Birth, Baby!

Welcome, this is Birth, Baby! Your hosts are Ciarra Morgan and Samantha Kelly. Ciarra is a birth doula, hypnobirthing educator, and pediatric sleep consultant. Samantha is a birth doula, childbirth educator, and lactation counselor. Join us as we guide you through your options for your pregnancy, birth, and postpartum journey.

Today we're gonna be talking to Amanda Larner about her two birth stories of her boys, one of which I got to be her doula for. So Amanda, thank you so much for joining us today. I'm so excited to chat with you and relive your birth stories a little bit. Thanks for having me. I'm really excited. I love talking about my birth stories. I'm excited to hear them for the first time.

Thanks. So exciting. Can you tell us a little bit about you and your family? And yeah. Yeah. My name is Amanda. I am married to Brandon. We've been married like seven years now. I don't know. I lose count. We've got two little boys. I've got a three year old who's almost four and then a one year old who's almost two. I just keep rounding up how old they are. But they're both boys, they're both wild. And yeah, and also Samantha's my cousin. And fun fact, a little bit of nepotism. And at least one of your kids that I'm remembering has amazing hair. Yes, they both have amazing hair. Hudson has really, really curly hair and it is the cutest thing. And he has really dark, like brown hair, which is just like his dad. And I'm obsessed with it.

Well, how I even like came up with that or thought of that was because you said that they were wild and I was like, and the hair like the wild hair too. They do. They have wild hair, both of them. And it has blonde hair, which is actually like me. I have brown hair now, but when I was born, like when I was a kid, I had really, really blonde hair and he is the same way. But his hair is like really wavy. And when it grows out, it just like is everywhere and insane. And I love it. They're fantastic. And fun fact, Emmett and my oldest Micah have the same birthday. So they're little birthday buddies. Someday we're going to force them to have a co -birthday parties. I didn't know that. That's fun. I always say that means you're in the right place at the right time with the right people. Like when weird little things like that happen. Exactly. It's fantastic. So let's walk back, you know, four years almost to Emmet. So tell us about your journey, I guess, to getting pregnant with him and what that was like and what early days of pregnancy were like for you. Let's see. So me and my husband had like a whole plan of like, we were going to wait about three-ish years after we got married to have kids. And we were actually going to wait until after we went on a cruise with our small group, which Sam and her husband were going to be on as well. And we were like, after the cruise, then we'll start trying to get pregnant. It'll be great.

And then Samantha told me that she was pregnant with, Brylee and we were like, well, you know, okay, cool. My happy little surprise. We didn't really like try to stop anything from happening. We were like, let's just, you know, whatever, like there's no pressure now. Like we don't have to like wait because Sam's already going to be pregnant on it. So we can't drink with her. So like, if I also can't drink on the cruise, that's fine too. I always heard it called pulling the goalie.

Yeah, we had already kind of love that we had already like gotten off of birth control, but we were using condoms and then we kind of just got pregnant really quickly. I hate like saying it because I don't want to be like braggy, but I was like, I'm apparently very fertile. We got pregnant very quickly. So that was kind of cool because then I was pregnant at the same time as Samantha. And we got to experience that together, which, for her, it was her second pregnancy and for me, it was my first. So it's really exciting. I really enjoyed pregnancy. I love the pregnant belly. It was the time that I was most confident in my body, weirdly enough. I would wear bodycon dresses to really show off my bump and I was like, yeah, because this bump is actually supposed to be here.

It was, I don't know, it was actually very empowering for me. So I love being pregnant. Being pregnant with this girl at the same time as her, when I'm having the worst pregnancy ever, I was so sick and so miserable. And then Amanda's just over here like this glowing goddess. I kind of hate you. I mean, I love you, but I hate you. When she said that she loved it, I was thinking, my God, you're exact opposite. Because I know Sam made it and I'm just like, seeing you as this ray of sunshine wearing this bodycon dress and Samantha being like, F the world. Yeah, it really was like we were and we're in a lot of ways we are the exact opposite. But it was really good. When I was a few months pregnant, I don't well, I can't remember I was I like just maybe entered the second trimester. We moved into we bought our first house and we moved and up until that point I had had like a really great pregnancy been fine.

And that weekend that we moved, I started having like hip pain and like kind of lower back pain. Just from like being on my feet a lot. I didn't do a lot of moving. I just was on my feet a lot during that day. And it kind of just like never went away. Like I, from that moment, like that's when I remember all my pain kind of starting. And I think it would have happened anyways, but that's like the catalyst for me. And I had really bad like hip pain and like lower sacrum pain like for most of the rest of my pregnancy. Which also you'll find out is like is a common theme for all my pregnancies apparently. But so I started seeing a chiropractor, which was fine. The chiropractor that I went and saw during that pregnancy was not like he didn't really specialize in like pregnancy chiropractic care, I guess. So, yeah, I don't know that it really helped too much, but I did go and see him for most of that pregnancy after all of that started. But other than that, like that was the biggest thing for that pregnancy that was hard was that that hip pain. So just a little plug for making sure that you're seeing a Webster certified prenatal chiropractor because it makes a difference. I kind of love that you guys mentioned that because the episode that dropped this week, even though we're recording this in June and it won't come out quite yet our episode last week was by a chiropractor and she was specifically saying, like, make sure you find somebody that's certified in the Webster technique. So it's just funny that you're like, and it sucked because he didn't. I mean, it was just like, it's so interesting because for my next pregnancy, I did see a different chiropractor that was, you know, that did the, what is it? Webster? and it was a very different experience for sure. But anyways. So what kind of birth were you planning and who were you seeing for your pregnancy care? I was seeing an OBGYN. I was planning to give birth in a hospital. I was very much like, I want to I want all the drugs. I will do whatever the OB tells me. And I'm good with all of it. And I did, like I ended up getting that the girl and everything. I guess we can get into that, but yeah, I saw an OB, I loved her. I really enjoyed that OB. She delivered both my kids. And I think that she's a really like, she's a very calm personality. She was like, I would ask her questions and she'd be like, yeah, like if you want like, she was just so chill.

And I really loved that. So that was really helpful for me. And what kind of things were you doing to prepare for birth other than seeing a chiropractor? I didn't really prepare super well, I think, for that birth. We did do a birthing class, but we didn't really want to do several birthing classes, like different sessions. So we found this one that was an all -day thing. I think it was like six hours and it was really intense and it was good. Like I feel like we got a lot from it. But again, it was like so much information. And so remembering that later on, having had none of that before was just like, wow. And I remember like they talked about breastfeeding at the very end of it. And I was like, I don't even know this stuff. Like this is fine. Like this is not, you know, beneficial to me now because I'm not breastfeeding yet. So like, I don't need to know it. Yeah, foreshadowing. Foreshadowing for sure. Yeah, definitely. So tell us about labor and birth. How did things start for you? What did it look like? Yeah, so I got to 40 weeks. I was supposed to do maternity leave as soon as I went into labor. I was like, I'm going to just work until I go into labor and it'll be fine. But I got to my due date and I wasn't really having any signs of labor, but I just called my work and was like, look, I'm just going to start my maternity leave because like there's no baby yet, but I'm starting it now because I couldn't handle the idea of going into work and people being like, wait, aren't you due today? And like, aren't you like expecting it? Like when is your due date? And I just couldn't handle it. I remember I was like so upset that day. It's the worst. I like remember going to Starbucks and getting the pumpkin cream cold brew and just like crying to the barista and like, it's my due date today. And then he was like, it's on the house. And I was like, Starbucks coming in for the win. Pro tip. That's always how I always cry to baristas. When the pumpkin cream cold brew comes out, I remember it because that's when it was like happening. Like I know that they're out in September by that point because it's like my favorite drink. I also feel like it's important to note that you came to my birth six weeks before. Yeah, that's right. And I guess it was four weeks before your due date. And I was absolutely terrified the whole time that like all of my birth hormones were going to send you into labor. And I was like, it's too early for her to be in labor. Like if you're having contractions, you have to leave. And I was so nervous. I remember you telling me that. And I was like, that's not real. That's not a thing that happens, but it's a thing. We were just talking about this. We both have like, like, like breastfeeding, like ghosts that come up when babies are delivered. Like cycles like you're a lot of I mean, I believe it. Yeah. Yeah. I just remember that was a crazy experience for me to see your birth because I'd seen like videos of people giving birth, but I'd never seen like a real life birth before.

And it was actually really encouraging to me and really exciting to see you get birthed. And I made two videos, the whole thing. She was like at the business end. I got right up in your space. It was great. But I remember the thing that always sticks out to me, and I hope you don't mind me sharing this about your birth, but the moment when she was, when Briley was about to come out and you were delivering her and you screamed, get her out of me. And I remember that moment of just like, it's happening.

And so when I was like in labor later, I was like, I remember this feeling from like seeing it in Samantha's birth. Do you feel like it scared you because it was, you know, you hadn't had any births yet? Did it freak you out or did it make you excited for your own birth? Or were you like, yes, for sure. Getting the epidural again, like solidifying my plan that I already had. Kind of all of that. I was like, at first I was a little like, my gosh. And then the whole experience was just really empowering to me. And like, I was like, I'm excited to do this. And I feel more prepared somehow, but also I feel so good about the decision to get an epidural.

Fair, absolutely fair. I do remember during, I guess it was just before transition started for me, we were singing like Hamilton together while I was drinking the Starbucks that you had brought me. And then from there, it was just like, okay, here's the real stuff. Yeah, that was also cool to see what giving birth in a birthing center was like too, because I've given birth both times in a hospital. And so getting to see the difference and like how cool that was for you. Like I really did love that. That tub though, it looked awesome. It was awesome. So, you know, just to note, if you're pregnant, you can just go watch somebody else give birth and it's pretty cool. It is. It's a really, really cool thing to watch. So moving forward, tell us about how your labor started and how your birth went. Yeah. So about like, I think, I don't know, a day or a day and a half after my due date, I started having contractions, but they were like kind of spread out. They happened like for a full day. I woke up like four in the morning. They happened throughout the day. And then they kind of petered off at the end of the day. And I was like, great, cool. So I went to bed and was like, well, I guess this isn't happening. And then the next day, same thing, 4 a woke up, had contractions, happened throughout the day. It was getting stronger at that point. getting closer together. So I think around like two or so we went to the hospital. We called my doctor. We went to the hospital and she was like, yeah, that'll be good. I saw my doctor that morning and she checked me and she did a membrane sweep and everything. And I was three centimeters. So I was like, she was like, I'm pretty positive you're going to have a baby today or at least tomorrow.

And I was like, awesome. but it still was like pretty slow. The contractions were like, I think five minutes apart for like a while. So we went to the hospital, we went into the triage area. They checked me. I was like three and a half centimeters. So they were like, I mean, we can't really like keep you yet, but if you would like to walk around the hospital for like an hour and we can see if that does anything. And so I did. And I was so annoyed about it. I walked around in my little hospital gown around the hallways for an hour, having contractions in the midst of all of that. And I was so annoyed, but it was really nice because all the nurses would walk by and they'd be like, you're doing great, mama. And I was like, thanks. And so finally after that, they checked me. I was like, maybe barely five centimeters. And they were like, I guess. They also checked, they did. I don't know, ultrasound or something of my, of everything. And they saw that I had very low amniotic fluid. So my water might've like slightly broken or something. We're not really sure. I never really had any of that. Like I never felt my water break with my first. And so they were able to admit me, but also they were waiting for a room. They didn't have any rooms. So I was in triage. I had to wait for a room and then the contractions were getting stronger and more frequent and I was in a lot of pain and I was like, please, can I just get the epidural? Like, can we just do that? And they were like, we need to wait until you get into your room. And so eventually it was so close. The anesthesiologist, I can never say this word, anesthesiologist was somewhat nearby. And so they were like, fine, you know what? We can just do that, do the epidural in the triage room. So they brought him in and they did it.

Yeah, I've never seen that my whole life. Yeah. And it was right before I went to my room. So I was in triage for eight hours. OK, fair. They absolutely deserve to give you. Yeah, that's a long time. OK. They were like they were like someone just gave birth. They're going to be out of their room very soon. So like, we're going to get you a room very soon. And I was like, please, can I just get the epidural? And the epidural was like the greatest thing ever. Like immediately, I was just like, this is such a good idea. I love it. And I'm so glad that I got it too, because I was in labor with him for another 14 hours after that. my gosh. Talk about a marathon. It was a long time. So like all night, tried to get some sleep here and there, you know, wasn't super restful. The next day, I think by like seven or eight, I think I was at like nine centimeters, maybe.

So they called my doctor. She was like, okay, I've got one more patient. Then I'll come over to the hospital. And so I think at that point I was pretty close. Like I was maybe dilated and I was starting to feel like the, I was feeling the pressure, but again, I had the epidural and I'd been on it for so long too. Like my legs were so numb. And so they had me wait until she got to the hospital, which felt like it took forever. She got there around like a little before noon, maybe. And right before they got in, she got in, they were like, all right, why don't we do a practice push? And I started doing a practice push. It was like half a push. And they were like, wait, hold on. Nope. Let's, let's go back. let's wait until your doctor is here. And so then when she got there, I did maybe another like push or two, and then he came out.

And I also had no idea what I was doing when I was pushing because again, I couldn't really feel anything. So I was like, basically just like holding my breath and just like, I can't even say that I was pushing. I was just like trying to, I don't know, take a poop or something. That's what it felt like I was trying to do. That's how we do it. Yeah. But he came out and I was shocked because I was expecting to have to push for at least like, at least, at least 10 minutes, which it wasn't, it was like five or I don't know. It was very quick. He came out and I was just like, that was it? Awesome. Great. I had a lot of blood loss with him. So I did... I can't remember. I think I did maybe either almost faint after him or I definitely threw up at some point. I don't know. After that, a lot of it is very hazy. But that was Emmett. That's how Emmett came into this world.

Amazing. Yeah, I mean, not the norm, but maybe the norm for our family or something. I don't know. Weird. I mean, I think I tallied it up because I was also like, I don't know what counts as like the beginning of labor for when you count like how many hours of labor you were in. But I think it was roughly like 34 hours of like, like good, strong labor that I was in with him. That's such a common thing for people to ask. When do when do I start it? Like, yeah, they always ask afterward.

I'm like, I don't know. I mean, we don't get a medal for being in a certain number of hours. I'm like, I don't know when your waves were like seven minutes apart. Yeah. I mean, if you're not having waves in your... When do you think it started? Cool. Yeah. Like if your water's released and you weren't feeling anything for 12 hours, I wouldn't say like that 12 hours goes toward the count, but you can call it whatever you want. Exactly. So you mentioned that breastfeeding was a little interesting. Tell us a little bit about that with him. Yeah.

I feel like he latched pretty quickly at first, like right after birth. And then when we were in the recovery room, I just felt like I had the hardest time getting him to latch. And like, and when he did, I don't feel like he was actually getting anything. And the lactation specialist came in and tried to help me and it was just very painful. It was just like, you know, they're just grabbing my nipples and doing things. And I was like, what?

And she, and the nurses kept telling me like, it's fine. He's doing okay. Just keep putting him up to the brass. And I was like, he's not getting anything. He's literally, I don't think that he's like getting any milk. I don't think it's happening. And it was, I was so stressed about it. We were in the hospital for a really long time after he was born because we were waiting, for him to get circumcised. So we had him, I guess that Friday, more that Friday, like midday. And we were in the hospital until Sunday afternoon. and the whole, like that whole time, I don't feel like he was eating very much and it really freaked me out. so when we got home, I remember the night that we got home, I was panicking because I just felt like he still wasn't eating. And so I tried to get out my breast pump to try to like, get some milk and try a bottle for him. And I couldn't figure out how to use the breast pump because I had never used it before.

And I remember just like sitting on the ground, like crying with like no shirt on and just like this breast pump pieces everywhere. And I was like, I can't feed my baby. And it was like really awful. And eventually like we figured it out. I did have to use a nipple shield for a while with him. And then eventually he kind of, he got used to it. We both had to learn for a while, but. Cause you had some like anatomical things going on, right? that's true. And I don't think that I realized that that would really have anything to do with that one. So when I got pregnant with Emmett, I, my nipples inverted, super weird. They inverted and which was very strange. And I talked to my doctor about it and she's like, yeah, I think it'll be fine. Cause like when you, you know, do stuff with them, they will pop out. You can manipulate them to get them to pop out and then breastfeeding is fine. But that did it. I don't think that that really had too much to do. It was actually at that point, it was just one that inverted. Super bizarre. My next pregnancy, both of them inverted and then they stayed that way. So fun fact. Now I'm telling you about this. Yeah, you should. We should have just stayed silent to make it awkward for you. The it's interesting that it's one time and then the next time I was like, hey, we're going to both get in on this.

Did a doctor or anything ever explained to you? Is there a hormone thing? Is it a, like, I mean, no one has, no one has explained that to me. Like my, my OB was kind of like, that's interesting. And then like, but it's not, yeah, she was like, it's not a big deal. I don't think that she said whether or not it was common, whether or not, like she has seen that before. She wasn't bothered by it. She thought that it, like, she didn't think that there was a problem with it. And she was like, as long as it doesn't have any problems, like with breastfeeding, I think you're fine. And I don't really think that it had too much, that it, I don't think it affected too much in my first breastfeeding journey, but I think it did have a little bit more of an effect in my next one. But still I was able to breastfeed. It was more just like, without the nipple shield, sometimes it would be hard, like for a newborn, my newborn son had a harder time like getting the nipple to like come out more. So either I had to do that, which was hard when I was like super engorged. That's very hard to like manipulate my nipple in the coming down basically. I can't believe I'm saying this on a podcast.

Thanks for putting this out there for the internet. We love it. You're welcome. Well, because there's going to be somebody who listens and is like, my God, me too. And then they feel less weird, you know, and then they should email us and tell us about it and we'll tell you and it'll be great. I do have a problem where I tell people like pretty quickly into meeting them about this just because I think it's a crazy story. OK, not going to lie. I think I knew you for two hours. Yeah. And I was like, guess what? I have flat slash inverted nipples. That's really cool. Let's talk about it more.

This is the doula life y 'all. That's actually the response I get. I think in reality though, I mean it is a, I don't want to say a common issue, but it is an issue that absolutely happens because your breasts are growing during pregnancy and so if your nipples already had a tendency to do that, that maybe we didn't notice beforehand because why would you notice beforehand? Then as your breasts are growing and that tissue is stretching more, it just becomes more likely that that is you know that that's going to become an issue. It would make sense that it wasn't more of an issue on the second pregnancy because your breasts continue to grow even more on the second pregnancy. So absolutely. I used to call it my wonky nipple. I'd be like, well, I've got a wonky nipple that I got from pregnancy. Good times. Good times. And now it's both. So it's cool. Is there anything else from postpartum with Emmett that you want to share?

No, it postpartum was honestly pretty easy with him. Like once we got the breastfeeding thing down, it was pretty, pretty easy. It was a good time. I love it. I love it. So jumping forward, tell us about your next pregnancy. How did that happen? And what was that like? Yeah, Hudson was a bit more of a surprise. We were not you know, actively, no, we were, we didn't have, I didn't have birth control at that time, just because it had the hormones and the birth control I'd been on. We were like really messing with my anxiety. And so I got off of that and we were kind of thinking that we would try maybe in like a few months or something, but until then we were gonna use condoms and then, you know, something went wrong one time. And I was like, wouldn't that be funny if I got pregnant?

And guess what I did. Then it's your fault. You jinxed it. Exactly. Those second babies, man. They're crazy. Seems right. And I kind of just like started laughing and was like, this is not like what I had planned, but it's not horrible. Like the timing isn't like the best, but it's also not like awful. Like we're fine. It'll be good. They're a little, my boys are 22 months apart. So, not like, it's not crazy, but it is a little closer than I had hoped for, which is fine. Another fun fact, that is the exact age difference between my two kids. Her second is like what, he's like a week and two days or something past Briley's birthday. You guys need to stop being weird. I know. I know. We are relationship - Are you sisters? Are you sure? It's real weird.

There's something there. It's we, yeah, we, we, we also nine days apart. That is true. Our whole lives are just in sync. We were also born at the same hospital and delivered by the same doctor. All right. And that would love fest. Moving on. I'm feeling very left out of third wheeling it here. So sorry, Sierra. So with Hudson, I almost immediately went to see a chiropractor. I was like, I know it's going to happen. I'm going to get this hip and pelvic pain and I did. And so I went to the chiropractor the entire time and this time it was a chiropractor who was well versed in working with pregnant people. So that was nice. Went to her, yeah, from, I think from halfway through like my first trimester on through my entire pregnancy. People say, you know, second births are typically shorter, like, but now I'm thinking as you say that you're like, well, and I knew it was going to happen. So it's like you got to have earlier intervention. And so that probably made a huge difference. And that's just another benefit of second timers is that you didn't know what you didn't know the first time around. And this time it's like preemptive strike. Yeah. And the other thing I did was I went to a pelvic floor PT because I did have a lot of I felt like after my birth with Emmett, I could definitely feel like a difference in my pelvic floor. And like, you know, couldn't hold my bladder all the time and just felt like that was something I really needed. And I also knew that that would help with my hip and pelvic pain because there was even like a lot of pain basically just like towards my groin area and stuff, like towards the end of pregnancy, because with Emmett, I think his head was just like so low in my pelvis that he was just like causing so much pain.

So I went to a pelvic floor PT and that was really, really good. And I also think that that is why maybe I had such a quick delivery with him too. I think that might've had something to do with that as well. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, I mean, the body remembers, but also we just kind of know what to do the second time. Like there's, I don't know, there's definitely something about that.

So how was the rest of your pregnancy with him? It was good. I definitely still like, even with the chiropractor, even with the pelvic floor therapist, I did have a lot of pain. There were some days where I was just like, just very sad about how much pain I was in. Towards the end, I was always using that like sports tape on my back and on my belly a lot, which actually was really helpful.

But I also have a tendency to like overwork myself in pregnancy. So like I was working in youth ministry at the time for both my pregnancies and I kept doing like summer camps, like both times that I was pregnant, which was so dumb. Like jumping around and like being a ref for games and like running around and like in the Texas heat. And I was like, no, it's fine. It was fine. Agreed. It was not fine. Yeah, I just, I kept telling myself that I could do it and then I'd go home each night and cry. But yeah. Did you do anything differently in this pregnancy to prepare for birth? I also hired a doula, which was you. tell me about your doula. Well, she was all right. No, it was really great because even before that, I had been talking with you a lot about birth and all of your experience and I'd seen your birth and it was really cool to have you as a resource, which I know I kind of would have anyways. You were even a resource to me through Emmett's birth, but it was nice having you like knowing you would be there, it'd be in the room. And we talked a lot about my birth plan, which my birth plan was I want an epidural.

And Sam was so sweet. She was like, let's rephrase this to like, your goal is to have a pain free birth. And I was like, sure. But in my head, I was like, that ain't that the girl. So there were a lot of things with my birth plan that I did not get. I wanted you to take a lot of pictures. I wanted, we were going to have like little lights up in the room. I had like, I scoured the internet to try to find the exact like birthing gown that I wanted. I had like a matching robe. I wanted to try, I talked to my pelvic floor therapist about the different positions that I could push in while having an epidural and like how I could do that because I really wanted to like somehow birth, like even like leaning up against the bed or like lean up against the back of the bed on my knees if I was able to. But I was like, but I also want to get the epidural. And so she showed me different ways that I could do that. And I talked to my doctor about it and she was like, well, we can see if we have time for that. She was like, I'm open to whatever, but second babies might come a little quicker. And I was like, yeah, but it'll be fine. We'll have time for that. And Hudson made his way very, very quickly into the world. And so a lot of my things that I wanted in my birth plan did not happen at all.

Yeah, so tell us about labor with him. What happened? How did that all go down? So it was a few days past my due date, I think. And I woke up, again, like really early in the morning, 2 AM, had contractions. And they went on throughout the rest of the day. They were about 10 minutes apart the entire day. So I thought that that was more like false labor or just what was going to happen, what happened the last time. So I was like, this is going to be a long labor.

I'm here for it. Like I'm ready. I think you told me to do the, what is it? The circuit thing. Mile circuit. Yeah. The mile circuit, which I hated. but it was good. And I do think it helped. we went to target at one point and I was like stopping every few minutes, to like have a contraction. Any of my clients that are listening to this probably recognize this story because I talk about that all the time. I talk about how in early labor, you could go to Target if you want to and some teenage boy will probably see you laboring and he'll freak out and walk away really awkwardly. Yeah. It's a good time. Is that what happened? Did someone see me? Yeah, you don't remember that little, the like guy that worked there that like came up the aisle and was like, are you okay?

I do not remember that at all. It's my favorite thing to talk about. It's clearly very much in the zone. my gosh. Yeah. And so my parents were also in town. They were staying at our house so that they could watch Emmett, which I'm so glad because that night I was like, okay, I'm going to go to sleep. I'm sure that these are going to kind of peter off, which they were starting to kind of slow down a little bit. And I was like, it's just like last time. And so I tried to get some sleep.

I woke up at 1130 and the contractions were a lot more intense. They were still 10 minutes apart though. So I was like, you know what? I bet that things are going to maybe happen in a few hours. So maybe we'll go to the hospital like in a few hours or so. So right now I think I'm just going to go ahead and curl my hair because I want to have nice hair for when I am at the hospital because I don't want to have to be worrying about that. And I've got time, so I'm going to curl my hair. And I told Brandon that. We're going to be taking a view.

What you had to be ready for all the pictures, all of the beautiful like artsy pictures of me giving birth. well, the reason they hired me right there folks. Yeah, I just wanted some good picture. So I started curling my hair and they were getting more intense. All of a sudden they like jumped to three minutes apart. and I told my husband that I was like, Hey, you should text Sam and let her know.

And I, at this point, I was feeling like I had to poop. And I was like, I, that's not like, I don't think that I need to poop though. And I did sit in the toilet a few times, but then I got really nervous that I would have a toilet baby. So I stopped. so I just kept curling my hair. I was like, I'm almost done. We need to leave though. We need to leave for the hospital. And Brandon was like, okay. And I was like, go put the bags in the car. call Sam. She needs to be here right now.

And how much of this did you communicate to your husband about what you were feeling? Not a ton. I thought that I was being very clear that it was very intense and that they were, I told him, I was like, there are three minutes apart. That's pretty quick. So we should probably go soon. But in my head, that seemed a lot more urgent and then probably it came out. And so he was like starting to go make a cup of coffee to like take with him. And I came out at one point after I'd curled my hair.

I'm like ready to go and I looked at him and he's like, I'm going to make some coffee. And I was like, we don't have time for that. We need to go. We had time for curling my hair, but not the coffee. It's we gotta go. Priorities. So we get in the car and I also in my head again, I thought that it was very clear that like Sam needed to come over, but he did not really communicate that with Sam because I hadn't communicated to him. and so I was going like, why is Sam not here yet? And he was like, well, she said that she's going to start getting ready. And I was like, she needs to be here right now. You call her and tell her to get over to our house. So by the time that Sam got to our house, we were in the car ready to go. And I was like, she's just going to need to follow us to the hospital. Sam lives two minutes from them, by the way. I was like literally in the neighborhood. Which again, I was like, why isn't she here right now? It should not take that long.

So dumb. I'm sorry about that. So we speak to the hospital. I called my doctor and later she told me, like, I thought that I was being really calm on the phone to her. And I was like, hi, I'm in labor. They were, my contractions were 10 minutes apart and now they've jumped to three. And so I think that like it's happening really quickly. So we're going to the hospital. And she told me later, she was like, yeah, as soon as I heard your voice, I could tell that we were having this baby really quickly. And I was like, cool, cool, cool. Those contractions were so painful. I was so, I was in a lot of pain. I was like writhing in the car and poor Brandon was speeding down the highway. There was some construction at one point and he was like, you've got to be kidding me. We live like, I don't know, 20, 30 minutes away from the hospital. And so we got there. We pull up to the, I guess the emergency room area and we just left the car there for like, I think several hours. We just left it. We go in, they got me a wheelchair and I'm like breathing very heavy. I'm definitely in transition at this point. Did not realize that. Also did not realize that I was actually feeling the need to push, but I was still in denial about that. So there we're telling the people we're like, we need to go up to you know, labor and delivery, and they get me a wheelchair. And I think in your doula notes, you wrote that like, you could see me like, lifting myself out of the wheelchair, every time I had a contraction. It was very intense. And I don't even like, I barely remember a lot of that part because I was in transition. It was like, it was totally out of this world.

And I think that it's probably worse because you anticipated not having to feel that. Yeah. Plan was an epidural. So like somebody who was intentionally going to go on Medicaid the whole time, it may not have seemed as intense. But for you, you were like, yo, this wasn't in the cards. Like, remember that plan we made this? Yeah, I was even at that point, I was like, we got to get up there so I can get the epidural. Like they need to know.

Yeah, I remember following y 'all down the highway because I pulled up to your house and you were already in the car and your husband was like, yeah, she said it's just time to go to the hospital. And I was like, OK. Last I heard they were 10 minutes apart. So this is an interesting turn of events. And then I'm following y 'all down the highway and he's going like 90. This is this is strange. This is this is just kind of interesting. Like what I wonder what's happening here.

And then we pull up to the ER and somehow I managed to beat you there. I think I just knew a different way or something. And so I met you at the ER and you got loaded into the wheelchair and I was like, crap. Like this, okay. Did you tell that I was in transition? Absolutely. Like from what you observed? Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. I was in so much denial. I really did not, like that entire time, every time I had a contraction, I could feel the pressure and I could feel the need to push. And I was like, that's not what that is. That's fine. So like, I really truly believe that any of like, from the moment we got to the hospital, maybe even before that, I probably could have had that baby like at any of that time. So we get up to the labor and delivery, we get to the front desk and they're like, you know, checking me in. And I remember them being like, we need to see your ID. And I like threw my wallet at them. And I was just like, take it. Like I was just so over I was like, I need to get in a room and they they talked very briefly. They're like, should we put her in a triage? And Brandon was like, nope. So they found a room. I also remember requesting the biggest room because I think we knew that like the room nine or something was the biggest room and I was like, I want room nine and they were like, no, you're going in this one. She's like saying that this is awful pain, but she still remembers she wants to be in room nine. And she's like, that pictures are going to look better in that big room. Again, I was in denial that this was happening. I was like, I'm going to get the birth that I wanted. I'm going to like get my epidural. I'm going to be able to push in all these positions. So yeah, just not not, you know, understanding what reality is. And so we go into the first room of like the first room right there, like the closest room that they had. And I remember they got me into the bed and I was like trying to just take my pants off. And I remember I had like leggings on and I was like, take these off. And Brandon's like trying to pull them away from me. Like he, it looked hilarious. He's like trying to pull them off my legs and they're like stuck on my feet. And, and yeah, they came and checked me and they were like, honey, you are 10 centimeters. Like you're complete. And I was like, are you kidding me? And they were like, but you know what? Your water hasn't broke. So like, maybe we can do an epidural. Like I think that they were trying to like keep me calm because I was like panicking. I forgot to mention, I was so angry with Sam this entire time because she's doing exactly what she's supposed to. Like I understood that she was doing what she was supposed to, but she's like, okay, like breathe and like do horse lips and all of this. And I was just like, like so angry at you. Cause I like knew that that's what I needed to do anyways, but I was like, you're right.

Sam, could you tell she was pissed at you? 1 ,000%. She was just such an angry little human at that point in time. But she was also just so deep within it that we kind of knew what was going on. But I remember actually, before they checked you, I was like, well, maybe she'll be like eight or nine and we'll still have time for the epidural. And so Brandon and I are kind of talking and we're like, OK, so like you can go move the car really fast and I'll get the lights up really fast and like we'll do all these things really fast and then we'll come back up and it'll be time to go. And then they were like, she's 10 and he and I just like locked eyes and we're like, my God. Yeah. And when they said that they were like, well, maybe because your water hasn't broke yet. So maybe it'll work. And then literally the next contraction, my water broke and it was a big gush. It was, I actually felt it. I was, and I knew that's what happened. And I was like, damn it. I'm sorry. I don't know if I can curse on this, but yeah, I was like, explicit warning. Thanks, Amanda. Sorry. I'm just kidding. I was so upset and I looked at Sam and I was like, I can't do it. I can't do this with an epidural. And she was like, yes, you can. And at that point, I think, I think somewhere in that time, I communicated to you guys finally that I was feeling the need to push.

She was crossing her legs, y 'all. She is crossing her legs and obviously holding this baby in. I was holding him in. And so she looks at me and says, I can't do this. And I think the nurse and I, Nurse Melindi, who I absolutely adore, we kind of just looked at each other and she's like, if you push, this is over. We're done. And then we kind of went from there.

So when she said that I was like, all right, I guess I'm pushing. And I did not push. I like to tell people I let go and my body expelled him. And he came out like very quickly. My body shot him out and the nurse caught him. One handed because she didn't have all of her gloves on yet.

And he was out and the pain was over. I don't remember any sort of pain from actually delivering him. I do remember like the weirdest feeling. And again, this is, I mean, this is a birth podcast, so it's fine. I remember the weirdest feeling of having the umbilical cord going like from coming from me to him, because I didn't feel any of that with them. And I didn't feel anything down there. So like after he was born and the placenta still hadn't delivered, I could feel the umbilical cord basically coming out of my vagina.

And I just remember being like, that is so weird. That's so impressive to me that you have, like you had the wherewithal to do that because I always wonder if it's me or if it's a normal thing, but I just not disassociated, even though, I mean, I knew I was holding him. I had a hard time connecting with my own body and being that present.

And so it always amazes me when people think of those little details. I mean, that's such a small little thing and a literal small little thing that that you were so aware of. Yeah, it was weird because like there were a lot of like little things like that that I remember. And so after they handed it to me, I remember telling them, I was like, you need to cut this shirt off of me. And they were like, no, like we can we can like, you know, take it off. It's I had at that point, I had IVs and stuff, so they couldn't take my shirt off like fully, but I wanted to do skin to skin with him. And I was like, no, there's already blood in the shirt. I don't care about it. It's an ugly maternity shirt. Like cut it off me. And so there's pictures of them cutting my shirt off, which I just think is really funny. And I was like, get rid of it. Those are the pictures I got. Yeah. Yeah. That's great. And then you got like live photos too. So you can like press on them and you can see like actually what was going on.

And it's just chaos in the room. But are there twinkle lights behind you? No, there are not. And also the other thing that I was annoyed about is because we got a diffuser going. that's true. This was happening at the end of a lot of the COVID protocols. So like I had to wear a mask when we got in there. So they were having me continue to wear the mask because they had to wait for my COVID test to come back. But I think when something happened, I pulled the mask down to like underneath my nose. And then I just never was able to pull it back up. Like my arm was, I don't know, my arm was doing something and I like just never felt like I could reach back to my face. So in all these pictures, my mask is like just covering my mouth. And also I just, like they told me I could have taken it off that whole time and I just didn't because I was like, I'm supposed to wear this mask. So the whole thing just looks crazy. And I'm in shock and all my pictures. I'm just like in so much shock because I could not believe what had just happened and that it had happened so fast. So we got to the hospital at one 10 and he was born at one 39. And yeah, it was absolutely insane. What a whirlwind. Yeah. So after that, again, I lost a lot of blood because he came very fast. and I think my body was just in a lot of shock.

So I don't remember, this is where like the timeline I'm very confused about. But a little bit after that, they wanted me to get up to go to the bathroom. After like I'd been holding him for a while after I like breastfed him. And they wanted me to get up and go to the bathroom. And so they come in and they try to like get me up to get me, I think just even in a wheelchair. And I stood up and was like pretty quickly, I was like, I'm going to faint. And I think Sam, can you help me with this? Did I faint into the nurse's arms or like? I think Brandon, Brandon caught you. And then the nurse and I got you back into bed. Yeah. And I remember again, I had so much anger in this whole process. I remember them waking me up with the little smelling salts or whatever. And I just remember like smelling it and the first I felt was anger. I was like, I was having a very nice little nap and you were pissed. You were so pissed. And you could see it in my eyes. My eyes were like wide and I was just like trying to understand what had happened because you know, when you come out of having fainted, it's just like very disorienting. And so I'm just trying to make sense of it all. And I was just angry. So two things about this. One is that it's another weird family thing because y 'all both fainted in your labors. And Sam, did you faint in both of yours?

Kind of, yeah, I had like a brown out with my. OK, so then and also, isn't it interesting, Amanda, how some people think that having a super fast labor would just be the greatest. But even though you did have that, like you still felt angry, there were still things that pissed you off in your birth. Samantha didn't get there fast enough and she was telling you to breathe and you wanted an epidural like no matter what, to an outside eye, it could look like that was great. And you're like, I was pissed. Yeah. And it was also just like so much on my body. Yeah, it was very traumatizing. Like for my body, I could like, the whole thing was so intense. It was a huge adrenaline rush. So there was that. But when that came back down, I could like tell like, my body really struggled to get back to normal after everything.

So yeah, I fainted and then I think a little bit later we tried to have me get up again. They ended up giving me a catheter because I just needed to go to the bathroom. And I just was like convinced that I couldn't get up to go to the bathroom, which also happened with Emmett. I was never able to fully get up to go to the bathroom, but at that point I had had the epidural. So they just did the cath and it was fine. Cause I was still like, in a normal hospital delivery, especially at this specific hospital, they have a policy that you can't transfer to postpartum until you've been able to get up and go to the bathroom safely and kind of on your own. That's their guidelines for postpartum. So they were really, really set on making sure that you were able to get up and urinate before they would even consider moving you to postpartum. Yeah. And even at that point, when they finally just cast me and then after that, they were like, well, you at least need to get up to get into the wheelchair so that we can go. Like you have to be able to get into the wheelchair and we can take you to the postpartum room. And I was kind of like, why can't you just roll me in the bed? So also Sam, when I heard your first story, I got so angry. I think I texted you about this. And I was like, I wasn't allowed to roll into my postpartum room. And that's all I wanted because I kept fainting. Even like when I was fully upright in bed, I would start feeling faint. And I was just like, I just want to sleep. Like I'm so tired. And my nurse at the time, I remember she was a little bit more of like, she's a little more of a hard ass and was like, you need to, you need to get up. And like, we, we gotta get this going. You have to try. And I was like, I don't want to just, just take me to my postpartum room. She was pretty annoyed with you. Like it almost felt like she was annoyed of like, why can't you just do this?

Yeah. And I was very annoyed with her. Yeah. So did you, did they ever figure out why you were fainting so much? No, I think they, they eventually attributed it to like just how much blood loss and just how quickly I gave birth and just like, I guess the trauma on my body, the adrenaline come down because they said your blood levels were fine. Like they, they didn't, you know, they didn't feel like you needed a transfer or, you know, a transfusion or anything like that. They just felt like, they did at one point say that they thought like, if I had any more bleeding, it might get to that level, but it never did. It wasn't that bad. but yeah, eventually I was able to get up, but it took a while. I was in the delivery room after that birth for a really long time for like, I don't remember, like, was it like eight hours or something? Yeah, I think we transferred.

I guess it wasn't that long because we, if he was born at one 39, it was like six 30 in the morning when we finally made it to postpartum. Okay. I mean, still a decently long time to be in the labor rooms. I don't typically, I mean, I'm sure they wanted to get me out of there so they could have other people, you know, give birth in that room, but I just didn't want to go. But yeah, after that, we had a really quick stay at the hospital. after the chaos of his birth, everything after that was pretty good. I did bleed a lot more postpartum with him after him, which was really unsettling to me with Emmett. My postpartum bleeding, like, you know, once we got home and everything, that kind of postpartum bleeding was like only two weeks. And then with Hudson, it was like a full six weeks and it was like heavy for a lot of that. And it freaked me out.

I called my doctor several times about it and she was like, it's okay. Like as long as you're not like bleeding through the pad multiple times or whatever. And I was like, okay. And I never really did, but it just felt like so much more and I was so tired of it. but eventually it did stop and everything was good. We did also have some, what? I was gonna say, I bet that had something to do with you having to run around after a toddler. I mean, you don't get to rest as much with your second one as you do your first. So you probably weren't, I mean, that could have had a big part in the healing. That's true. That's very true. Yeah. And breastfeeding was pretty, we had some issues as well, but it still, it wasn't horrible, but he did, like both of them had a hard time. And now looking back, I do think part of it could have been from my wonky nipples. But also I had, I felt like I had really, intense letdowns. So like when I was breastfeeding, my letdown was really intense and it was almost like too much for both of them. It was like for them like drinking from a water hose like or a fire hydrant, that's the term. And so like they both had a hard time like initially latching because like there's just so much milk coming through. And I would have to get into a lot of different positions to like, I'd have to like either lean back or like try to breastfeed like laying down more so that gravity isn't like just forcing it into them. And so that was definitely a difficult thing with Hudson breastfeeding him, but eventually he got it. And you know, breastfeeding is a learning curve for both the mom and the baby for sure. And I've seen that with both my kids. Absolutely.

But yeah, that's how I had both of my kids. And it was, they're both of those births were like completely different and both of them felt completely wild, which is accurate for how they are now. They're both wild and crazy and I love them. Wild, crazy, glorious little tiny humans. Yes. They're fantastic.

Awesome. Well, thank you so much for sharing all of this with us. This was so much fun to relive and talk about again. And I'm so excited to share this with all of our listeners because I talk about your story all the time. I, I, you know, different aspects of it, laboring and target or you curling your hair and having this crazy precipitous delivery. And, I just, I love getting to share it. So I'm so excited that all of our listeners are going to be able to tune in and listen to the real story told by you. Yeah, thank you guys so much for letting me share my story in this format. Yeah, we know it's kind of vulnerable to, we made ourselves go first, right? It's kind of vulnerable to sit there and talk about such an intimate time in your life, but it's such a learning experience too, especially if you have kind of a unique story, someone out there may have something similar and they thought they were the only one. So that's pretty, I really appreciate that.

Yeah, I think it's so cool to be able to share those stories. It's like, it's literally my favorite topic to talk about with people is like their birth stories and just the craziness of birth. It's so cool and so wild and I'm obsessed. I just think it's awesome. And I'm sure you guys know as well because that's, you know, what you've done with your careers. Yeah, that's all we do now is talk about birth. Pretty much. It's great.

Awesome. Well, thanks so much for joining us on today's podcast and we can't wait to hear what comes next. Bye. Bye y 'all.

Thank you for joining us on Birth, baby! Be sure to tune in next week as we talk about some things that you can do to prepare for delivery. Thanks again to Longing for Orpheus for our music. Make sure you check him out on Spotify. Remember to leave a review, share and follow wherever you get your podcasts. See you next week.