Julie's Birth Story: February 14th 2024

Jayanna Bolin

Jan 13, 2025

5 min read

I am finally writing this 11 months after the fact! If that doesn’t tell you what it’s like going from 1 to 2 kids, ha!

I was 34 weeks when I felt something change. At my checkup I was already dilated to 2cm and 40% effaced… man that scared the crap out of me as Julie’s brother had come early at 35w 5d. I opted to get the 2 doses of butt-shot steroids to make sure if she came early that her lungs would be ok. From then on I had some wicked contractions especially at night. Sometimes timing up every 3 minutes BUT not gaining in intensity. At 36 weeks I was 3cm and 60% effaced.

I celebrated every week that passed. I wanted to jump and shout when I made it longer than I did with Peter! Then… 37 weeks! Oh I was so grateful! I was in a LOT of pain but still so grateful! At my 37 week checkup I was already 4cm dilated. The whole 4 weeks before she came I was having loads of painful contractions. But I’ve been given the perspective of seeing as a 40% off of the labor situation being 4cm dilated already!

On Tuesday night, February 13th, Andrew and I went to bed around 10pm. I was awoken by a STRONG contraction and felt a pop at both the top and bottom of my uterus. My eyes flew open and I gasped! Did I just feel what I just felt? So I gave a little push and felt my water come out. I excitedly woke and told Andrew, and he got up to call his mom. I went to the bathroom (thankfully I had been prepared by wearing a pad to bed every night for a while). I looked at the clock and it was midnight. I realized it was now Valentine’s Day!!! I was also so happy we both got a little 2 hours of sleep prior! I called my mom who works at Amazon overnight and she flew on over. I brushed my hair and rinsed my face, already feeling intensity in the contractions. Oh man it was very quickly getting hard to bear. Andrew packed up the car and off we left for a 20 minute drive to the hospital. To me, that drive is the worst part. I was trying hard to keep from clenching my body so I gripped the handle above the car window and squeezed my arms through the pain to keep my abdomen as loose as possible. This is the point where I thought “oh no… I’m getting that epidural!”.

Super excited between contractions in Triage

Andrew dropped me off at the entrance to L&D, and I went to check in. That encounter was broken up by hanging on to the counter and dropping down to cope with the contractions mid-sentence. The receptionist told me that L&D was all full. That is NOT something you want to hear when you’re in the thick of labor in a freaking lobby! They took me back to Triage where Andrew accompanied me to change into my labor gown and give a urine sample. The contractions were coming hard and fast. I went back to the triage stall and tried to move around and get into a position that felt ok during the contractions. The best I could come up with was sitting on my shins, butt and hands on the bed. It was like a taser to the belly/groin for 60 seconds straight then totally fine between! The nurse checked my cervix and I was 5cm dilated at that point. I waited a bit and they returned to tell me that I “jumped the line” and was going back to a delivery room. That’s when Andrew’s mom and stepdad joined along. Funny enough, the pain was most bearable while I was walking to the other room! Maybe I should have continued walking, lol!

I got into the room and continued trying to find the best position on the bed, again landing on shins, butt and hands. I also didn't want to scrunch my belly too much to keep it as loose and accepting of the contractions as possible, clenching my arms instead. I kept saying that this baby was going to fly out of my butt, the butt pressure was so bad! I’m sure that might be part of why it felt good to sit on my butt in particular. I was rockin' and rolling, moaning and groaning. The doctor came in to give the epidural. I was so scared of not being able to sit still long enough, but somehow I did. When it went in, I felt it sort of bulge to one side. This wasn’t my first time getting one so I could tell that did not feel right. The anesthesiologist noticed and asked me about it. He readjusted it and finished up. I laid back and waited but then felt a very distinct pressure/position change. I told the nurse that we definitely need to check my cervix. As she checked, she asked if I was a Harry Potter fan, because I was like 9 and ¾! She called the team in and I asked for a mirror.

I pushed from about 2:10am until 2:40am when Julie made her entrance. The pain was much more bearable when I was pushing WITH the contractions. I didn’t feel like I wanted to push until the very last push. I wish I wouldn’t have gotten that epidural considering it didn’t really work and left me with some pain and swelling on that one odd side. Upon the last push, I could tell this was it. Andrew told me I had yelled “GET OUT!” with that one! Then she was up and on my chest and the world stopped once again while I waited for that beautiful little cry!

The #1 best sound on the whole planet is your child’s first cry. A close 2nd is their laugh.

She latched well at first. During recovery she had some trouble keeping her blood sugar up, which she was just so sleepy and didn’t want to drink much. And was even more sleepy because her blood sugar was low! My 35w 5d baby never went to the NICU, but my perfect 38 weeker did! The NICU staff took great care of her while mom and dad got a couple little stretches of sleep. Gosh that was so restorative even though we were so worried at the same time! Dropping her off at the NICU made me almost cry though. What an emotional thing to do… I had volunteered in that NICU in 2017, so bringing your own baby there just hits a little different. She ended up developing bilateral cephalohematomas (head bruises) from her rough entrance. She had a “heart head” for quite a while, which was fitting as a Valentine’s baby!

We got to go home around 3/4pm on Thursday the 15th. Peter had fallen asleep on the car ride home so that made his introduction not as dreamy as we had hoped! At first he didn’t care about the baby. But shortly after he wanted to touch and hold and got very emotional learning the boundaries. But he quickly became a loving and proud big brother!