was absolutely zero signs that I was going to have him any time soon. Hell, I was still doing workouts everyday- incorporating lots of jumping and squats in hopes of triggering something!

At my 41 week appointment, the ultrasound measurements estimated the baby to be just over 10 lbs and my doctor recommended being induced sooner rather than later, as any additional growth may rule out any possibility of a vaginal delivery. I knew I 100% did NOT want a c-section and even though I was really not wanting to be induced, I opted to go ahead with it at 41w+1d.

On November 29th, Tyler and I went to the hospital for our 11am check-in. The triage nurse and doctor examined me and said there was still no natural progression and recommended we go have lunch before coming back to be officially admitted.

[This is the part where I ate a whole pizza]

At 1:30pm I was admitted and we went right to the labor and delivery room. The entire ward was insanely quiet- I think I was the only patient there! They allowed me to walk around for an hour to see if that sparked anything. It didn’t, but I managed to get in quite a few laps around an awkwardly silent hospital.

At 2:30, the doctor broke my water and said they’d give me a couple hours to see if THAT did anything before introducing the oxytocin. ->Side note: The doctor on duty (Dr. Mueller?) was a super tall Dutch guy who just LOVED to talk. Every time he came in to check on me, he would end up sitting next to Tyler and chat about American politics or his crazy neighbor or the story of just about every other baby he’d delivered in 28 years. I loved that he was weird- it actually calmed me down a lot and kept my mind off the fact that I was voluntarily in the hospital to convince my body to have a baby!

By 4:30 nothing had happened, so they started me on an IV of oxytocin. Another side note-> My nurse, Jenny, was the best nurse I could’ve asked for. She was super informative and really easy to talk to- whether it be baby related or not. Our first experience with Wes didn’t involve any ‘labor’ time, so we really had no idea that a nurse would be staying in the room with us the ENTIRE time.

At 6pm, active labor kicked in. They had upped my drip a bit and that seemed to do the trick. The doctor had come in a couple of times to check on progression and throughout the next hour, I was able to participate in conversations even though my contractions were all moderate to heavy.

Everyone was pretty shocked at how well I could handle the contractions. At first, I didn’t show visible signs that I was contracting, but as the intensity increased I would just have to stare off at the wall. PS: I opted for no pain management. I figured if I delivered Wes with no meds- even though he was spontaneous- I could do the same with this baby. In hindsight, that could’ve been a super scary decision considering how big this baby was measuring! The ultrasound the day before showed he was ranging in the 95-97th percentile.

The contractions got pretty damn intense and of course it happened just after 7pm when there was a shift change for doctors. The new doctor came in to introduce herself, and within a few minutes I was in all out labor. Like, INTENSE contractions. Jenny kept reminding me to tell her when the sensation to poo came because that meant it was time to push (To all my mama readers, you know this already. To all my not mama readers, it’s a totally weird sentence to hear, but by that point you don’t give a shit. Pun intended)

I knew we were getting close to Go Time because I hardly had any down time between contractions and my hands started going numb and I just couldn’t move them. I told Jenny I had the urge and before you knew it, Jenny, the doctor, another nurse, and Tyler were all hands on deck telling me to PUSH.

*I remember with Wes I was instructed to push for 10 second increments and it lasted almost 2 hours because I just wasn’t pushing hard enough.*

This team had me do 3- 10 second pushes before resting and I made sure to give it my all because I just wanted to get him out. 6 minutes later, I felt the biggest sense of relief and at 7:38pm, Tanner Owen Linton was born! He was immediately put on my chest and was just absolutely perfect.

I, on the other hand, had a bit too much bleeding which needed to be addressed. Jenny had to press on my abdomen multiple times to get out all the clots and I can tell you this: having that done is worse than childbirth. I could’ve pushed the baby out on my own, but I needed to squeeze Tyler’s hand and bite my tongue to get through those. We ended up staying the L&D longer than intended so that they could monitor my blood loss. They administered additional meds to try to stop the bleeding and it seemed to have finally taken into effect by 11:45pm. PHEW- I was borderline hemmorhaging and they thought I’d need to get blood.

We were then ushered to the post partum ward where I had a private room and the nurses there began their assessment of both me and baby. Before we knew it, I was settled in and Tanner was on his 3rd diaper and sleeping snuggly in the bassinet. One of the nurses offered to take him to the nursery since it was quiet so we could attempt some rest- they kept him for 2 hours and he ended up sleeping an additional 2 hours on top of that. I would have LOVED for sleep during those 4 hours, but I couldn’t get comfortable, plus I was still jazzed up from all the activity and the medication.

The rest of the night was a blur- there were multiple check-ins with the nurses and both Tyler and I were in and out of sleep for small bits of time. At one point I had Tyler go to the convenience store because I NEEDED a Snickers.

By morning, I was scarfing the breakfast that was delivered and we were able to just hang out with our new little dude. Tanner was a champ and had SEVEN poops from birth-time we were discharged. I had bloodwork done that showed I was doing well, and my last two exams proved similar results.

My parents brought Wes for a quick visit and Wes was more than enthused to meet his new baby brother. He gave him lots of kisses and was just so excited to be there (cue happy tears). Once they left, we waited to get discharged and were soon on our way home by 530pm! (Chinese food was home and waiting for us. YUMMMMMMMMMM).

I’m hoping that by writing this I will be able to remember all the details, both big and small. I had such a positive experience the second time around and I am already sad that the brand newness of Tanner is already over!