Sienna’s Birth Story

Sienna Lee Pattavina joined our family on Monday, July 22 2019 at 9:13 am. just one day before my due date. She weighed 7 lb 10 oz and was 20 inches long (our biggest baby!). A few days before my due date, Joe’s parents came into town to start helping with the kids and planned to take them to Houston to spend time with Joe’s sisters while we (hopefully) gave birth and rested with our newborn. When they arrived, we debated back and forth when they should leave not knowing when I was going to go into labor. I didn’t want to send them too soon but also didn’t want them here when I gave birth since I was planning a home birth. Two days before my due date and almost last minute, they decided to head out in the afternoon, hoping I’d go into labor at least in a few days.

The night before, the Braxton Hicks I had been having started changing a bit. They were waking me up more in the middle of the night and I was feeling lots of tightening and some pain in my lower abdomen. I didn’t think much of it, but it continued throughout the next morning causing me to rest as much as possible. Anytime I was up moving around, they seemed to get a bit worse but definitely not full-blown labor contractions. While running around making sure the kids had everything they needed for their trip, I went to the bathroom and realized that my mucus plug was coming out and there was a bit of blood too. I knew that labor was imminent, at least in the next few days but still not sure how soon it would happen.

The kids and Joe’s family left, allowing Joe and I to relax that night and have dinner together. We ended up watching the movie “I Can Only Imagine” which was really good and a nice mini-date night before things would quickly change. I went to bed around 9:30 pm but really couldn’t sleep much. At about 10:30 pm I started feeling real contractions that were coming and going every 10 minutes or so. I was able to rest/lay down during them for a while but around 12:30 am I woke up Joe since they were starting to come every 5-6 minutes. I was still having some that were spaced further apart so I waited for a while before calling my midwife.

Meanwhile Joe prepped the birthing pool and a few other things while I continued to work through contractions. Around 3 am I had Joe go lay back down and try to sleep because it felt like the contractions were slowing some. I eventually decided to call my midwife because I was just so unsure as to how fast things would progress. She headed over around 4:30 am which helped her beat Monday morning Austin traffic. When she arrived, my contractions were getting closer to 2-3 minutes apart. She had the birth pool filled up and I got in once it was ready. It felt so amazing and relaxed my muscles and contractions so they weren’t nearly as painful. Joe went to lay back down again since I was doing well in the pool. It felt so good but it made my contractions stall. Even moving around and changing positions in the pool didn’t help so despite not wanting to, I got out, hoping labor would progress quicker

I tried a few more things over the next few hours to keep things moving as I was kind of stuck at the 2-3 minute apart contractions. I went in the shower and walked up and down the street while walking through the contractions (so painful and hard and I’m sure people driving by thought we were crazy!). Once we got back from walking, my contractions were getting much closer together but my midwife wanted me to try to relax through them because I was struggling with getting really tense each time. She had me lay on my side in our bed and talked me through a few contractions. Trying to let my whole body be still and relaxed during the contractions was really difficult but it is what helped me get to the next stage of labor. During one really intense contraction I could feel a ton of pressure as the baby moved and it was time to start pushing. My midwife quickly came in and we tried a few positions for pushing and ended up using a birthing chair so gravity could help her come out better. I was having tons of lower back pain and pain in my tailbone. Pushing her out was about 15-20 minutes but my sense of time could have been off. I do remember thinking I was going to pass out a few times, I couldn’t stop shaking at one point and there was a lot of yelling/screaming as it was the most painful experience I can remember.

At 9:13 am after a few more pushes on the birthing chair, her head was out and her body followed during the next push. She ended up presenting facing up (“sunny side up”) which was why it was so much harder and more painful than my other birth experiences. Thankfully there were no complications and once the placenta was out we were able to lay with her in the bed and try to relax. I was having lots of cramping/pain after birth which happened when I had Emilia. It was hard to relax and Sienna was also really upset for a while and would not stop crying. All of us ended up in the birth pool while Joe held her and let her soak in warm water to try and calm her down. This helped my body relax too and the cramps started to subside. Soon she was relaxed enough that we were able to nurse for the first time successfully. 

My midwife and her assistant cleaned everything up and you would never have known that a baby had been born after they left. I am truly blessed to have had God answer my prayers surrounding her birth. God’s timing is always perfect and all of the time I worried and prayed about when she would come and the logistics of it all, He had it all worked out. I’m thankful we’ve been able to rest at home and get to know little Sienna while our kids are having a blast with family. Nursing has been going really well which is another answer to prayer as I struggled so much with Enzo and some with Emilia. We’re trying to take in every sleepless moment we can with our sweet baby as I know these times are short. Staying focused on that and praying through moments of frustration when she won’t sleep has truly helped. I know I will continue needing that prayer once the kids are back and we enter our new normal.

I have to add that throughout the whole labor process and now during postpartum, Joe has truly been amazing. He was with me every step of the way during labor/delivery, helping me to relax, praying over me and just supporting me. I’m sure he wants to block out everything that happened 🙂 but I am so thankful to have had him there. He’s also been so great postpartum and letting me rest as much as possible. Helping with things around the house, feeding me and helping take care of Sienna. Such a blessing!

“This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

Psalm 118:24