The Birth Story vol 2 💞

 A bit more than 2 months have passed from the second most painful event of my life.😃 To sum up it was fast and efficient, with some twist and turns. And overall a positive experience and the biggest shock is to have an extra soul to look after. Luckily having the second child is not as big life changer as the first one, but still turns the usual routine up side down. So far the first weeks/months have been easier second time around. More spicy details below! 😜

Recap of first 4 weeks!

THE START OF MATERNITY LEAVE

In Denmark you can go on a maternity leave 4 weeks before due date unless you have some health issues. Luckily I did not have any big issues and I quite enjoyed going to work, it was a nice routine. As mentioned in the previous post, my leave before the birth was not so excited since I decided to potty train Nolan. Better late than never. 😃 Even though it is not really advised to do it during the end of pregnancy when you are physically tired but looking back it was the best time. I either way could not do anything besides of laying on a couch, play with Nolan and remind him to go to potty. Not to bother all the detail I kept him home for about 2 weeks. In one point he was also a bit sick and my mum was also visiting for 5 days, so overall it was not that bad.

One of the few sunny days and the comfy jacket where I gave birth 😅

When I understood that it might take even more weeks before Nolan is completely ready to be diaper free at kindergarten (they go there by bus every day and I even do not know how the toilets look like), then I stared to ship him back to kindergarten and have my rest. And it was a good decision since I gave birth 5 days later. So if not to count the weekend, then my real maternity leave was 3 days.😃 What I managed to do was to go to pedicure (could not bend to cut my toenails) and finish reading one book! I also planned to start going to swimming but never made it. 

The last picture as pregnant - 4 days before giving birth!

LAST DAY AS PREGNANT

This time I gave birth 8 days before my due date. Funny to think that 3 days before giving birth my midwife sent me to extra scan since she was concerned if the baby has gained enough weight. Everything was fine. I did not gain much during last month since I was sick and had some kind of stomach flue, so that is a secret why I did not gain so much weight during pregnancy overall. 😅 Anyways, after the midwife appointment I went to mac to by cheeseburger and macrons in order to gain some weight! 😉

First walk 3 days after to buy Xmas tree 😃

START OF LABOR

My water broke 23:00 on a Monday evening. I did not feel anything during the day. I was biking to shopping mall to buy last Xmas gifts. So I was quite surprised when the water broke when I had just lied down on a bed. I was expecting to go over due date as with Nolan (I was 12 days over due date) and that is why I also decided to potty train him, since I was so sure I will have plenty of time to rest! 🙈 It was quite a good time in that way that Kevin had just put up the baby bed during the weekend. I ofc had to push him to do it since he always had sth else to do! 😃 And hospital bag was ready too!

Contractions 1 hour before giving birth

When I called to the hospital then they told me to track the contractions. My midwife had told me that with the second pregnancy it is not important so I did not download the app. So between the contractions I then started looking for the best app. The one I found had adds in between since ofc I am not going to pay. 😃 Like time to order some food with Wolt, etc. It was quite annoying. If there is one place where adds are not allowed then while tracking the contractions. Overall I think they were quite accurate since the app advised me to start going to hospital before I considered it myself - lol! 😅

Midwife was great!

The contractions started quite after the water broke. The sad thing was that Nolan started to get sick so he woke up like every 30 minutes and Kevin basically was sleeping in his room. The initial plan was that Kevin´s mum will come watch Nolan when we go to hospital. But at that time in night no public transport was available and no taxis go to that village were she lived. Luckily Kevin´s brother was staying with us so he could watch him.

Marking the birth of Logan at Hvidovre hospital before leave

TAXI RIDE

The contractions were not so bad but and I could breathe them through. At 02:30 I called to hospital and told that we will come now since I started to feel a bit more intense contractions. The midwife on the phone was very suspicious (since I called and that is the sign they use that the contractions must not be so bad). Told Kevin to call taxi and when I started to walk towards taxi the contractions went pretty intense. Not sure how I survived the taxi ride (like 10-15 minutes). Luckily there was no traffic. 

Sneak peak to the room and the food table with Danish flag 😅

THE BIRTH AT HOSPITAL

Taxi stopped exactly on the right entrance to maternity ward at the Hvidovre hospital. We took the elevator upstairs and then kaboom, I could not move anymore since the contractions were so intense. So I was standing in the middle of the hospital hallways leaning on a baby car seat (good tool during labor). 😃 I could not recall what was happening around me, but Kevin told that the head is here, suddenly some bed arrived, I was told to pull up my pants (did not want to do that since hallo I was on labor, you cannot get baby out when pants are on 😅). They told me to lay on bed, I did not really want since felt more secure on my 2 feet, anyways somehow they pushed me there on the side and then pushed the bed towards the maternity ward. Some midwife told (who was laying on a bed at my side) the head is here and push and then Logan was out. So that easy it was! - lol. To be honest I do not think I was really pushing, it was my body who through the baby out of me. It was such a relief feeling though. 

Fun fact, Nolan suck his fingers like this from 3 months to 2 years 🙈

I gave birth 03:05 - 4 hours after my water broke and 5 minutes after stepping out from the taxi. Luckily I did not give birth in the taxi. 😅 (or toilet like my colleagues wife) So that is why I was not so traumatized since I had heard about these situations before. Some details I actually had to read from my birth journal. The hospital was empty at that hour but apparently one couple was heading home from the maternity ward and they saw me and Kevin and called the midwife and some other nurses found a clean bed where I gave birth. I had Kevin´s winter jacket on when I gave birth, but it got clean after washing! 😉

1 day old Logan

AFTER BIRTH

So overall this time I did not use much tax payers money during labor. They put us in one birth room, where Logan lay on my chest. After the check up and some stitches they let us go home 4-5 hours after so we were back home 8-9 in the morning. We did not time the ride to home that well since it was a rush hour to work for normal people. In Denmark they offer tea, water, juice and a toast after the birth. It is said that it is the best toast that woman have in their life 😅. Logan was 3400g and 51 cm, so quite average considering that ha arrived 8 days earlier and midwife though he is not big enough 4 days before giving birth. Birth date Tuesday 20th of December 2022, so quite nice date - 10 days after Nolan´s birthday and 2 days before Kevin´s birthday so I am broke now in December. 🙈

Swaddle at its best

This time I was clever and had my classes with me so I could actually see the placenta (did not take it to home). Midwife was a bit worried that I was in a shock due to fast labor. My body did shake for some time and I think the body was a bit in a shock due to the intense pain, but overall I am happy that it went so fast. My first birth was also quite fast but then I could enjoy the water birth in the beautiful birth spa so I was fine with having this time the fast experience. The midwife told us that in case we want another child then we should consider the home birth!😃

First Xmas as family of four - 4 days old Logan!

If it is a first child then hospital offers you to stay there at least 2 days. With second birth they send you home if no complications - you can pee after giving birth and the baby is nursing on your breast. I think I would have preferred to stay a bit longer since it was nice and peaceful at the hospital since at home the toddler did not really let to enjoy the babymoon! 🙈

1 week selfie 💙

FIRST WEEKS

So Kevin´s mum arrived early in the morning and Nolan was fine. He was sick so we actually did not let him near the baby that much. Physically it was so nice to not be pregnant anymore however I had pretty strong uterus contractions back to normal side so I had to take some painkillers since I was pretty done with the pain at that point! 😜 I guess the positive side is that my stomach went back to normal size pretty fast. 

First bath as 1 week old

Since Nolan was sick Kevin spent most of the time with him during the day and night which was a bit hard on me during the night. Luckily Logan slept quite a bit until the midwife called the next day for the check up and told that no matter what I need to wake him up for feeding every 3 hours. So in that sense first weeks were hard. It is related to the fact that newborns should not loose the weight. 

These lips 😅

Second day after birth we had to go back to hospital for the hearing test and some blood test. 1 week after birth the home nurse came to visit and also during 2nd and 3rd week, so that was nice since we did not need to commute ourselves with a small baby.

All clothes still too big 😃

RECOVERY

I would say that this time my body got back in shape even faster than with a first baby. Maybe also because I did not gain much weight (about 7-8 kg) due to once in a while visiting stomach flues and regular exercises since I experienced pelvic pain from early on. The healing down under was also supper fast in terms of me being able to sit. I do not think I had any problems 5h later taxi ride home and I was already biking a week later. Bleeding was also less intense (got less stitches) but still lasted for couple of weeks. Once it was almost gone and then game back, so it came and went as waves. Maybe also linked to my physical activity. 

One day after giving birth

The most annoying thing was night sweating that I did not experience first time. I read that it is due to hormones trying to go back in balance. The intense sweating (changing T-shirt like 5 times per night) lasted quite long, I would say 6 weeks until they started to easy. Imagine that your baby is sleeping but you still wake up every 1 hour because all your clothes are soaked in sweat. I do not recommend it to anybody and lets say that I am not looking forward to menopause. 🙈

1 week after giving birth

NAME

We named the baby no. 2 Logan. This time it was pretty hard to come up with a good boy name. I had 2 criteria's - it had to start with N (like Nolan) or sound similar to it. And ofc sth international that would work both in Denmark and Estonia. Logan is separately a nice name but it is quite hard to use "Nolan" and "Logan" names together. 🙈 Ou well, he can change his name one day if he does not like it. 😃

New Year´s Eve selfie with boys! 💞

OLDER SIBLING

The sibling factor was also disrupting the babymoon. Nolan was home for 2 weeks, one was sue to sickness and the other due to Xmas vacation. He suddenly turned into more mummy boy so I had to make sure to spend more time with him. Luckily he has not been hostile towards Logan.

Nolan saying hi!

Overall I enjoyed so much more the first weeks with Logan. This because the breast feeding went well (I just pumped 1-2 times to get the mild going) and he slept so much better. This really made the difference. This time around I also bought a baby swaddle that made the sleeping easier. ❤️

9 days old buddy! 😘