The Peña Family: Birth Story of our precious Victor!

Date of Birth: February 7, 2013 at 8:07am

Original Due Date: February 4, 2013

Weeks Pregnant: 40 weeks & 2.5 days

Weight: 6lbs even (my boys like even birth weights I guess haha)

Height: 20 inches long

My weight Gain: I got up to 169.2 lbs (I weighed myself when i was in labor haha)..so a total of 45-46lbs...I weighed myself a couple hours after delivered and I had immediately lost 12lbs and as of 2/13, I've lost 20lbs!...On my way to trying on those bridal gowns and sooner to wearing normal pants again lol :)

Birth Story: On Feb 6th, I had called my mom to come over to get out of the house and to go to lunch together. After lunch, we went to walmart, got a couple of things and then we headed towards home. On the way, we decided to take Adrian to the park to play a bit, and I had walked a quarter mile lap around the park just to keep active and see if I could get some contractions started. Around 3:30pm or so we headed home and I laid down with Adrian to get him to take a nap, but also to rest a bit myself.

I started feeling some contractions, but ignored them at first because I had been feeling contractions for weeks and I didn't want to get my hopes up that I would actually go into labor then. Starting around 4:30pm I started timing them and they were anywhere from 6 minutes to 10 minutes apart. They were so mild that I felt normal, just had tightening every so often. Since Adrian was asleep, I decided to walk around the house and up and down the stairs in hopes of keeping the momentum up. By 6pm they were around 7 mins apart, but still nothing that I had to breathe through or anything. I had manny bring dinner home because I just didn't feel up to making anything. I probably could have, but I was SO ready to go into labor that I just wanted to continue walking around the house and focus and prepare my mind for labor so that if this was the real deal, I'd be relaxed and ready. I had texted my mom, sister, Margie and Tina around 7pm that I had been having contractions and this could be it, but that it was still too early for me to be confident it was time. After we had eaten, Manny had the T.V. on, Adrian was running around making a bunch of noise, and I just lost my focus at that point. I was still walking around the house and rocking on my exercise ball, but with all the noise around me, I couldn't feel contractions anymore and eventually conceded that I wasn't in labor yet. I texted everyone back around 9:45pm that the contractions had slowed a lot, that they'd probably stop like before, and to not lose sleep over me.

Once I laid down to sleep and got Adrian sleeping (Manny went to shave just in case this was the real thing haha), I was feeling contractions and they actually started getting stronger. I texted my mom at 10:30pm and said I felt silly for saying they were stopping because they hadn't and asked her if she'd come stay the night over here just in case. At 10:50pm I texted Margie and let her know that contractions hadn't stopped and they were coming about every 9 mins or so. I told her we'd call once things were more serious and she told me to try and get some sleep. I tried laying down, but eventually I felt like I needed to sit on my exercise ball to be more comfortable and possibly try and sleep that way by leaning on the bed. Once my mom got to the house, we tried to get Adrian to sleep with her (he had been sleeping in our bed), but he woke up and didn't want to. Manny took him into his room to sleep in his own bed and manny laid on the floor next to him. :) Manny slept off and on in there the whole night (I think it was his way of spending the last moments with him as an only child).

Things started picking up around 11:40pm or so and contractions were coming around 2-4mins apart so I had my mom call Margie at 12:30am and then Karla, and Tina were called shortly thereafter and notified that things were definitely moving along now and all of them were soon on their way over. Even though the contractions were so close, I was still talking and laughing between them, so I knew we were still pretty early in labor, but being my 2nd time, things could progress much more quickly. Once Margie got there, she checked me and I was only 4.5cm (she said "it's more than 4 but I don't want to call it 5, so we'll call it 4.5") dilated. At that point I was satisfied that today was the day our baby Victor would be born, but we still had a ways to go still. Margie went and laid down in the spare room, Manny went back to Adrian's, and mom, Karla and Tina stayed in the room for a bit and we chatted and joked for a bit (in between contractions of course). Tina even said "you are the only person I know that laughs during labor" hahaha. Eventually we decided we all needed to rest as much as possible because this was looking like it was going to be a long night. I stayed on my exercise ball with my head on my pillow on the bed, mom and Karla slept on our bed and Tina went downstairs. I was able to sleep between contractions which came anywhere from 2.5 to 6 minutes apart. Around 4-4:30, I got tired of sitting and wanted to try and speed things up, so I started walking back and forth in the upstairs hallway in the dark and quiet while everyone else slept. During contractions I remember thinking that they were definitely getting stronger and I felt myself tensing up, so I just reminded myself to stay "open," focus on the end result and not so much on the pain, and to just breathe.

Around 5:40am there was a change in my contractions. They started coming every 6-7 minutes, but they were longer and much stronger. I woke my mom up and told her I needed counter pressure now on my back because I started having back labor. My mom, sister and Manny took turns pressing on my back during contractions and I slept in between (and I know I was sleeping because there were a couple times I wiped drool off my face LOL).

At 6am I requested to be checked again because the contractions were very strong and I felt like I should be close to push time. She said that I was 7cm dilated, and I felt a little discouraged. When I was in labor with Adrian and measured 7cm, it was at least another 5 hours before he was born, so I thought (and my mom, Karla, and Manny thought) that we had many more hours to go until Victor would arrive. Around 6:30am Adrian woke up and he was taken downstairs where Tina entertained him, and I could hear him giggling and having fun. I eventually wanted to get off my exercise ball and onto my side on the bed. I had several contractions that way and Manny helped press on my back through the contractions. My mom switched out with him at one point, and I was told later it was because Adrian started fussing downstairs (I had made a loud noise and he became concerned and wanted mommy) so Manny went to console him. That was probably around 7am. Karla had gone downstairs as well to play a bit with Adrian because she figured it'd be several hours until I'd be pushing. Well, at 7:35ish, I told my mom I was pushing and she said, "no, don't push Vicki." I said, "I can't help it, I'm not doing it." At that point, Margie was in the room again and they told me I needed to get my shorts off...let me tell you that when you feel your body pushing and then you try to move from your side to your back to prepare for actual pushing, it is not only difficult but p.a.i.n.f.u.l! Lol. We got the shorts off, Margie got all the pads under me and ready and she listened to his heartbeat...just perfect! At that moment, I asked with urgency, "where's Manny and Karla?!" They were still downstairs and my mom called them up. Karla said she thought "well that was fast!" Haha. I tried giving a couple simple pushes because Margie said I had just a little lip of cervix left. Then at 7:55am, my body took over and MADE me push.. I wanted to take it easy, but my body said "oh no, we're pushing this baby out!" I definitely felt the "ring of fire" and oh it was not fun! My water finally broke right before he started crowning. Once his head was out, it was a relief...but everyone was like "you need to keep pushing Vicki, you need to push him out!" I said "I can't!" because I didn't want to feel the burning again, and like I said before, I feel like I personally wasn't pushing him out, my body was. So I gathered courage (haha) and started to push, and just that little push initiated my body to take over and push again, and he was out! Just 3 pushes and our sweet baby Victor was born Feb 7th at 8:07am!

He was put on my chest, and we all cried with joy that he was finally here. I wiped him down with the receiving blankets, and he let out little peeps and squeals. He was just too precious and so calm. I counted fingers and toes, 10 & 10, perfect!

Adrian was brought up to meet his brother and he wasn't too impressed at first, but now he wants to hold, hug, and kiss him. He's still adjusting and it'll probably take a bit, but I think they're going to be best friends as they grow.

Although my labor was essentially the same length this time as it was with Adrian, I felt great and had much more energy probably because I was much more relaxed since it wasn't my first time, and I actually slept, in short bursts, throughout labor. I remember being in some pain for at least a week with Adrian, but I've had none. Healing and recovery has been a breeze and I am truly thankful for that :) I am happy that we chose home birth for both our boys because they were wonderful experiences for us. There's nothing like being home in a relaxed atmosphere, giving birth in a calm, peaceful setting, and enjoying every second with your brand new babies without all the lights and sirens and people coming and going in the hospital all night & day. It's a decision that's not made lightly and was done with much reading and research, but in the end, we decided it was the best thing for our family and I couldn't be happier we chose to do it even though many criticized us the first time around.

Both our babies are perfect, healthy, and our family feels complete. I can't imagine life without our boys and I look forward to our future and watching them grow!

Thanks for reading! We love you all and have appreciated all the love and support we've received from all our family & friends.