Leonardo Paul Pattavina’s Birth Story

Leo is almost 10 months old and I’m finally getting around to writing his birth story. It’s been on my mind this whole time, I just never sat down to write my words. Between adjusting to having another baby and moving across the country, I kept putting it off. I guess that’s what happens when you are the fourth kid. 🙂 But know Leo, that just because you are the fourth kid, you are loved beyond measure. Below is my experience with birthing Leo. Warning, I don’t spare many details so read at your own discretion.

Leo was due on Feb. 24, 2022. I was really hoping he would be born on 2/22/22 but that day came and went. My other three kids were born all a day or two before their due date so I expected more of the same. But more days came and went and I found myself into March. As the days went by, I was getting more and more anxious. I had never made it to 40 weeks, let alone passed 40 weeks. I know the due date is just an estimate, but it messed with my mind. As I was approaching 41 weeks I started looking into ways to get labor going naturally through exercises and different positions. Leo was also facing up towards my belly button and usually things go smoother when babies are facing towards the back. Sienna was born face up (“sunny side up”) and it was pretty intense. So with that, I was also trying to encourage him to turn before labor.

At about midnight, the day I turned 41 weeks, I woke up to contractions. They were pretty spaced apart, maybe 10 minutes or so and were still bearable enough that I could generally stay in bed and work through them. I didn’t sleep a whole lot but tried to rest as much as I could. I didn’t wake Joe up since I knew we still had time and around 6 a.m. or so I let him know things were moving. Our neighbors had planned to watch the other three kids, so we had the kids head over there just in case and sent Enzo off to school. Contractions were picking up some, maybe around five minutes apart, so I was thinking things were going to happen that morning. I got ahold of my midwife and let her know and she was planning to start heading my way. But within the next hour or so things really stalled. I was still having contractions but they were getting sporadic, ranging from 5 to 15 minutes apart. They were still intense and I kept trying to sleep but really couldn’t. The weather was nice, so we went on a couple walks during the day to try and encourage things to progress but I was still not having the contractions consistently closer together.

Labor is a very mental thing for me. And knowing what was coming and how intense that experience is, I think my mind blocks some of the progression. I was praying a lot, reaching out to friends and asking them to pray. I was trying really hard to relax through the contractions and let things happen. It’s such a process of letting go and I was struggling with that.

It was creeping into the afternoon and school was over but we kept the kids at the neighbors because I knew it was going to happen it was just a matter of when. By about 4 o’clock I was feeling really defeated. I was exhausted because I hadn’t really slept. The contractions were really intense but I felt stuck in the same place. I called my midwife as she still hadn’t come since my contractions were sporadic. She suggested I grab a glass of wine and take a bath to try to relax and then go try to sleep again. She was convinced that when the sun went down things would progress and she was planning on calling me back later that evening to see how I was doing.

I got my wine (opened the bottle that I was saving for after he was born) and got into the tub. Our bathtub in that house was not very large and not that most comfortable when you are super pregnant but I tried. While in the bath, the contractions were starting to pick up. I was thinking they would slow down but things were finally progressing. Once I was out of the bath, things were not slowing down so I called my midwife back and let her know I thought she should start heading my way.

We decided to bring Sienna home to sleep in her crib. She hadn’t taken a nap that day and I knew she needed a good night’s rest, so Joe headed next door to grab her and get her in bed as I continued working through the contractions. I was mostly camped out in the living room with my yoga ball at that point. Laying across it and completely collapsing into it was my go-to for getting through the contractions. When Joe brought Sienna home, Enzo came too to grab a few things, including the iPad because it was the day they normally get to play games. I just remember as I’m going through an intense moment, Enzo’s yelling across the room asking if I know where the iPad is. I’m not sure how I didn’t just scream at him but I know I wasn’t super kind in my response in how I could care less about the iPad. 🙂

Once Joe took Enzo back to the neighbors around 6 p.m., my midwife showed up. We started talking about how to get things to keep going and she was suggesting castor oil which basically causes intestinal movement and can trigger more contractions. That was really not something I wanted to do but I would have if I needed it. We chatted in the living room between contractions and within less than 30 minutes, I could tell he was almost there. I had a really big, long contraction and my midwife knew immediately it was time. I told her I felt like I was ready to push. So her and Joe got me up and into the bedroom. I was on my knees leaning against the side of the bed and started pushing.

That phase was always the hardest for me. It was just so uncomfortable. Leo was also not fully turned around and so I had a lot of back pain as his spine rubbed against mine. I remember one moment where my midwife was pretty firm with me and telling me to push even when I didn’t have a contraction. I was telling her I couldn’t do it and I felt like she pushed him back up and turned him or something. I honestly don’t even know for sure what happened but in the next moments he was born. It had only been about an hour since she had been there before he was born so it went really quickly at the end. I’m thankful I had her come when she did.

Afterwards I had a lot of cramping and was pretty uncomfortable for a while and also had to get stitches which may be the worst part. Joe was great and was there supporting me the whole time. We were able to start nursing pretty quickly and he did really well. He was 9 lbs 8 oz which was by far my biggest baby. Sienna was next at 7 lbs 10 oz. I couldn’t believe he was that big. It makes sense why I was so uncomfortable at the end of the pregnancy and had a lot of pelvic pain/discomfort.

I am so thankful to God that I was able to have him safely at home. I really couldn’t imagine doing it any differently and know God placed my midwife in my life at the time He did for a reason. She is truly amazing and I’m sad I won’t be experiencing any more pregnancies/births with her (or at all!). Also seeing the kids meet Leo for the first time was so sweet. I still tear up thinking about it or if I watch the video of them. They are all such good older siblings to their baby brother and I look forward to seeing how their relationships grow. Sometimes I’m still in awe that God allowed us to have four healthy kiddos. It was a long path deciding to have Leo and lots of prayer and discussion went into it. But I truly felt God calling us to add to our family and I knew Leo was just out there somewhere in the future. And now that he’s here, I couldn’t imagine it any other way.