NAME: Daisy James Burdullis
DATE + TIME: Saturday, September 21 at 1:44 am
SIZE: 7 pounds, 11 ounces || 20.5 inches long
She’s here! We welcomed our sweet third daughter, Daisy James Burdullis, on Saturday, September 21, and are SO excited she’s here. I love reading birth stories and have shared Lucy’s birth story and Winnie’s birth story here on my blog, so I wanted to write and share Daisy’s birth story, too. I didn’t want to forget any details, so I’m writing this a little over 48 hours after she was born. Just last week, I shared a pregnancy recap blog post and am now writing a birth story. Just wild. 💛 Okay, here we go!
DAYS/WEEKS PRIOR
My official due date was Sunday, September 22, but of course, that isn’t guaranteed that the baby is coming right on that date. At the same time, I didn’t anticipate her coming super early or late, just given that Lucy was born the day after her due date (but labor started on her due date) and Winnie was born one day early. Throughout my pregnancy, I thought baby #3 would come within a few days of her due date.
As I shared here, this entire pregnancy, I’ve begged, prayed, hoped for, and (continue to) try to choose overwhelming peace. This isn’t necessarily easy for me or my default setting if you know what I mean. It’s been a chaotic year for our family, with the house renovation, not living at home, and the surprise pregnancy. I tried especially in the last few weeks of my pregnancy to focus on being at peace. I would say to myself over and over: peace over anxiety, excitement over fear. There was/is so much out of my control, and I tried to just let that go.
Starting at 36 weeks (late August), I had weekly appointments and was getting my cervix checked. At the 37, 38, and 39-week appointments, I stayed consistently at 1cm dilated. The baby was very active throughout my pregnancy, especially this last month. She moved A LOT, all the time. There were a few days/nights where I had Braxton Hicks contractions and felt a little ‘off’ but other than that, there were no signs that labor was happening until…it did happen.
We made loose plans of what to do with the girls and Jack if the baby came early before my mom got into town but we hoped that she would stay put until then. This was stressful for me at the end of my second pregnancy with Winnie, so I feel like it was a growth moment to feel at peace with whatever happened and WHEN it happened. Thankfully, my mom flew in on Wednesday 9/18 morning before the baby arrived! I noticed a significant difference in the quality of my sleep on Wednesday and Thursday evenings after my mom was in town. The nights prior I was uncomfortable and restless and sort of ‘on guard’ wondering…what if tonight is the night? But once my mom got here, I slept a lot better! My mom and I got our nails done and got to have some good quality time on Wednesday and Thursday while the girls were at school. By Thursday evening, both my mom and E could tell I was I was like…okay she can come now. I’m done. Let’s do this. But we kept waiting.
Up until my mom got in town, I wasn’t doing anything specific to try to labor started. But once she was in town, I tried all the things. Who knows if/what actually worked… I think the timing of it all was out of my control either way. But, I booked an acupuncture appointment for Thursday morning and did ‘curb walking’, ate dates and pineapples, and drank red raspberry leaf tea Wednesday – Friday.
On Friday, September 20, we did our weekly Friday movie night with the girls. Last Friday, I said to the girls that it might be our last movie night before baby, but little did I know – we had one last time. The night was pretty typical – making pizzas, watching a movie, snuggling on the couch. I took a bath and E and I went to bed early to watch a show and read.
LABOR AT HOME
Around 8:30 pm, I turned off my Kindle and told E that I was going to try to sleep a little early to ‘hopefully get some rest’ in case labor started on Saturday. Little did I know what was to come! I wasn’t able to fall asleep because, around 9 pm, I started feeling light contractions. They weren’t strong or necessarily consistent, so I just laid in bed. Around 9:45 pm, I downloaded a contractions timer app and started timing them. E was sleeping at this point, and I didn’t wake him up – just thought I’d wait it out a bit and see how things progressed. At this point, they weren’t painful but happening with more consistency. E woke up around 10:30 pm and I told him… I think we’re going to the hospital tonight!
We continued tracking contractions and they were getting more painful for sure, but not UNBEARABLE. The doctor said a good rule of thumb was ‘5-1-1’: to call them/head to the hospital when the contractions were 5 minutes apart, one minute long, for one hour.
Looking back at my contractions timer, here’s a quick look:
From 9:45 pm to 11 pm, the contractions were about 7-9 minutes apart, lasting a minute long. For the most part, I rotated between lying in bed and lying on the floor in a modified child’s pose (with E pushing down on my lower back). I also have a lower back heating pad that helped provide some relief too. What’s interesting looking back now is that after each contraction I felt the need to go to the bathroom. Eeep!
Around 11 pm, I took another bath and E put our bags in the car. We didn’t know when we were going, but knew it would be at some point that night. Between 11 pm – midnight, they got closer together (like 4-6 minutes apart) but then we’d have a streak of 7-8 minute apart contractions. It was a bit confusing because it wasn’t consistently 4-5 minutes. I was definitely in pain, but again – I didn’t think OMG WE NEED TO GO RIGHT NOW. I didn’t want to get to the hospital too early and knew I’d be more comfortable laboring at home. But also knew that things moved faster with Winnie than with Lucy, so we sort of wanted to be safe rather than sorry. Thank goodness we went in when we did 😅
Around 12:15 am on Saturday 9/21, we decided ‘okay, let’s just go in.’ I kept telling E that I was hot and sweaty and then all of a sudden had the chills. I went upstairs to kiss the girls and E woke up my mom to let her know we were leaving. We left the house at 12:30 am and made the (thankfully short) 15-minute drive to the hospital. I had several contractions in the car that lasted less than a minute (closer to 45-50 seconds) but were 4-6 minutes apart.
LABOR & DELIVERY AT HOSPITAL
We parked the car and went into the hospital to check in right around 12:45 am. I was having trouble talking and just sat on a bench in the hallway, while E answered questions. They quickly got us into triage, while I continued to have contractions. I kept wanting to go to the bathroom after each! The last three contractions I timed in the app (while we were in triage) were at 12:54 am, 12:59 am, and 1:03 am, and all about 4 minutes apart. They checked my cervix and to my SHOCK told me I was 7-8cm dilated. Here I had been at home worried I’d get there at only 2-3cm dilated, but I was already 7-8cm! I asked if I could get the epidural (which I had for Lucy and Winnie’s births and planned/wanted for this birth as well). The nurse said yes and took my labs and got the IV in. I remember telling E to text our photographer (who was coming for Fresh 48 photos, not birth – thankfully!) and he sent that at 1:11 am. Shortly after that, they wheeled me from triage into our room.
I found out later that got into the delivery room at 1:18 am. The anesthesiologist tech came in to talk about the epidural and tell me the risks, etc. I was having trouble talking and again just kept saying yes, okay, do it, etc. Then the actual anesthesiologist came in and started talking to me and I remember being annoyed with him and feeling a VERY SUDDEN need to go to the bathroom. I interrupted him and said I NEED TO GO TO THE BATHROOM NOW. My nurse checked my cervix and looked at me and said… there’s no time for an epidural. She’s coming now.
Ummm…cue my SHOCK. I was like no no no – I want an epidural. I’ve never had a vision or plan or wish to have an unmedicated birth and knew what I was getting into with the epidural. But, it was certainly out of my control at that point! Suddenly, my room was filled with lots of people – four nurses, the OB hospitalist (given my OB on call didn’t make it to the hospital in time), and a few other people I don’t even know who/why. It was time to have this baby! I remember asking if everything with the baby was okay, given how many people were in the room. With Lucy’s birth, we were in a situation towards the end of labor where they thought I might need an emergency C-section and my hospital room had 10+ people in there before she was born. But this time around, they said no – everything’s great. She’s just coming like right now!
Despite the sudden and very unexpected timing of delivery, the room was calm and the nurses were all so comforting and encouraging. The OB hospitalist on call was calm (even though I had commented to the nurse before he got in the room that I didn’t want a male OB 🙈 – no time for options at that point!). I remember them telling me that my water hadn’t broken yet and they quickly broke it. I remember the calm music playing on the speaker and the dark sky outside. I remember E squeezing my hand, putting a cold washcloth on my head, and encouraging me. I remember making a loud roaring/moaning sound at one point.
I pushed through about what I’m told was three contractions, but all in – it was less than ten minutes. Quite literally, less than an hour after arriving at the hospital, and 26 minutes after arriving in the delivery room, SHE WAS HERE! She was born at 1:44 am in a dark, cozy room. They handed her to me and within a few minutes, it was just us three and our nurse in the room. I held her for a long time and just remember feeling so out of it like OMG WHAT JUST HAPPENED? But relieved and grateful she was healthy and HERE!
OVERALL EXPERIENCE, RECOVERY, ETC
This was our first middle-of-the-night birth, and there was something special about it. Everyone we knew and would tell right away was sleeping, so we just had this special time together. The hospital was (a lot) quieter than the daytime, it was dark outside, cozy inside, and just…special. The “Oh take me back to the night the night we met” lyric from Lord Huron’s song The Night We Met keeps popping in my head and making me weepy.
Physically, right after she was born, my arms and legs couldn’t stop shaking for about an hour. I was exhausted from being up all night and the labor and delivery experience, but also AMPED UP because omg I just had a baby! It was just us in the room for a while, and eventually, the OB checked in on me again and a nurse came to weigh and measure baby Daisy. She weighed 7 pounds, 11 ounces, and was 20.5 inches long. We moved to our recovery room around 3 am and tried to get a little bit of sleep. Later on that day, the girls and my mom came to meet Daisy and it was a really sweet and special moment I’ll never forget. They were/are SO excited.
My sisters and friends asked about the pain of the unmedicated birth vs my epidural and honestly, it’s hard to remember. I remember the emotional/mental experience a lot more – I was full-on, completely IN SHOCK that things were happening so quickly, that I was having a ‘natural’ birth unexpectedly, etc. I didn’t have time to even process the pain because things happened so quickly. Like it hurt – for sure. But I feel like the emotional/mental part took over more than the physical if that makes sense.
I do think the recovery has been easier this time around vs my first two births. I would say I had fairly easy recoveries with Lucy and Winnie and no complaints or issues with my epidural experience, but this time, I just feel a little different. I think I have less back pain, and they were checking on me a lot less in the hospital. We were discharged about 36 hours after arriving and made it back home by 11 am on Sunday, September 22 – her actual due date. That was our shortest hospital stay and we were thrilled we didn’t have to stay longer than needed.
And, wanted to quickly say THANK YOU to everyone who has reached out to us with your sweet words and encouragement. We feel so loved and grateful to be surrounded by so much support and love! We have three daughters! We’re a family of five! I can’t even believe it.
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