I’ve been trying to share Naomi’s birth story as much as I can the last week so that I can remember it as accurately as possible. Each time I replay the day’s events I am amazed at the capabilities of the human body. I am so incredibly grateful for a smooth delivery and a healthy baby. There are so many things I could say, but I’ll try to keep it short-ish. I figured it would be better to actually type it out so it can be saved for ever in the internet. So here’s your warning—if you’d rather not hear about Naomi’s birth feel free to just skip this blog post.

It is crazy to me that my first trimester was spent in Vietnam, my second trimester was spent pretty much at home due to the stay-at-home mandate, and the third was spent somewhat normal, but also still very much pandemic-y. 

Birthing a baby during a pandemic is quite interesting. There were so many things that were different about this pregnancy compared to Hez’s. One, is that Nathan’s first time seeing our baby girl on an ultrasound was the day I went in to be induced. Other than that, I had gone to all of my appointments solo. I even had my first two appointments in Vietnam, which was quite the experience. I rode a motorbike to the appointments and at one point I was running late and forgot about a huge speed bump, I basically launched myself over it—pretty sure I got a significant amount of airtime.  I also got to have an ultrasound at both appointments and the doctor I saw just kept saying “how beautiful, how amazing” when we saw little, bitty five-week-old Naomi. It was such a fun experience, even though they tried to get me to pay like $500 in blood tests that I knew they would make me redo in America. 

Anyways, fast forward until I was almost 41 weeks pregnant and we set an induction day for July 29,  baby girl was measuring big and we were also moving August 1st and it didn’t seem like she was in any hurry to get out. I had occasional braxton-hicks contractions, but nothing too painful and nothing regular. I tried just about everything to get labor going on my own because I really didn’t want to be induced, but alas, baby girl was stubborn. 

We set up an induction time for Wednesday morning (we were induced in the evening with Hez), and I barely got any sleep the night before. We got to the hospital and got all checked in and just kind of waited around until shift change. They gave me a dose of Cytotec shortly after, and we just kind of hung out for the next four hours. With Hez, things got pretty intense pretty quick and so it was nice to be able to relax at the beginning this time. We watched a movie, I ate some snacks and by the next time they checked me I had dilated from a 1 to a 3. I was kind of ready to get things moving a little quicker, as I wasn’t feeling any contractions at this point. We started pitocin and I was just so thankful for my midwife and nurses letting me go up slowly. By 4:00 or so my midwife came and broke my water…that’s a weird feeling. Right after she did that I lasted ooooh about 6 minutes before I was ready for an epidural. Epidurals are my best friend. I love them, and I love anesthesiologists. They bring good gifts, such as not feeling my uterus contract. As they were placing the epidural, I was literally squeezing Nathan’s hand so hard he kept having to reposition it. I didn’t realize that I was actually not just squeezing, I was digging my nail into his finger, whoops! But he survived, it’s not like he had to push out a baby or anything. 

While I was getting the epidural, I began to feel a ton of pressure. And of course, I have to be sitting up hunched over while getting it, and I was trying so hard to keep still. I’m pretty sure my nurse thought I was going to deliver my baby right then and there with how I was reacting. Let’s just say I don’t have a high pain tolerance. Anyways, I kept waiting for the epidural to kick in and it took a while. Eventually I couldn’t feel the contractions at the top of my uterus anymore but I still felt a lot of pain. It’s like it decided to numb part of my body, but left out the parts that really matter when giving birth if you get what I’m saying. 

The anesthesiologist came back in and gave me a bolus of the medication, but that still didn’t really work—and the pressure just kept getting worse. In about fifty minutes I progressed from a three to an eight and figured the baby was coming soon. My midwife came in we got things ready to start pushing. This is where things become a little hazy. Again, I don’t have a high pain tolerance and I began to realize that pushing this baby would feel a lot different than it did with Hez. I began to push and boy oh boy I just had the best encouragement. There is one hundred percent no way I could have done it without my nurse, my midwife, my husband and the baby nurse. They are the real champions. It got to the point where I said okay—I’m ready for this baby to go back inside of me,  I’ll just remain pregnant again until I can get another epidural… but I guess you can’t do that. Nathan was amazing. He kept a cool washcloth on my face and was so encouraging. He also didn’t pass out this time so that’s a plus!! We also packed more than oatmeal cream pies and energy drinks so I guess you really do prepare better for your second child. 

After about 30 minutes, me stating that I was probably going to die, and lots of reassurance from everyone in the room that I probably wouldn’t, Naomi was born! It was overwhelming to say the least. I don’t actually know how much pain my epidural covered, but it really felt like I got to experience more of a natural birth than with Hez (where I felt basically nothing—it was glorious). But anyways, I don’t think I would have had the stamina or strength to choose to not have an epidural, but to experience feeling every push, it was overwhelming and like something I have never experienced before. It hurt like none other—but to hold my sweet girl on my chest after that was the greatest reward I could have asked for. 

Again, I had the best supporters I could have ever asked for. My midwife was incredible and so supportive and I genuinely felt so listened to throughout the whole day. Even though she told me later that the repair she had to do after the delivery was in her top 5 least favorite repairs, she made me feel so taken care of. My nurses were also amazing. I recommend everyone to give birth at their old workplace, except not really unless you work at a hospital. It was so refreshing to have friends be my nurses. They empowered me, they gave me strength and they were our biggest celebrators when Naomi was born. 

I had a pretty significant blood loss and passed out when I first got up. I had never fully passed out before but it was pretty cool. I woke up at thought I had napped for like 8 hours, but I also had no recollection that I just had a baby—so that was wild. Other than that though, recovery has been great. Again, July 29th will go down as one of my favorite days. I want to remember every detail, I want to savor every emotion that I experienced that day. I want to remember the feeling of accomplishment when they laid Naomi on my chest, I want to feel as unified with Nathan as I did when we got to stare at our second child, I want to remember that I can do hard things, that I am strong, and that I am capable of so much more than I think I am. 

I’m writing this down so that in a couple of days, weeks or months I can remember these truths. When I am tired of waking up every few hours to nourish my child, and when I feel like I am constantly changing diapers, wiping snotty noses and cleaning up toys. When I question my purpose and when I feel lonely, when I feel sad or when I feel bored—I want to remember the story of Naomi’s birth and remember that motherhood is such an incredible gift that God has given me. 

If you’re wondering how we picked out her name, we had both liked Naomi when we were brainstorming names for Hez (before we knew he was a boy). Harriet McLean was my great grandmother on my dad’s side. She had two daughters and so the name McLean wasn’t going to be passed down. My parents wanted to keep her name in the family and so they named me Ana McLean (pronounced like Mc-Lane)—and we decided to hand it down to sweet Naomi. When I asked my dad what he remembers most about his grandmother, he said that she always loved unconditionally and that her love is still with him to this day. We pray Naomi would be someone known for the way she loves others.