Riley Sage’s Birth Story

God has a way of reminding me through life circumstances that I am not in control, He is. When I was pregnant with my first born, Raelyn, this was a difficult pill to swallow. I often wrestled with the idea that someone so precious inside of ME and MY body still left me opportunity trust God with her growth, health and delivery. 

Second time around is different right? I’ve been here before. I know what contractions feel like. I know there’s pain before gain. I’m more “wise” and knowledgeable than before. Ha! 

Once again I had to surrender my anxiousness and plans to what the Lord had prepared because everything was completely different. 

The Due Date 38 weeks

I had a feeling that I would not complete 40 weeks of pregnancy and Riley would make an early debut. I started having noticeable Braxton Hicks around 36 weeks, something I had not experienced with my first born and I was already about 1 cm dilated. The random contractions reminded me of the importance of breathing as I mentally started to prepare for the more intense contractions. At 37 weeks and 6 days, I lost my mucus plug and my intuition screamed, the baby is coming in a few days! That was Tuesday. 

On Wednesday morning, I had a doctor’s appointment and I was eager to see if I progressed in dilation. I experience contractions throughout the night that kept me uncomfortable and without some quality sleep. After a cervix check, I was a whomping 2 cm. I thought I’d be closer to 4, but that’s the annoyance of labor. That afternoon I went to the chiropractor for what would be my final adjustment before Riley’s arrival and perhaps that kept things moving. 

I was up all night Wednesday with contractions. Trying to find a comfortable position to endure the pain, I settled on the couch. The contractions were so sporadic. They would get to 6-7 minutes about and then jump to 20 minutes and back down. Around 4 am, I was able to fall asleep and get a few hours before my toddler woke up. 

The Delivery Date

Thursday was tough. The contractions had intensified and nothing seemed to bring comfort. Still experiencing sporadic contractions but I felt the baby was coming that day. I think I was the only one lol. 

That evening we experienced a tornado warning. I invited my mom over to sit with me during the contractions since my husband was with our toddler who had come down with a fever. As we are listening to the news and tracking the storm, I’m breathing through the contractions as best I could. Around 7 pm, I started getting an urge to push. At this point, I don’t think that it was “pushing time” but I felt like it was drawing near. We continued to monitor the contractions as they got closer and closer together with consistency. I was now ready to go!

After deliberating back and forth on if it was actually time to head to the hospital, we leave about 8:40 pm and my contractions were 3 minutes apart. As soon as we hit the highway, I screamed out, “Babe, I’m pushing!” I couldn’t control it – no matter how much I tried to stop. The baby was coming. Thankfully, we didn’t have any red lights to run and made it to the hospital. 

The Hospital Lobby

Getting a wheelchair was going to take too much time and we walked in. There was another couple there at the registration desk in the lobby getting ready to be assigned a room. As soon as we walked up behind them to form a line, I had a contraction, started pushing a felt the baby’s head. 

I couldn’t stop now. What if the baby were to suffocate? I wasn’t quite sure how that all worked but I didn’t stop. I didn’t yell or say anything. I just concentrated on pushing. Najee says that I begin to squat and as I’m going down, he’s encouraging me to breathe not realizing what’s happening. After a few seconds, I said, the baby’s head is out! He looks down and sees the head poking through my shorts and calls for some assistance. 

I’m lowered to the ground and Najee along with some nurses are trying to take my shorts off and by the time they do, I had fully delivered baby Riley at 8:55 pm. That’s also when her sac broke. Laying on the lobby floor, I was relieved that the baby had arrived and the toughest parts of labor were behind me. 

After cutting the cord, we were moved to a room to deliver the placenta. Nurses were scrambling trying to get their tools together as no one was prepared a lobby birth. The placenta came out and I was examined. Thankfully, I had no tears! 

Riley Sage Ward was born 3.2.23 at 8:55 pm weighing 5 lbs and 14 oz, 19 inches.